Ridgefield Park band to appear at White House

It's an ill wind that blows nobody good. This year's White House Easter Egg Roll, the subject of media reports this week for its apparent disorganization, has proven a windfall for a boy band from Ridgefield Park.

Bro 4, a quartet of singers in the One Direction mold, is one of only two musical acts to be featured at Monday's event in Washington.

They got national attention Wednesday night, when the ABC late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" gave them a not-unsympathetic shout-out.

After deriding what seemed like this year's haphazard planning of the 138-year-old event, down to the late ordering of the wooden Easter eggs, and quipping that President Donald Trump must think that the Easter Egg Roll was " a menu item at P.F. Chang's," Kimmel took aim at the entertainment lineup. The previous year, he noted, the celebrity guests included Idina Menzel, Shaquille O'Neal and the Muppets. Cue the image of CaseyJones, Madison, Skyler and Levi Alam, the four harmonizing brothers who have been performing as Bro 4 for the last two years. 

"They're like, 'What the hell are we doing at this thing?' Kimmel quipped. But he also added, "I feel we're going to be hearing a lot more about them."

The four brothers of Bro 4 are indeed a little bemused by this turn of events. But Casey, 18 (guitar) Madison, 20 (bass), Levi, 21 (keyboards) and Skyler, 23 (drums) are not complaining. A great opportunity is a great opportunity.

"Basically that's one of the big things that everybody is talking about right now," said Casey (who says he was not named after the Grateful Dead song or the engineer) the youngest member of the group. "The question is: how a band from a little village in New Jersey, Ridgefield Park, ended up getting this crazy gig?"

The foursome didn't find out about their selection until last Saturday, April 8. They'll be doing three 20-minute sets on the White House lawn, at some point in the early afternoon. "We know we're going to be on a stage somewhere outside," Madison said. "As far as the White House layout, we're not really sure exactly where."

In fact, their selection may not have been so haphazard as that. For one thing, their managers, Starmaker Music Group of Clifton, put in a few calls. For another, they happen to share a pet issue with First Lady Melania Trump: bullying.

"It's been a very important thing in our messaging," Levi said. "It's not the main purpose of the group, but it's something we thought was really important to get out."

Their song "Bruises," about bullying, has an animated video featuring the Minions of the "Despicable Me" film franchise (the group is not making money off the video, so they are not violating copyright, Casey says). Another of their single, "Dreaming," is about to drop online; they have another anti-bullying song in the works. Bro 4 has already scored some major gigs, including Starland Ballroom, Webster Hall, and The QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning. But the White House tops them all. "We're trying to get some traction for the band," Casey said.

All four of the brothers, who attended Ridgefield Park High School, were bullied at one time or another. (A fifth brother, John Daniel  27, is not part of the group.) But Madison got it worst — and had the worst reaction.

"I grew up primarily, I guess you can say, in a tall and rap-based town," Madison said. "Growing up I was very short — I'm still very short — and I wasn't really into rap music. … I was mostly into classic rock and boy bands. When you're singing 'I Want It That Way' [by Backstreet Boys] in the hallways, and people are singing 'Candy Shop' [by 50 Cent] it's very, very different."

The singling out, and ostracizing, got really bad around the fourth grade, and started clearing up by the end of the seventh, Madison said. But the scars didn't go away so easily. By the ninth grade, he began to be plagued by depression; eventually he got suicidal. He tried slashing his wrists. "I started getting into cutting, things I really shouldn't have," Madison said.

It was his brothers — and music — that came to his rescue.

"He was hurting at this stage in his life," Casey said. "The thing he could go to was music. He had all of us as his support system. Not so many people are getting the support they need. What we're giving them [in Bro 4] is the same support we gave Madison." 

Ironically, the music that made Madison an outsider in middle school is the thing that has now propelled him to the White House — and maybe beyond.

"Another ironic part of that is, now were incorporating rap into some of our music," Madison said. " And I'm usually the one that is doing the rap."

Email: beckerman@northjersey.com