Emerson Drive
Emerson Drive is Brad Mates, (vocals), Danick Dupelle, (guitar) Jeff Loberg,(bass), Chris Hartman, (keyboards), Pat Allingham, (fiddle) and Mike Melancon, drums.
(Q)- Do the six of you have any “solidarity rituals”, or things that you do whenever the group encounters a difficult time?
Brad Mates- We just do out thing man. (he laughs) You know what? We never thought that we’d be at this stage seven years ago. Coming from a small town in Canada, we never thought that we’d make it to the point where our single would be on national radio and we’d have a new album coming out. We had big dreams but never this big. We just roll with it and let things happen day by day. What we are good at is if something is presented to us and it is in our face and we have to deal with it right there and then, we just stomp on it and get it out of the way.
(Q)- Country music in your case, has certainly been an apprenticeship experience. Yet, as with many new artists, it all is around that hit single. Now that, “I Should Be Sleeping” is firmly on radio, how has the way the country fans treat the group and yourself as the front man, changed?
Brad Mates- First off just seeing the huge amount of fans coming out to the shows, has really been an eye opener. We had a lot of people come out to see Emerson Drive play. And that wouldn’t have happened even one month ago.
(Q)- Has there been one show, one definitive moment when you looked at the guys and said, “Hey, this is right, it’s really happening”?
Brad Mates- We had four thousand screaming girls for a show in Washington DC recently. And, we’ve never had that happen to us before. It was scary. We quit playing the song, “I Should Be Sleeping” and for the last minute, we just let the crowd sing the song for us. It was actually absolutely cool and yet it was really weird to see the audience of four thousand girls singing the song back to us. The weirdest thing was, when we got done we had hundreds of girls screaming and yelling back and forth and then, when we left the stage, they wanted our autographs and stuff. It was incredible! Then all of a sudden we looked at each other as these hundreds of girls kept coming up to us and we realized, “Oh my! We need someone to take us (escort) out of here!” While it was really cool and we loved meeting the fans we realized once we got back on the (tour) bus, that we had really had a huge impact on our fans. It was such a roller coaster. There have been so many highs and lows and that was the biggest high we’ve had yet. Once I got on the (tour) bus, thinking that we had four thousand people singing and screaming our song, it was surreal!
(Q)- So what’s it like for you to personally experience the “star” treatment from the fans?
Brad Mates- We all come from great families, we grew up in small town and we have very good backgrounds. Yet, after a show like that, being grounded and down to earth, is what keeps us going and what keeps us real as individuals and as a band. And as long as we can keep that attitude, that is what’s going to keep us going and take us further.
(Q)- Why have the fans, in your opinion, reacted so strongly to the single “I Should Be Sleeping”?
Brad Mates- It is a very catchy song to begin with. It’s about six young guys who are putting out music that is fresh and new. We’re in a good place right now because there’s not another young band out there in country music right now. The reason I say that it is fresh and new is we play every genre of music, except rap and when you listen to our new album that’s why it sounds different and unique hopefully. I don’t think an actual group that plays on the records as well as live, has been in country music since Diamond Rio and before that, Alabama. We played on the recording and we’ve played every instrument so obviously, it is going to sound different then anything else coming out of Nashville. I think that with us being on the road and playing all of the time, (over six years) has made for a big difference.
(Q)- There is also the way you handle the vocals for romantic ballads. Singing any romantic ballad is all too often like walking a tightrope for a lead singer. It is important to make the song sound credible and to make the video look “right”.
Brad Mates- For an individual who is only a listener, they’d never get to see what we look like. And often when people look at us as a band for the first time, they’re somewhat taken back because we “don’t’ look like a country band”. However, once the listener gets the chance to know us by hearing a little bit of our music, then they “get it”. However the initial part, of actually hearing our music, that can be a little tough at times.
(Q)- You guys have a hip new look. How important is the image to you?
Brad Mates- I think that the basic clothes are what a teenager or a person in their early twenties would want to wear. I guess the younger generation can associate with the clothes we wear more then let’s say my parents would. If I walked into the living room at my parents house, with the clothes I wear on-stage, then my parents wouldn’t really understand what it was all about. But the younger generation understands it and we’re getting more fans from weeks to week. So as far as our stage clothes, I think we’re doing something right. I think country music is one of the only genres, I feel it’s like this, pop and rock all cultivate to what is changing in the music industry from year to year. And previously, I’ve found that country music has had a hard time doing that at times. Now, today if we continue to approach this in the right way, then we can come across as being a country act. I mean, we were country from the beginning, we’ve just evolved into what this now is as a band today. If we can be ourselves and remain innovative in the music we play and the way we dress, then it’s only going to help us on the way down the road. That is then going to keep people interested in what we do.
(Q)- What have you noticed in regards to being in a group as opposed to a solo artist and solo, male vocalist?
Brad Mates- The one thing that I find is happening is that each fan out there has an individual in this band that they personally can associate with. It’s not a situation in which, me being the singer, then the fans only see me. What we try and do is show people that we’re six people, that’s what makes Emerson Drive. I cannot think of too many other country groups right now who do that. Most of the focus is put on the singer and basically everyone else is there but they’re not, you know?
(Q)- Specifically what do you mean?
Brad Mates- With Emerson Drive, you learn about each individual it’s a lot like Alabama, people recognize each member and everyone wants to know about them. We wan the fans to have a following with each guy so they can get personal with them.
(Q)- Have you personally met your “country idol” or an individual whom has been influential on your own singing career since you’ve recently moved to Nashville and landed your record deal?
Brad Mates- Yes, There was one person who we all got to meet in January of this year. Randy Owen of Alabama. (At St. Judes Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.) We’ve always been big Alabama fans and Randy Owen is one of my favorite country recording artists. It was amazing to talk with him because he was so humble. I couldn’t believe it, with the amount of success those guys have had. The young guys like us, who grew up listening to Alabama and to finally meet him,(Randy Owen) he couldn’t be more humble then he was. It was great.
(Q)- What did he advise you regarding?
Brad Mates- We had a funny moment when we met him (Randy Owen). One of the fellows who works with us asked him, “So what do you think about their hair Randy?” Because this fellow was always teasing us about our haircuts. And he (Randy) looked at us and then he said, “You know what? It’s not about what’s in your head, it’s about what’s in your heart.” We loved it. Randy totally can see through everything and he knows that we’re a very serious group. He can understand that sort of thing.
(Q)- What does the term “country” in front of the word “music” mean to you today?
Brad Mates- We have come to the conclusion that we’re not going to sell ourselves short nor are we going to sell country music short. To me country music means music that comes right from the soul. So why wouldn’t it be right to record music that feels right? That’s what country music means to me.
(Q)- Does the time feel right for you and the guys in Emerson Drive to be on the country music genre?
Brad Mates- Yeah man it sure does. We’re young guys and it feels really good to be accepted at the age we are. We’re throwing music out there that’s a little bit different then everything else that’s out there right now. And, to have the industry embrace us, with our first song, the being excited about the live show and new disc, is what makes me excited.
(Q)- What about the audience for country music?
Brad Mates- Well what is country music going to be about in five years from now? I’m excited about country music and the one thing that really excites me is that we’re trying to get a young audience back for country music. It was there in the late Nineties, then it slipped away from us. So, it’s up to us to get that audience back.