At a time when division is high and negativity seems to infest every corner of people’s lives, Lake Street Dive has instead chosen to pursue a path of positivity.
Expect plenty of that when the band takes the stage at The Paramount on May 13. In keeping with that optimistic outlook, look no further than “Good Together,” the quintet’s recently released eighth full-length outing.
As founding member Rachael Price explains, the seed was planted when the band decided to engage in a songwriter’s retreat at drummer/backup vocalist Mike Calabrese’s Vermont home in early 2023.
“We came up with this general concept that we started calling Joyful Rebellion,” she recalled. “It came out of a desire not feeling like we were in the mood to be writing sad songs, negative songs or angry songs. And wanting to lean into more joyful subjects, but also not wanting to write a fluffy record either. We didn’t want to shy away from the things we were feeling. We just wanted to put a lot of positivity into the songs.”
Producer Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre/Fiona Apple) aided and abetted in this concept, initially coming aboard to helm Lake Street Dive’s 2021 effort “Obviously.” For Price, if the band was going to change things up by working together for the first time ever in the earliest and most vulnerable stages of songwriting, then Elizondo was going to be the person who was going to help make it all come off successfully.
“We’ve done co-writing in the past, but have never sat down in the same room as each other and looked at each other and stared into the empty canvas of what a song could be and come up with ideas with each other on the spot,” Price said. “Going into this process again, we had a lot more trust that he would be able to hear all the demos of the songs we’d been working on and know which ones were going to make the record. He’s just a confident voice and he doesn’t ever really put out bad music. When you have somebody like that saying a song is good and he knows he’s going to be able to make it sound good or that he knows how to get a great performance out of all of us, it just puts us at ease.”
What made this recording experience all the more special for Price was that she got to share it with her newborn daughter.
“It was the first thing I did after I had my baby,” she shared. “She was there with me and I had been at home with her for many, many months before that. For me, the most fun part was integrating her into that part of my life for the very first time and it was exciting.”
All those positive vibes combined with the Elizondo/Lake Street Dive chemistry are on full display on these 11 cuts, showing the band’s musical range. “Seats At the Bar” coasts along on a bouncy Tropicalia vibe and “Dance With a Stranger” gets juiced by a New Jack vibe and airy, ’80s-kissed synths while “Get Around” has a slinky, nasty funk vibe that has this jam coming off like a Sly & the Family Stone outtake. Elsewhere, Lake Street Dive digs deep into the feelies with cuts like “Twenty-Five,” a piano ballad that serves as a love letter to a past relationship that didn’t work out. The possibilities of bringing these songs to a live music setting has Price and her bandmates eager to hit the road, especially after hiring set designer Emily Cox to work on the band’s background setting.
“[Fans] can expect to hear the whole record and that’s exciting to be able to have that much of the show be that fresh,” she said. “We’ve got a new set and lighting design that we’re excited about. We spent a lot more time thinking about what we wanted the show to look like this time. The set is just a lot more fun and it visually expresses the band’s personality unlike anything we’ve been able to do before. We’re just excited to play around with the show and the way it’s all going to come together.”
Having seen Lake Street Dive achieve this strata of success that found them finding viral success via YouTube by way of a street corner performance of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back,” Price and her bandmates have kept their feet on the ground thanks to a small piece of advice from their drummer’s father.
“I think the best piece of advice I’ve ever been given was right before we went on stage for one of the biggest shows we’d played to date,” Price said. “We were all nervous and Mike Calabrese gave us a quote from his dad. ‘Nothing matters and nobody cares.’ I think people understand that sort of sentiment. You just need to be yourself and to do what’s fun for you. It’s just one of those things where you need to stop thinking about yourself and just have a good time. Nothing matters and nobody cares, so just have fun.”
Lake Street Dive will perform on Tuesday, May 13, at The Paramount, 370 New York Ave., Huntington. For more information, visit www.theparamountny.com or call 631-673-7300
