Ravinia 2021 - Issue 3

Lake Street Dive’s latest album, Obviously , recorded what was ultimately a brief moment in the band’s life, with the then quintet now returned to a foursome, with drummer Mike Calabrese, bassist Bridget Kearney, lead vocalist Rachael Price, and keyboardist Akie Bermiss (left to right). SHERVIN LAINEZ In a word, it feels “awesome,” says Calabrese—especially because they recorded it in early 2020 in Nashville, finishing the album and returning home just five days before lockdowns hit. “We got it in just under the wire,” he continues. “To then have to sit on it for so long was maddening. But once we did [release it, in March 2021], it did its thing with flying colors.” Everybody’s got stories about how their life was turned upside down by the pandemic. For Calabrese, the whiplash between the end of 2019 and summer of 2021 was severe, impact- ing his life in ways both personal and professional. Married with one child already, Calabrese and his wife now have a new arrival, their “little COVID baby” born earlier this year. “There wasn’t really much else going on!” he says with a self-deprecating laugh. Still, you know the old saying about beginnings and endings. While the pandemic spurred new life—lit- erally, in the Calabrese household—it also marks the end of one Lake Street Dive era: One of the band’s four origi- nal members, Mike “McDuck” Olson, announced his departure this spring, then performed his farewell sets at a few live shows in early June, before the full tour for Obviously kicked in. In part, the change was perhaps inevitable. As Calabrese points out, McDuck “was the first member of the band to get married and have two kids. Those kids are school age now. For someone who’s been an introvert his whole life, he never expected this silly band he started 17 years ago to get as big as it did, you know?” But COVID factored heavily into the change. “The pandemic hit every facet of life. I can’t separate it from any decision I made in the last year, however big or small,” Calabrese ex- plains. Back in 2019, “we thought we’d tour on this record, then take a few years off. That was the original plan, to do a hiatus thing after Obviously . That got delayed and delayed and delayed. The combination of that, raising kids, and getting through a pandemic—and knowing, once it lift- ed, we’d have to get right back to work to pay our mortgages and rent—it was daunting. In a lot of ways, it’s the perfect time for him to get out. We’re all very supportive of his decision.” And with that, the band is a quar- tet again. The founding members— Calabrese on drums, McDuck on guitar and trumpet, Kearney on bass, and Price as lead vocalist—first came together in 2004 in Boston, while attending the New England Conser- vatory of Music. (Years later, they added a fifth member, Akie Bermiss, in a story with a fun Chicago con- nection; more on that momentarily.) “Lake Street Dive was basically just an extension of extracurricular activity. That was our garage band in college,” Calabrese says. “We’d put my crappy drum set in the trunk of our car and drive to a boba-tea joint to play songs for three hours for free tea.” Flash forward nearly a decade, and the foursome was still jamming to- gether, although some of the members were also in other bands. Still, because Lake Street Dive had started to amass a following, they decided to really go for it. “We figured, if it’s ever gonna happen, we have to fully commit,” Ca- labrese says. “Which is a good lesson for anything in life, really.” One way to garner extra ears is to lure listeners with cover songs. So they recorded Fun Machine , an EP featuring their takes on beloved pop RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 18 – SEPTEMBER 6, 2021 14