The concept behind the forming of Bridge To Solace popped of the minds of three young men on a waisted Budapest night in 2000, but it took them something like two years to actually hunt down the adequate two other members and to give birth to what we know today as the ultimate BTS line-up. As a vast majority of rock n’ roll bands, Bridge To Solace was formed in a bar, but the original enthusiasm did not languish with the decreasing alcohol levels. The guitarist (Krisz) and bassist (Laci) of suburban Budapest hardcore band Many Others and Tamas, the drummer of Hátsó Szándék, a groundbreaking and extremely popular Budapest punk rock quartet were well determined to create a band that would give way to all the musical fantasies their respective original bands just could not handle. Adam, the drummer of Newborn, probably one of the most influential and definitely one of the most brilliant European hardcore bands was driven by the same idea. He originally planned to be the singer, as Tamas wanted to play the role of the lead guitarist, but finding a good drummer in Budapest being harder than finding a decent falafel place, both of them had to play on their versatility: Tamas grabbed the drumsticks, while Adam took his place as a guitarist. By 2002, the excruciating task of striking on the ideal singer was pretty much solved by the breaking up of Newborn: Zoli was not only the perfect singer for BTS, but his activity as „Central-European promoter phenomenon” brought new energies to a band already eager to burn down the place.
The apparently everduring membership problem being solved at last, things started to accelerate for BTS: Adam having previously helped out the German band Paint The Town Red as a drummer for a couple of weeks of touring, guitarist Chris Z – also the head of Let It Burn Records – had the divine intuition to sign the band for a full-length album. The five-piece headed into the Parkplatz Studio, downtown Budapest, in march 2003 and by june, their girlfriends were already sick of having to listen to the nine driving, beautiful, melodic and forceful songs of „Of Bitterness And Hope” on heavy-rotation. The record, despite of its definite metal sound, reflects well the wideness of the members’ musical influences, from punk rock and hardcore to Gothenburg-style metal. The latter may be predominant, but it’s understandable, for the ultimate metal guy being Adam, and Adam – besides the fact that he’s the musical brain in the band - is way bigger than the other guys, hence his bigger influence. The success of „Of Bitterness And Hope” was well over what they expected, and this was mainly experienced during their first three-week European tour with Paint The Town Red and Dutch pals Razor Crusade, in September 2003. Two months later, their second European tour almost did not happen, for singer Zoli had to deal with serious heart problems – rock n’ roll. The band’s American friend and singer of the San Francisco based The Shivering, Spencer Rangitsch filled in as the man behind the mike, which made their two weeks on the road with Walls Of Jericho and (occasionally) Undying kind of an odd adventure – but the tour was a blast and Spencer got to see Paris for the first time in his life…
The following year was all about extensive touring and writing material for what became – in September 2004 – the „Kingdom Of The Dead” EP. Besides releasing this pseudo metal beast on the world, the band also wandered a bit in the deep swamps of real metal, opening for highly acclaimed acts, such as Cradle Of Filth and Testament as well as a successfull and surprisingly well-attended festival appearance, sharing the stage with tons of Hungarian buddies and Children Of Bodom headlining. As for the future the band hopes no more, but to flood venues with their smell, bomb record stores with their music documented in plastic and to kill as many bottles accross the world as humanly possible.

LABEL: LET IT BURN RECORDS
HOME PAGE: bridgetosolace.com
BRIDGE TO SOLACE STORE ON EMPIRE CLOTHING