Lake Street Dive


Lake Street Dive is a multigenre band that was founded in 2004 in Boston, Massachusetts. The band's original members are Rachael Price, Mike "McDuck" Olson, Bridget Kearney, and Mike Calabrese. Akie Bermiss joined the band on tour in 2017 and is on their 2018 album. Lake Street Dive started at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. The band was named after a street with many dive bars in Olson's hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band tours in North America, Australia, and Europe from their base in Brooklyn.

Early history

The initial idea in 2004 was for the group to create a 'free country band' — as in country music, played free. This concept was abandoned in favor of something that "actually sounded good", according to Mike Olson.
The band recorded a song written by Bridget Kearney which was submitted to the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. As a result, Kearney won the Jazz category in 2005. With the cash and 1000 CDs award, Lake Street Dive recorded their debut CD in 2006, in this episode.... They did another self release called Promises, Promises. The video filmed live at the Lizard Lounge in 2010 and released in 2011 set the stage for their Lake Street Dive album.
In the early years, Lake Street Dive juggled their tours with other commitments. Between their first brief performance in a Des Moines, Iowa rock club in 2007 and their May 2011 appearance at The Berkeley Cafe in Raleigh, North Carolina, they performed around 100 times in 24 states. In September and October 2011 they traveled to 13 states and played in 22 venues.

Label eras

Signature Sounds

Lake Street Dive released their first Signature Sounds Recordings album, Lake Street Dive, in November 2010. They credit Jim Olsen, President of Signature Sound, as being the band's dad, “because of all the support he gave us when we were so infantile.”
By 2012 the four-piece band decided to make a strong commitment as a group and to tour. Bridget Kearney left her other band, Joy Kills Sorrow, to concentrate on Lake Street Dive. They went into the studio to record the album Fun Machine and some singles in November 2012.
Lead singer Rachael Price was still under contract with another label, Claire Vision. This prevented them from releasing the album recorded in the Fall of 2012 featuring Price. In late 2013, an agreement was reached and Lake Street Dive announced the release of their album Bad Self Portraits in February 2014.
In 2013 and 2014 they played over 300 gigs in more than 175 different cities, spread between 43 states and 8 countries. Their Bad Self Portraits tour sold out in 40 venues at the start of 2014. "We love all the same songs...We sing along in the car" is the opening line from the only song they co-wrote together and tells something of their life on tour.
On YouTube, their Jackson 5 cover of "I Want You Back" on a street corner has received more than 6 million views. Its viral success helped promote the band's visibility and popularity. Their performance at the 2013 FreshGrass Festival was filmed and directed by noted Brooklyn audio/visual collective Mason Jar Music. In December 2013, T Bone Burnett asked them to perform on the Another Day, Another Time show at The Town Hall featuring music from and inspired by the Coen brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis. Lake Street Dive has appeared in on many television shows: The Colbert Report, The Late Show with David Letterman, Conan, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. They are also frequent guests on the public radio variety show Live From Here.
The band has uploaded numerous videos, including their annual, humorous Halloween covers.
The band made some significant changes in their operations in 2015. In the winter they started work with Dave Cobb on a new record/CD in Nashville, signed with Nonesuch Records in November and prepared for the release of their new album. In 2015 they performed at only 98 venues. However, they toured Australia and New Zealand in March, then picked up their usual pace until December. Their traditional Halloween video was , done in the style of Queen.

Nonesuch Records

Lake Street Dive signed with Nonesuch Records in 2015 and released Side Pony in February 2016 with their new label. The album's name refers to a hairstyle adopted by Kearney and is slang for "unexpectedly diverting the mind's attention". The band made 183 appearances in 2017 and 2018, including tours through North America, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia.
The band released their second album with Nonesuch, Free Yourself Up in May 2018. Kearney says, "This album is based in the realities in our time which have inevitably become part of everyone's daily life. It's something you think about and obsess over—and write songs about. Free Yourself Up is about empowering yourself, emboldening yourself, no matter what's going wrong." In November 2018, they released Freak Yourself Out, a five-song EP of songs written but not recorded for Free Yourself Up.

Influences

All the band members were singing and/or playing musical instruments by the time they were in third grade. Most had some classical music training growing up and their parents were musicians. In their own way, had migrated to jazz by the time they met. However, the band says they were influenced by the music their parents were playing at home. This ranged from classic jazz to '60s soul to rock and roll.
The band members profess to love the entire Beatles discography. Kearney wrote "Hello? Goodbye!" and the band plays "Don't Make Me Hold Your Hand", both referencing Beatles tunes. Olson says he was inspired by Paul McCartney's love/vice lyrical concept in "Got to Get You Into My Life" when he wrote "You Go Down Smooth."
The band's traditional Halloween specials and covers on the EP release Fun Machine give an idea of the genres that influence them. These range from songs by the Mamas and the Papas, ABBA, the Drifters, Fleetwood Mac, Hall & Oates, Jackson 5 and Paul McCartney.
The band has been influenced by classic pop and swing era jazz. "We want it to sound like the Beatles and Motown had a party together," says drummer Mike Calabrese. Critics describe their music as "Sounds Like: Llewyn Davis's favorite pop group; Motown meets the Brill Building in jazzy, soulful, woulda-been Sixties chart toppers."
Price has said that the band's performances are influenced by the audience in front of them. "We are translating on stage, trying to figure out what kind of energy to put out to the crowds. For the first time we feel we can mold the energy of a room."

Discography