Biography

For more than 25 years, northern California’s Bracket have felt like a square peg in a world of round holes. The story goes that Bracket were too melodic to be punk, and too punk to be pop. But the band found a home at a haven for misfits, Fat Wreck Chords. The label released Bracket’s early EPs and three albums (1997’s Novelty Forever, 2000’s When All Else Fails, and 2002’s Live in a Dive), and also included Bracket on the massively popular compilations Fat Music for Fat People and Survival of the Fattest. Bracket went their own way to explore their love of classic pop and Beach Boys harmonies on 2006’s Requiem (Takeover Records), 2014’s Hold Your Applause (self-released), and 2016’s The Last Page (an ambitious 70-minute single song, also self-released). Singer-guitarist Marty Gregori even wrote and recorded an album of string quartet music. But performing at Fat’s 25th anniversary show in 2015 reconnected Bracket and Fat. Too Old to Die Young, Bracket’s ninth full-length, comes from that reunion. Too Old to Die Young wrestles with the themes implied by its title, including a wariness that comes from making music for such a long time. This deep into their career, they’re not overthinking what they write or what they want to accomplish. “Too Old to Die Young—the idea of living fast, dying young—but here we are, we’re in our 40s and still trying to make this kind of music. We’re poking fun at ourselves, basically.”