Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

An interview with Emerson Drive



Emerson Drive has no direct connection to Winstock ­ but
there is a chance the group may be signed for Winstock’s 10th anniversary
next June.

They performed at the Minnesota State Fair this year. I
had a chance to talk to the group, which hails from Canada, after one of
their performances.

There are only a few bands in country music who have stood
strong enough to make it in the business. Past Winstock performers Sawyer
Brown, which just celebrated its 20th year together, Diamond Rio, and powerhouse
band Alabama, which is soon retiring, are some of the notable ones.

Emerson Drive is looking to join those ranks.

The six members ­ lead singer Brad Mates, fiddler
Pat Allingham, drummer Mike Melancon, keyboard player and guitarist Chris
Hartman, bass player Patrick Bourque, and guitar player Danick Dupelle ­ are
all from Canada.

Although they all haven’t been performing together since
the beginning of the band ­ Bourque just joined the band three
weeks ago after original bass player Jeff Loberg left to pursue his songwriting
­ they all have music in their background.

“It started in grade 11 in high school,” Mates
said. “We got together after a talent show and it was eight or nine
of us jamming to stuff we heard on the radio in my basement, and it was
a fun thing for a while.

After high school, the guys decided to ‘get serious’ about
it, and see if they could make a living in the music business.

“After we finished grade 12 in high school, we decided
to hit the road. We toured for the next five years in clubs, six nights
a week, two to three hundred days a year, and got a record deal two years
ago with DreamWorks Nashville,” Mates said.

With the final line-up in place, and their dues seemingly
paid, Emerson Drive is set upon getting their music out to fans and soon-to-be
fans.

“It’s just been a whirlwind ­ it’s been great,”
Mates said.

Everyone in Emerson Drive comes from a different background.
From classical music training, to George Strait, as well as AC/DC, each
member of the band brings a little something different.

“Everybody’s a little bit different,” Allingham
said about the bands influences. “I grew up listening to rock music,
and I was also playing classical music.

“Danick is the real traditional country guy in the
band. He played in his parents band growing up and listened to Merle Haggard
and Buck Owens.

“Brad went through kind of a country thing and a rock
thing. Chris is classically trained. Mike and Pat both went to college together
for their musical talants ­ Patrick on bass and Mike on drums, and their
influences vary from jazz to funk to rock ­ and honestly not very
much country.

“There’s not a very big country scene in Montreal,”
Allingham said.

Their first self-titled album was released in May of this
year, and right off the bat produced a top-five hit with “I Should
Be Sleeping.”

“It was pretty amazing ­ we weren’t expecting
it,” Mates said of the success of “I Should Be Sleeping.”

“We had a goal to have, maybe, a top 25 or even 20
song. It hit 20 and we were like ‘great, it’s still climbing.’ Than it went
15, 10, and eventually five, and we couldn’t believe it.

“The coolest thing now is that people sing the words
at our shows,” he said.

After the success of their first single, “Fall Into
Me” was recently released and is at number thirty-one on both charts.

“We had actually had the whole album done,” Hartman
said. “But DreamWorks came up with two extra songs after we were all
set and done, and one of them was “Fall Into Me.” Noted producer
Richard Marx heard the song as well and wanted to be involved with it.

“We quickly recorded it in two days, and it turned
out really well for us,” he said.

Their next single will probably be a ballad. The song “Only
God (Could Stop Me Loving You)” stands a real strong chance of being
the third single, Mates said.

He also noted that the guys are already looking for songs
for their second album.

“We’re excited to start a new project cause you always
want to beat the one before,” Mates said.

“We look for a style and songs that fit us as a band,”
Allingham said. “We have a few songwriters in the band, and we also
use outside material ­ it just depends where the motivation is.

“It’s looking for the best overall picture we’re trying
to paint.”

“It seems like in the past ten years, there haven’t
been too many acts that have made it,” Mates said. “We want to
have longevity in this, and be another Diamond Rio or Alabama.

“We’ll keep making music that people like, and as
long as they buy the records, and we can still play for them, that’s what
counts.”

Emerson Drive will be opening for Trick Pony at the Midwest
Wireless Center in Mankato Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.

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