Bastards of Soul Find Joy in the Sadness on 'You Let Me Down Again' — Featuring Vocals of Late Chadwick Murray (Exclusive)

The band's frontman died of a pre-existing pulmonary condition at age 45 in September 2021

It was never supposed to be the last recording session for Bastards of Soul.

“The circumstances around that shoot were that it wasn't even supposed to be a shoot,” remembers Bastards of Soul bassist Danny Balis, 55, in an interview with PEOPLE. “Really, it was a recording session for us to go in and cut two songs.”

One of those songs was “You Let Me Down Again.”

But as the story goes, award-winning filmmaker/producer/director Paul Levatino just happened to be on hand that day to record the session, and ultimately captured the East Dallas based band’s final recording session.

Because exactly two months later, Bastards of Soul’s charismatic front man Chadwick Murray was gone.

“We had no idea at the time that he was even sick,” reflects Balis. “And even if we did, it was always something like, 'Geez, Chad seemed a little out of breath last night at the show. Maybe he's not warming up properly.' Or we would have to cancel a studio session because of Chadwick's voice. He would mention that his allergies were really bad.  Or he would complain about his sinuses. When he would sing, he would have trouble getting any air to come out, but we weren’t worried. He would get a vocal coach to come in and work with him. There was no real indicator that there was a true deeper health issue in play there.”

But worry for Murray’s health was to come soon after, as the man always full of life was admitted into the hospital weeks after the recording session for “You Let Me Down Again,” and he would stay in that hospital for a total of three weeks.

“The symptoms weren't so severe until it was just too late,” says Balis. “I didn't fully understand how bad this was until the day before he passed away."

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It was on that day that Balis received a message from Murray’s best friend Max Hartman, and the news was far from good.

“He told me that it was going to take a miracle for Chad to survive,” Balis remembers quietly. “And that's when I started getting my head around the fact that this was far worse than what I had originally thought.”

Chadwick Murray died on Sept. 1, 2021, due to complications of a pre-existing pulmonary condition. He was just 45 years old.

But now, the essence of Murray and the footage from that final recording session will forever be captured in the music video for Bastards of Soul’s new single “You Let Me Down Again,” with both the music video and single premiering exclusively on PEOPLE. And for Balis, it will forever be this song and this music video that will serve as a wonderful way to remember his friend of over 20 years.

“He just had that really magnetic, charismatic vibe about him that was immediate when you met him,” says Balis of Murray. “And it probably didn't hurt his cause that he had one of the most infectious, loud, borderline annoying laughs you've ever heard in your life. It came from the depths of a place that — well, it just bellowed. It was a joyous bellow."

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Even more gratifying to Balis is knowing that the music video will now also serve as a lasting remembrance for Murray’s widow Hannah Murray and their 3-year-old son Lennox, who was born in the same hospital in which his father was being treated, and in the same hospital in which Murray ultimately died.

“His little boy is going to grow up knowing an element of his life that a lot of people would not have had insight into if they had not been doing what Chadwick did for a living,” says Balis of the music video for the song that will now live on Bastards of Soul’s third and final album Give It Right Back. “I think it's important for us to leave something for Lennox that gives him a greater understanding of what his dad was truly like.”

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