Emerson Drive thrives after touring with Shania
By David Burke
Shania Twain’s belly button wasn’t all that got a lot of exposure last year across America.
So did Emerson Drive, a five-man Canadian country band whose lead singer said got an indescribable boost from being the opening act for the country-pop It Girl.
“It was amazing to play for that many people every night,” Brad Mates said in a phone interview.
Their time with Twain was only supposed to be for four shows, Mates said, but grew into 75 all together, from fall 2003 through summer 2004. That included an early summer stop last year with Shania at The Mark of the Quad-Cities in Moline.
They must have piqued fans’ interest, because album sales jumped after the tour and more people are coming to see the band’s headlining dates, including one a week from today at the RiverCenter Adler Theatre, co-sponsored by the St. Ambrose University campus activities board.
“Anybody that saw us open for Shania saw us for 25 minutes,” Mates said. “A lot of people who came out to wanted to see what the rest of our shows were like.”
Besides playing their own hits such as “Fall Into Me,” “I Should Be Sleeping” and “Last One Standing” as Twain’s opening act, Emerson Drive did a credible, countrified cover of U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” Mates said the foray into rock songs is something the band only does on stage.
“The only tough time when we have to pull back is in the studio. Live, you can get away with a lot more stuff,” he said. “You have to remember that less is more when it comes to getting songs played on the radio.”
That comes even though the band’s last album was produced by Richard Marx, best known for a string of 1980s’ pop hits. Mates said the pairing of the band with the singer-songwriter — who even let them move into his Chicago house during the recording session — was ideal.
“It was a great step for us musically, and we moved up a notch songwise,” Mates said. “We were trying to find songs that showed we were maturing.”
The members of Emerson Drive have played together for the past 10 years plus. But their just-stepped-out-of-an-Abercrombie & Fitch-catalog looks make many think they’re a processed boy band, thrown together by a producer.
“That’s always been the case with this group. It’s something we’re trying to work on from year to year,” he said. “When they see a picture on a Web site or a promo picture, I’m sure a lot of people will think ‘boy band,’ or that we’re fluffy when it comes to a live sound. Totally not the story.”
David Burke can be contacted at
(563) 383-2400 or
dburke@qctimes.com.
http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php...sic&c=5,1048310
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