 Emerson Drive lead singer Brad Mates isn’t just a country star; he’s also a husband, and as of our April 15 interview, was happily losing sleep in preparation of his first child. Mates admitted he was on “pins and needles” with his phone during our interview, waiting on the call that would finally tell the 32-year-old he was a country kickin’ daddy.
However, the good news should come long before Emerson Drive makes their appearance at Celebrate De Pere, so by May 30, there’ll be much to celebrate indeed.
Mike Thiel: You’re going to be at Celebrate De Pere in Wisconsin; have you been to the Green Bay area before?
Brad Mates: Yeah, you bet. Actually Green Bay is one of the most memorable places in our career because it was the first station that we had heard our first single on. In 2001 we released “I Should be Sleeping” and we were actually traveling to the radio station in Green Bay to do an interview and they played the song on the radio before we got there. Green Bay’s always been one of the most memorable places when it comes to our career.
MT: Do you remember what station it was?
BM: Yeah. I think it was Y100, right?
MT: That sounds right.
BM: We’ve played Green Bay quite a few times since then. We’ve traveled through the state as well doing different shows…You know there’s something special when it comes to fans for different artists and different acts, and for us, Wisconsin is definitely top of the list when it comes to going back and playing each year.
MT: Wisconsin has major festivals like Country USA and Country Thunder and you’ll be playing in De Pere; why do you think country music is such a great fit with the Wisconsin attitude?
BM: I think it’s just blue collar people. The majority of the people in Wisconsin can relate to the lyrics that are in most country music songs. I think that’s why people like Emerson Drive; we’re cut from the same cloth. You could blindfold somebody from Wisconsin, drop ’em in Alberta (Mates is from Canada) and they’d think they were still home. And vice-versa. So I think that works a lot in the way of connecting with people. When fans want to learn about your music, that’s one thing. When they learn about who you are as an artist, that’s another. It goes hand in hand and builds a fan base for the rest of your career.
MT: Your manager mentioned that your wife is expecting your first child any day now.
BM: Yeah. I’m kind of on pins and needles here with my phone ‘cause I don’t know what the deal’s gonna be here in the next few days (laughs). But I know one thing: we’re gonna have a little baby here and it’s our first one so pretty exciting for me.
MT: Girl or a boy?
BM: Little boy.
MT: So now you’ll not only have a wife but a family. How is your little one going to affect touring and your music career?
BM: Hopefully it adds to everything…It feels like its going to help in a lot of different areas when it’s comes to our career. Songwriting is only part of it. I love what we do and so do the rest of the guys and I get to come home to a great family as well so it’s the best of both worlds.
MT: “Moments” is your biggest single to date reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs in 2006; did you expect that song to be that big of a hit or was that a surprise to you?
BM: We all knew that if it had a chance to get onto radio and get played in front of a bunch of people, it had a great chance of being a hit song. You can never tell if a song is a No. 1 or not…You can have your record label pushing the song on the radio week after week, but if there never comes a time where fans take over and wanna hear it, that’s when a song doesn’t reach the top of the charts. We saw what happens when fans do love a song and wanna hear a song and it begins to take on a life of its own.
MT: What can fans expect from your performance at Celebrate De Pere?
BM: We’ve built our career on being a great live band; we make sure that people enjoy the show from the first song right to the very end and want to come back and see another show. We always take time for our fans after the shows with signings and really give people the opportunity to see who we are, not just as musicians, but as people as well.
MT: Survivor plays the other night of Celebrate; do you have an ace in the hole like “Eye of the Tiger”?
BM: (laughs) Yeah we’ve got one that’s been with the band for 15 years and it’s kind of the song you pull out if you definitely want to take it to another level. I can’t give it away but we do have that ace in the hole. n
April 2010
Zachary Coulter drove four and a half hours to kiss his two kids goodbye in Madison; then he left with his band for a five day, seven show stint at the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference in Austin, Texas.
I’m unsure what happened after the conference, when Coulter returned back to his home base of Minneapolis in March, but guesses are he drifted back to his shared apartment, looked through the bills, checked his work schedule and began tinkering with his band’s requested rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” for the Minnesota Twins.
Coulter is the front man of three-piece Minneapolis outfit Solid Gold, a genre blurring electronica/rock group that originated in 2002 during Coulter’s college years at University of Wisconsin Madison. The band’s other two members, Adam Hurlburt of Eau Claire and Chicago’s Matthew Locher, wholeheartedly complete Solid Gold’s bewildering, dreamlike sound.
At first look and listen, it may appear that Coulter and his band mates are living in some sweet, password protected dream world, but real life and rockstar weekends have their fair share of contrasting moments.
 Solid Gold, by Twin Cities hearsay, has been on the receiving end of the finger point when it comes to being the “rockstars” of Minneapolis, something that shocked Coulter when I revealed it to him in the interview.
“I didn’t cut my hair for about three years because I couldn’t afford it, if that counts as being a rockstar,” he laughed.
However, there’s no monetary excuse for his bubbly ol’ push broom (eat your heart out Ned Flanders); that’s just a retro style thing.
“If we’re rockstars in people’s minds, whatever. I think it’s kind of funny, especially balancing the father act with the supposed rockstar act. It’s just funny and silly to me.”
However, Coulter may be humbling himself, as the band has played numerous international festivals, remains in Twin Cities radio rotation and has created a string of professional, successful music videos, one of which appeared on MTV. Not all that surprising considering the band’s marketable image and style bending sound.
Also, Solid Gold is so crossover friendly that their music can coexist with almost any situation. One song has the equivalent relaxation effect of a nature sounds CD, while the next could easily replace Phoenix on Cadillac’s latest SRX commercial. The following song is the perfect pre-party track and the last song fits the mood for a late night drive.
After addictively listening to their debut album Bodies of Water and their latest, Synchronize EP, it’s undeniable that Solid Gold uncovers an array of feelings and musical moments that most bands spend their careers coming up short on. The scary thing is that it doesn’t even appear to be a wholly conscious effort.
“In terms of mass communication, in terms of the one language that crosses borders and cultures, music for the most part can do that more than anything else,” Coulter said. “It just comes out. I guess when I start writing songs I just feel stuff…like where you think you can truly help people or change people’s lives. I know it might sound corny but I think it’s just a bug you get.”
The band can’t feel any truer to their art right now, making sacrifices to put other careers on hold or off completely, working the travel grind and just wanting enough money to pay the damn rent.
“This may be the poorest point of a lot of our lives, but you’re kind of at the point where you gotta give in or not give in,” Coulter said. “You can’t keep regular jobs every weekend or every other weekend. We have some other income coming in but we live pretty cheaply, I’ll tell you that.”
A story known all too well by emerging musicians, Solid Gold’s humble beginnings hope to end in breakout success. Though “making a living” with music is the first goal for Coulter’s band, satisfaction lies in sharing their art with the masses and painting their piece on the growing mural of pop culture.
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