NPG vets Michael Bland and Sonny Thompson extend their brotherhood into a post-Prince duo

MINNEAPOLIS — Sonny Thompson was creating some otherworldly sounds with his five-string, left-handed bass last week in a northeast Minneapolis rehearsal space.

"That's how people from Romulus play bass," drummer Michael Bland joked in admiration.

Bland and Thompson, veterans of Prince & the New Power Generation, are, as Bland says, like "brothers from another dimension." That's why they call their new duo (Br)others. They will premiere their debut single, "Brother," on Saturday at a Prince tribute concert with an all-star cast.

Bland wrote it during the isolation of the pandemic.

"I was tinkering with a song one day and it became an autobiographical song about us," said the drummer, who plays in Soul Asylum. "I was thinking about the many corners of the Earth where it was just me and Sonny Thompson. On the Champs-Élysées, me and Sonny and a couple of ducks. Italy, eating pasta by the ocean. There's a specific connection I have with Sonny as a musician and as a person.

"I have three older sisters. Sonny is as close to a brother on this planet that I've ever known. We're brothers and we're others. That's the sci-fi angle of it. We're not of this place sometimes. We speak a language that only we understand."

While Bland wrote "Brother" about his relationship with his pal Thompson, the song has broader implications, the bassist feels.

"In this day and time, I think it's a perfect message," he said after the rehearsal. "Especially in this day of so much division and the way people are acting right now, we need people to think about each other as brothers and sisters and love each other more. We're one human race regardless of where you come from or who you are."

After Bland and Thompson intertwined their vocals and instruments, they turned the recording over to producer John Fields and percussionist Ken Chastain to season the sunny tune with some Beatles flavoring. "Sonny and I provided the funk, they provided the whimsy," Bland said.

The sunny single is being released by Hygh Tension Records, the Twin Cities label run by guitarist Ryan Smith of the Melismatics and Soul Asylum.

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