In Conversation with: Lake Street Dive

Few artists can withstand the currents of an ever-changing music industry and manage to stick around, let alone amass a cult following in the way that Lake Street Dive have.

Since forming in Boston back in 2004, the band have established themselves as sophisticated musicians with the power to bring any stage they take to life. They’ve toured their six albums around the world, stopping here in Manchester for the first time only last year for a mesmerizing performance over at New Century Hall.

As they return to our city, we were curious to dive into the artistry of the five-piece and dig into the impression Manchester left upon them.

“Having only made your Manchester debut last year, what were your impressions of our city?”

The synthesis of our musical ideas made us better and we were always inspiring each other, but also sharing the behind the scenes work and learning to collaborate well and trust one another’s talent. Remember that photographers, managers, crew, etc. are just as vital in making live music happen as you are, it’s about forming a circle.

“Can you take us through what your pre-show rehearsals look like? Any special rituals?”

40 minutes before the show we all convene and start getting our heads in the game. We do vocal warm ups together and then usually play a song or two together backstage. Then we all get into our show clothes. We always have a little chant that we do together right before we walk on stage but it changes from tour to tour. Right now we’re on this thing where we say “Pizza pizza pineapple peaches oh” and then split that up into 10 syllables that we each say in succession. So Rachael says “Pi” Bridget says “zza” Akie says “pi” James say “zza” Mike says “Pie” Rachael says “na” 

Bridget says “ple” Akie says “pea” James says “ches” Mike says “oh” and we do this on loop. It’s like a little rhythm challenge to get our brains engaged and get in synch with each other. If it hasn’t been obvious already, we are nerds!

What can your Manchester fans expect from the set?

We try to make the sets as dynamic as possible. We wanna get you dancing but we also wanna get you thinking and if you’re in the mood to cry, we’re there for that too.

Any teaser for the setlist?

Well, I can’t say what it is but we might be preparing something extra special for Manchester in particular! And we’ll also be doing some of our brand new unreleased songs and some of the fan favorite songs that we know people like to sing along too!