About Lake Street Dive

Lake Street Dive is an American multi-genre band that was formed in 2004 at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. The band's founding members are Rachael Price, Mike "McDuck" Olson, Bridget Kearney, and Mike Calabrese. Keyboardist Akie Bermiss joined the band on tour in 2017 and was first credited on their 2018 album Free Yourself Up; guitarist James Cornelison joined in 2021 after Olson left the band. The band is based in Brooklyn and frequently tours in North America, Australia, and Europe.

The group was formed in 2004 as a "free country band"; they intended to play country music in an improvised, avant-garde style. This concept was abandoned in favor of something that "actually sounded good", according to Mike Olson. The band's name was inspired by the Bryant Lake Bowl, a frequent hang out in the band's early years, located on Lake Street in Minneapolis.

In 2005, band member Bridget Kearney won the Jazz Category of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest with the band's performance of her song "Sometimes When I'm Drunk and You're Wearing My Favorite Shirt." Using their prize Lake Street Dive released their debut album In This Episode... in 2006. The band released their next album Promises, Promises in 2008. The full-length concert film and live album Live at the Lizard Lounge was recorded in 2010 and released in 2011.

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.

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 firm commitment as a group and to tour. Bridget Kearney left her other band, Joy Kills Sorrow, to concentrate on Lake Street Dive. Mike Calabrese also left his other band, Ward Hayden and The Outliers , to focus on Lake Street Dive. They went into the studio to record the album Fun Machine and some singles in November 2012.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Lake Street Dive", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.