Great North Sound Society: Lake Street dive
For the last episode of The Great North Sound Society Podcast Series, I had the chance to interview Bridget Kearney, a renowned singer songwriter who is a member of one of my favorite bands of all time, Lake Street Dive. Lake Street Dive recorded their album “Bad Self Portraits” at Great North Sound Society and Bridget continued to utilize the facility as a writer's retreat. This space gave her the chance to escape her day-to-day and focus on her craft.
Lake Street Dive has a big heart for Maine and continues to come back year-after-year to perform in Portland. They will be performing this fall at Thompson's Point. I was just in awe that they had recorded one of their most popular albums here in the great state of Maine. I think you will enjoy learning more about Bridget’s songwriting craft and her experience at this studio.
Photos by: Sam Kassirer
So how did Lake Street Dive find out about this awesome studio in Maine?! “We knew Sam a little bit from his work with the Josh Ritter band. We're all big fans of Josh's music. We knew that Sam had had a big hand in what some of those records sounded like. Then, we heard that he had his own studio, which is remote, in Maine, kind of deep inland, like outside of town. So it sounded like a really great place to get away and kind of focus on the project of making the record, which for me has become a big part of how I like to make records. Making it kind of an event that is separate from your day-to-day, separate from what touring life is like and separate from what home life is like. You go to the studio and you're really able to kind of just stay in that zone for the space of the recording to take place,” said Bridget.
She shared with me that the most important thing to her when picking a studio to record at, is the vibe. There is always a concern for technical capabilities, but how the studio feels will always be top priority.
“One thing I really love about Great North Sound Society is that you can stay on site, it's a great place to hang out and then there are these two specific rooms that are primarily music making rooms. So, you also have a sort of focused area. It's like okay, now we're here and we're working on the record and all that fun stuff we did last night is over and we're working on the record again,” said Bridget.
Most of the writing is done before arriving at the studio, but there's still a lot of creative work that happens while being in the studio. Making decisions on instruments, arrangements and more after hearing things being recorded.
One thing I really wanted to talk to Bridget about was her songwriting. I wanted to know where this all started for her. “My older siblings played instruments growing up before I did and there was music around the house. My dad plays guitar and my mom plays piano and flute. Not professionally, but they're into music a lot. So, I was early on really excited about music. When I started taking piano lessons, I wanted to learn to read music really bad because I was just wanting to come up with my own little songs on the piano. So that was kind of my introduction to it.”
Recording at Great North Sound Studio
Credit: Greg Liszt
In junior high, she was in her first rock band where she began writing songs for. I love to hear that this has been her craft for most of her lifetime. In college, when she was studying jazz, she met her bandmates from Lake Street Dive, where they all confessed their love for songwriting. Bridget shares that she is still learning about songwriting to this day and still, “putting tools in her tool box.”
She shares that the band feels a special connection with Maine, from being in the studio or performing in Portland. “We’ve always found a super inviting audience, specifically in Portland. Elsewhere as well, but the people that put on concerts in Portland are really wonderful. They're such good hosts. They'll bring us lobster rolls and oysters to soundcheck, like crazy hospitality. Really, really nice to have been welcomed that way. So yeah, we're not going to stop coming back.”
See Lake Street Dive this summer at Thompson’s Point & hear more from Bridget on this episode of the Makers of Maine Great North Sound Society Series.
Thank you to Berlin City Auto Group for sponsoring this episode.