Lake Street Dive

Lake Street Dive
Lake Street Dive L-R: Mike Calabrese, Rachael Price, Bridget Kearney, and Mike "McDuck" Olson at Albino Skunk Music Festival, Greer, SC 2013.
Background information
Origin	Boston, MA
Genres	Southern rock, indie pop, blue-eyed soul, jazz, folk rock, motown
Years active	May 2004 - present
Labels	Signature Sounds Nonesuch Records
Website	www.lakestreetdive.com
Members	Rachael Price Mike "McDuck" Olson Bridget Kearney Mike Calabrese

Lake Street Dive is a multi-genre band that was founded in 2004 in Boston, Massachusetts. The band consists of Rachael Price (lead vocals), Mike "McDuck" Olson (trumpet, guitar), Bridget Kearney (upright bass), and Mike Calabrese (drums). They met while attending 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.

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.

Lake Street Dive signed with Signature Sounds Recordings. They released Lake Street Dive in November 2010.

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 an album 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.