Update: Lake Street Dive will headline Tipitina’s on Tuesday, June 21. We spoke with singer Rachael Price back in October of last year before their show at the House of Blues New Orleans.

Lake Street Dive have been putting a new spin on the old school pop sound of the 50s and 60s since 2004, when the group formed at Boston’s prestigious New England Conservatory of Music. Since then, the group has churned out albums and toured relentlessly in their quest to prove that a great singer, a tight band and a few good hooks can fill a room in any era.

And they’re making a solid case. Led by the cool confidence of singer Rachael Price and held together by the near-flawless musicianship of guitarist/trumpeter Mike Olsen, upright bassist Bridget Kearney and drummer Mike Calabrese, the band has built up a surprisingly young following with its throwback style. In fact, Price nails the soulful dynamism of the 60s so well that Jefferson Airplane’s Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady invited her to take up the role of Grace Slick at that band’s 50th anniversary celebration back in September.

I caught up with Price ahead of the band’s October 14 show at the House of Blues New Orleans to talk about their last album, playing old school pop in the electronic music era, filling in for Grace Slick and more.  

What do you have planned for your upcoming tour?

We are going to be down south for a little while, which is really great. We don’t get there that often. We’ll be playing some new material because we’ve been working on new stuff from a new record that is going to come out next year so. It’ll be a fun show.

Is there any stop on this tour in particular that you’re looking forward to?

It’s always fun to come down to New Orleans because I feel like it’s such a special city. I am from the south, so for me, living up in New York, touring down in the south always feels really good. It’s like I am back home for a few weeks. I like the people, I like the vibe. I’m happy we’re getting down there.

Can you talk a little about this new material? I know your last album Bad Self Portraits was released last year, though it was recorded a couple of years before that. What are the details on this new album?

It’s coming out early next year. We’ve been lightly sprinkling the set with new songs, but we are still trying to figure out how to play on them live. That’s because what we did in the studio is a little bit more, you know, produced. That’s about all I can really say on the album coming up next year. I’m very excited about it.

What’s the major difference then between your live performances and your studio recordings?

The major difference is that we generally have a couple other instruments in the studio. We keep things pretty paired down on stage, obviously. There’s only four of us. I’m doubtful that we’ll ever tour with anyone else except the four of us. Sop in the studio, we like to play keyboard, add extra guitars. We like to get a little zany with sound.

Some of your music seems influenced by what people might call an old time jazz sound. That kind of thing resonates more in New Orleans than in most places given our history and our culture. Do you notice a difference reaction when you play down here?

We’ve only played down there a couple of times, so I can’t really say if there’s a difference or not. We’ve always been received well every time that we’ve been down there, so I’m looking forward to another show. In the first time we played there was at this very small place called The Circle Bar and there were probably twenty people there. Then the last time we were at Tipitina’s, which was our first and real big show in New Orleans. So it will be great to come down there and play even a bigger show. Maybe I’ll be able to answer your question after that.

 

In this age of electronic music, are there any challenges that come with being a young band open old school sound?

I’d say it sort of helps. Even though that kind of music has always been played, it’s more exciting sometimes for people to see a band actually just playing their instruments and singing and that’s all their seeing up on stage. You do what you love and you try to do it well. I don’t really think it affects us at all that electronic music is the biggest style music right now. That’s great, that’s nice, here’s what we do.

How has your sound evolved over the years?

We were pretty awkward for the music school. We confused genres for many years. We were still studying jazz, a lot of experimental and avant garde, and then we sort of veered in a more pop direction. We realized that we all loved Motown and the Beatles, and we started writing songs that had verses and courses. It kind of went from there. Then when we added those background harmonies, which was  much later into us being a band, it stepped up the whole sound quite a bit.

It’s funny that you say a “pop sound” in reference to Motown and the Beatles when that music has so little in common with most pop music today.

It’s so true, yeah. We grew up with the music of our parents, so when we say “pop music” we’re talking about the Beatles. I mean, I hear pop music today that I like, but it’s definitely more foreign to me than the pop music of the 60s and 70s.

You recently teamed up with two legends, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassady, for a special 50th anniversary celebration of Jefferson Airplane at the Lockn’ Festival. What was it like to fill Grace Slick’s shoes with those guys?

It was so much fun. They were just incredibly welcoming and made it very clear that they wanted me to dig into the songs and really have a good time with this band. So we spent two days rehearsing and then we did the show. It was just an incredible three days. It was very warm and loving and it was one of the best musical experiences I have had.