By: Tara Thompson 

Since moving to Toronto, Jon Pike has been busy working on new music. With Everglow ending, he’s been focused on some new projects including a solo pop venture, BRDGS. Rock Eden caught up with Jon to ask him about this new project. 

Rock Eden: You and Gordon had a pretty stellar run with Everglow and it seemed like things were only going up, what was the reasoning behind ending it? 

Jon Pike: Gordon and I had some pretty unreal opportunities with Everglow over the past three years and enjoyed the greatest success of either of our music careers so far. We were working on a follow-up album and had invested a crazy amount of time and money into setting ourselves up for the next step, while touring across Canada and, in a lot of ways, “living the dream”. However, all relationships have their rough patches and it was a hard year on both of us. In the end, it was in both of our best interests to step away from working together. That was a super hard decision to make after everything we did with Everglow, but for the sake of our mental health, and to continue being passionate about releasing music, we had to do it. 

RE: Did you consider using Everglow as the name for your new project or did you want to just want to start off with a clean slate? Why BRDGS? 

JP: Originally I was planning on continuing by myself under the Everglow name after the split… but, as I worked towards getting the pieces together for that it just didn’t feel right. Everglow was and is a reflection of myself and Gordon, and it didn’t feel honest to do it without him. When I realized that, I began thinking of new project ideas and I really wanted to do something different… something a bit more dramatic and outside of my comfort zone. I chose the name BRDGS because it has a lot of depth and because there’s a particular bridge I go across all the time that is pretty much my favorite spot in Toronto. In the image and branding of this project I wanted it to be a lot darker and a bit more mysterious than Everglow was. I think people are digging the new vibe and it’s something I’m very excited about exploring. 

RE: Smoke and Mirrors was the first song you released for this project and it had a great reaction so far. Why did you choose this one as your debut? 

JP: I’m really happy with how Smoke and Mirrors has been received. In releasing it I knew I was taking a bit of a risk, it’s so different from anything Everglow or anything I’ve released in the past. But, that song felt very right thematically, sonically, and lyrically for where I am right now. It’s been a year of changes (good and bad) and there’s quite a few layers to that song that I felt I needed to put out there. Just to get them off my chest I guess. 

I’ve got a lot of songs lined up for release, but I knew more or less from the get-go that Smoke and Mirrors was the perfect song to introduce people to the new direction. 

RE: You have since released a second single called In the Wild which has also been received very well. What else can we expect from BRDGS in the next while? 

JP: More music! A lot. Tons. 

I’ve been working on an EP for the past several months as well as a lot of collaborations with various producers and artists from across Canada. I’ve been really lucky to connect with a lot of unreal songwriters and producers in Toronto, and between that and all the awesome dudes I love working with back home I’ve had so many opportunities to create some really cool stuff. The second single In the Wild… I think it’s the best song I’ve done… ever. So, I’m very excited about that one. You can stay up to date on all things BRDGS at brdgsmsc.com, or on facebook.com/brdgsmsc, instagram.com/brdgsmsc, twitter.com/brdgsmsc and open.spotify.com/artist/3yHcgChNW7jVTvgBfgrTeT 

Thanks for the interview! Stay tuned for more music very soon.