‘Moving FORWARD’
Lake Street Dive adds keyboardist, boosts collaboration
It takes a lot of work to play hundreds of shows a year.
Now try it as a drummer, who often doesn’t get any breaks.
This is why Mike Calabrese has upped his workout regimen.
“For the past two years, touring life got really hectic and it’s hard on the body,” he says during a recent phone interview. “I was displeased with the way my health was heading because I was playing show after show. I’ve been weight training or the past two years, and it’s done wonders for everything. Being a drummer takes a lot of focus, and I’ve added meditation to my routine.”
Calabrese is a member of the multigenre band Lake Street Dive.
The band is made up of Calabrese, Rachael Price, Mike Olson, Bridget Kearney and Akie Bermiss. It is touring in support of its new album, “Free Yourself Up,” released on May 4.
Lake Street Dive began working on demos for the album almost a year ago.
“After the summer tour’s rigorous schedule, we took time in the fall,” he says. “That’s when we did it for real over a couple months. We were never in the studio for longer than 10 days.”
The writing process was different from that for previous albums, as the members collaborated more.
There was also a personnel change with the addition of Bermiss, who joined the band on keyboard in the summer.
“He’s amazing,” Calabrese says of Bermiss. “We also worked with Dan Knobler in Nashville. He was our engineer, and it became clear pretty quickly that he was the man who was going to push us. We started to rely on Dan more and more. He helped pick the guitar tones on songs. That’s why the record sounds so good.”
Calabrese says the addition of Bermiss has opened up the sonic palate for the band.
“We’ve always had this understanding that we trust in each other,” he says. “That’s been the key to the success of the band. We all have a passion for music and what we do. There’s never anything less than 100 percent.”
Lake Street Dive will perform the majority of the new album on its current tour, Calabrese says.
The band also will perform some songs that didn’t make the album.
“We had about seven that were cut from the final product,” he says. “We’ll also start diving into some back catalog tracks and reimagine some older songs. We’re always moving forward with our music and sound.”