Lake Street Dive: My Beautiful Balloon
How do the members of the soul-pop quartet Lake Street Dive while away long hours on the bus as they tour the country?
"The current [tour bus] game is called Guess Butt," explained lead vocalist Rachael Price to Ask Me Another host Ophira Eisenberg. "One person lies face down, and you put various objects, unknown to them, on their butt. And they have to use their butt to guess what the object is."
Who is the reigning champion? Who once thought a guitar was a bag of socks? Clearly, this band, renowned for its third studio album Bad Self Portraits, and its contributions to producer T. Bone Burnett's showcase of music from the film Inside Llewyn Davis, enjoys spending time together.
The four artists (including bassist Bridget Kearney, drummer Mike Calabrese and guitarist Mike "McDuck" Olson) met while students at the New England Conservatory, and started playing music together--though McDuck is cagey about the first genre they explored, except to say it wasn't jazz. Jazz informs a lot of their sound today, but they've also been labeled as everything from "vintage pop" and rockabilly to Motown-swing. But, Kearney added, "we try not to limit ourselves."
The group's diverse musical talent was on full display in a round in which they revealed another tour bus timekiller: covering pop songs using balloons as instruments. Can you guess the titles of their squeaky melodies?
Plus, don't miss Lake Street Dive's Ask Me Another Challenge, in which these children of the '90s must correct Jonathan Coulton's wrecked lyrics to some of the era's most beloved radio hits.
This episode originally aired October 17, 2014.
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Transcript
OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:
You're listening to ASK ME ANOTHER from NPR and WNYC. I'm Ophira Eisenberg and with me is our one-man house band, Jonathan Coulton and our puzzle guru, Art Chung. Let's welcome our very important puzzlers, from the band Lake Street Dive, Rachael Price, McDuck, Bridget Kearney and Mike Calabrese.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: Welcome to the show, my friends. So Rachel, you guys are on tour having a good time. Do you guys play games in the tour bus?
RACHAEL PRICE: Yes. The current game is called "Guess Butt."
EISENBERG: "Guess Butt."
PRICE: Yeah.
EISENBERG: OK, I like it already.
PRICE: The one person lies facedown...
(LAUGHTER)
PRICE: ...And you put various objects unknown to them just on their butt in any way possible. And they have to use their butt to guess what the object is. I came up with that game myself.
EISENBERG: That's amazing. Who is the reigning champion?
PRICE: I guessed, I once guessed a table maybe once.
EISENBERG: A table?
PRICE: I feel like Michael Calabrese, our drummer, is the reigning champion.
MIKE CALABRESE: No, no, no, I'm the worst. I always - for some reason I always think it's a bag of socks. That's the only thing I can think of when - no matter what it is.
PRICE: He thought a guitar was a bag of socks. Yeah, you're right. He's terrible. In fact, no one's good at it, so...
CALABRESE: It's hard.
EISENBERG: You met in jazz school, right, in the New England Conservatory of Music?
PRICE: Correct.
EISENBERG: Were you in a jazz band? Did you guys come together and say let's play jazz?
PRICE: No. Actually, we came together and McDuck said let's play...
MIKE OLSON: Don't say it.
PRICE: I'm not going to say it. It wasn't jazz. We were trying...
OLSON: Let's play "Guess Butt" is what I said.
(LAUGHTER)
EISENBERG: I feel like people describe the music you're putting out a lot of different ways - vintage pop meets rockabilly, swing, soul, Motown. Bridget, how do you describe - like, if someone's like, what kind of music do you play? What do you say?
BRIDGET KEARNEY: We put it in like soul-pop category, generally.
EISENBERG: Soul-pop.
KEARNEY: Yeah, but I don't know. We try not to limit ourselves to either of those.
EISENBERG: OK guys, I'm excited you're bringing your diverse musical talents to this next game. So let's chat with our lucky contestant, please welcome Pamela Vachon.
(APPLAUSE)
PAMELA VACHON: Hi.
EISENBERG: Hi. Yes, you see what's going on.
VACHON: Yes, they're all blowing up balloons. That's terrifying.
EISENBERG: Isn't it? So Pamela, this is not your first time on the same - in the same room as Lake Street Dive.
VACHON: No. In fact, just last week, I took a bus to and from Boston in the same day to see your songwriting workshop at New England Conservatory. Yeah, I was there.
OLSON: Oh yeah. Oh hey, good to see you again.
VACHON: Yeah, you answered my question about literal songwriting.
OLSON: That's right.
VACHON: Exactly.
OLSON: Good to see you.
VACHON: I love that.
EISENBERG: That is so great.
VACHON: Thank you.
EISENBERG: So it was a good workshop, you enjoyed it?
VACHON: It was great. Yeah, it's going to come in handy when I start my Lake Street Dive tribute band, which is going to be called Fake Street Dive - copyright.
EISENBERG: Copyright. Well, this game is called "My Beautiful Balloon.
VACHON: OK?
EISENBERG: It turns out the band has a hidden talent. Rachael, I'll let you share the good news.
PRICE: I'm so sorry about this game you're about to play. We - this is a...
OLSON: It was this or "Guess Butt."
PRICE: This was pre-"Guess Butt." This was one of the first band games we liked to play. We are going just - we are going to play a song for you on these balloons and...
VACHON: Naturally.
PRICE: ...You have to guess what it is.
VACHON: Yeah.
PRICE: Yeah.
JONATHAN COULTON, BYLINE: Are you ready?
VACHON: I don't know that I'll ever be, but here we go.
EISENBERG: They are famous songs.
PRICE: Yeah, they're pretty recognizable and otherwise yeah, good luck.
VACHON: Thank you.
OLSON: One, two, three, go.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
EISENBERG: Pamela.
VACHON: "We Will Rock You..."
EISENBERG: Yeah.
VACHON: ...By Queen?
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: Same range as Freddie Mercury.
VACHON: Thank you for the drums. That was very helpful.
CALABRESE: Just providing some context.
PRICE: All right, you ready for the next one?
VACHON: Indeed.
PRICE: OK, one, two, three.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
VACHON: (Singing) Now I'm free...
OLSON: Yeah exactly.
VACHON: I'm free fallin'.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: That was originally written for the balloon, I believe.
VACHON: It sounded like Tom Petty, truthfully.
COULTON: I love the idea of somebody driving in their car and they're like, I wonder what's on public radio right now?
(BALLOON MUSIC)
VACHON: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
PRICE: Yeah.
OLSON: Yeah.
PRICE: That was very good.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
EISENBERG: Pamela, congratulations.
VACHON: Thank you so much.
EISENBERG: You won.
VACHON: Thank you.
EISENBERG: You get a prize...
VACHON: Oh boy.
EISENBERG: In honor of their new album, "Bad Self Portraits," Lake Street Dive has agreed to take a selfie with you...
VACHON: Oh my God, great.
EISENBERG: And if you want to check that out, you can see it by visiting our Facebook page, Facebook.com/npraskmeanother. Thank you Lake Street Dive for your amazing balloon talent on so many different genres of music.
(APPLAUSE)
EISENBERG: And we will see later in the show for your own challenge. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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