Emerson Drive frontman Brad Mates is enjoying raising his young family in Portland, Maine. But he is even more looking forward to getting back on the road with his Nashville based bandmates (Danick Dupelle - Guitar. Mike Melancon - Drums. Dale Wallace - Keys) , who return to Lethbridge, May 28 to play Average Joes.
“ I moved away from Nashville quite a few years now. It’s great here. It reminds me of home. I lived in Nashville for 16 years and don’t get me wrong I enjoyed it a lot in my 20’s but I grew up snowmobiling and ice fishing and camping, so I’m excited that my kids can grow up the same way,” said Mates, who grew up in Grande Prairie, where he began the band and hit the road right after high school.
“ Portland reminds me of that,” he said, noting his wife is from Portland, so moving there was an easy decision as a result.
“ I still get back to visit my parents every few months,” he added.
They released their most recent EP “ Tilt A Whirl,” late last year, which spawned a couple of hit singles “ Who We Are, And Good Hurt.”
“That was strange to me. I’ve always been the guy who was buying albums and cassettes when I was a kid. So I’m used to going in and recording 11,12 or 13 songs,” he said, adding he is pleased with the EP an the response it has received. He said it is a difficult to describe the rest of the EP.
“It’s a hard question. It really is a hard question. It’s a bouquet of flowers. ‘Who We Are’ is a top 10 hit. And there are others that would have been at home on our first album,” he said.
“ It will probably be a full length album,” he said.
“We’ve been doing this since we were 17. We looked at and written a lot of songs. So we may look back at them. Some of them didn’t make the cut for an album, but I still think they are really good songs,” he said.
He is pleased by the longevity of the band has impressed him even as the member s grew up , got married and started raising families.
“ When we started the band, we asked ourselves, let’s try this and hit the road and and see where it goes. It’s been 15, 16 or 17 years later and promoters still want to book us because people still want to come out and see us and we appreciate that. And 15 years have gone by fast,” he said.
“ We get to get up on stage and play music. That’s what it’s all about,” he said.
He said it isn’t too difficult living in Portland while the rest of the band is in Nashville.“ I get asked a lot if we rehearse. We don’t really unless we’re trying to figure out songs. When we started, we were playing six or seven nights a week in bars and clubs. Now, we’ve been playing these songs so long, they’re second nature to us and I know exactly what these guys are going to play,” he said.
He is excited to bring the band back to Alberta.
“In the Fall after every tour cycle, we look back on all the places we’ve played. We have a show in St. Albert which we have had booked for a long time and I hate to go up north for just one show. So I made sure our agent booked another one,” he said.
“ And every time we play Lethbridge, it is full of dedicated fans,” he said.
They are looking forward to another busy summer of playing festivals, several inCanada.
“We’re playing some fairs. So we’re looking forward to seeing people there and playing for them. To me that’s the best part,” he said.
Tickets for the May 28 show, which begins at 8:30 p.m. at Average Joes, cost $40.
