Lake Street Dive

Boston's Lake Street Dive are a fascinating blend of influences and complexity: jazz at heart, with an alternative D.I.Y. sensibility and a passion for classic rock and garage aesthetics. The band, comprised of singer Rachael Price, drummer Mike Calabrese, bassist Bridget Kearney, and trumpet-playing guitarist Mike "McDuck" Olson, first met and formed at Boston's New England Conservatory. The initial idea was to be a kind of free jazz country band, playing country songs in an avant-garde style, but the group's natural pop instincts kicked in, and the final sound the band came up with was a bright, fresh, charming, and exploratory version of jazzy pop/rock, full of hooks and plenty of R&B and soul flavors, with a big dose of the Beatles and British Invasion bands. The versatility involved in the music means Lake Street Dive are equally at home on an acoustic stage, at a summer festival, in a rock bar, or in a jazz club, and they quickly gathered a following on the east coast. The band independently released In This Episode… in 2007 and Promises, Promises in 2008 before hooking up with Signature Records, who issued their self-titled effort in 2011. The EP Fun Machine followed in 2012 and featured five cover versions (such as Jackson Five's "I Want You Back" and Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl") along with one original song. The album Bad Self Portraits appeared in 2014 with its "selfie"-referencing title track, also released as a single.