Review by Darlene Altmann & Photographs by Ray Williams
Emerson Drive performed at the Sanderson Centre in Brantford, ON, on the 16th of March. I made the journey west along 403 to see the show from the 2nd row, left Orchestra. The band is made up with some of Canada’s talented musicians Brad Mates (lead vocals), Danick Dupelle (guitars and backing vocals), Mike Melancon (drums), Dale Wallace (keyboards and backing vocals), and David Pichette (fiddle).,The band now resides in Nashville. Emerson Drive was formed under the name of 12 Gauge in February 1995 after a few personal changes with band members and changed labels. They changed to Emerson Drive in 2000. The group was forced to change their name due to an American rap group already owning the name 12 Gauge. The band settled on Emerson Drive, which was named for the Emerson Trail that crosses Western Alberta and joins the Alaskan Highway.
The band 12 Gauge was formed when Brad mates entered a talent contest at his local high school. Having a successful studio album Until You Walk the Tracks which cracked the top 40 at #36 with single “Some Trains Never Come”
The band that we know now as Emerson Drive haven’t always had success, it’s been somewhat of a roller coaster ride, Patrick Bourque, formerly the band’s bass guitarist, resigned from the band in August 2007 for an unknown reason. On September 26, of that same year, he was found dead in his Montreal, Quebec home. At the time, the cause of death was not released by police and was eventually determined to be a suicide. The members of Emerson Drive learned of his death while traveling to a concert in Valentine, Nebraska. The band knew he was unhappy but couldn’t do anything for him. The band recovered from Bourque’s death and began recording their sixth album in 2008. It had singles on it like “Belongs to You” and “Believe”
It wasn’t until 2010 and album “Decade of Drive” was released. The first single “When I See You Again”, was released in November 2010.The song was written as a tribute to deceased member Patrick Bourque. Since then the band has been nominated many times in many different categories’ but last win was for Group of the year 2007.
I was very excited to see the band, as Emerson Drive is one of my favorite Canadian country groups. I just love their energy on stage and interaction with their audience. The Decade & Driving Tour is a celebration of a decade of great music and over a million miles of life on the road. In keeping up with the tour name, the bands first song was I Love This Road, where the whole audience could clearly see that the band’s passion is to really be out on the road doing their thing! Their next song was one of my all time favorites, Fall Into You, and the girls in the audience went crazy!
Brad asked the audience if they had noticed a bouquet of flowers on stage beside Dale (keyboardist). He said that earlier on there was a meet and greet with the band and a question was asked “if you weren’t in a band, who would you be?” Dale said a florist, hence the flowers, and Brad said a hockey player!! Of course being Canadian, we love our hockey! Next song was the Extra Mile, then Good Man. Then Emerson Drive gave us a taste of a new song called That Kind Of Crazy, which may be their new single off their new album, which could be hitting the streets as early as September, Can’t wait for that one!
The concert was great, the band sang all their hits such as Everyday Woman, their recent song Sleep It Off, Moments, Yesterday, and If You Were My Girl.
Then, Brad got serious and up close with the audience when he told us that he finds it fascinating how “music connects with People,” and how different songs have different meanings to different people. At the meet and greet, the band met a couple who had lost their son in a car accident and When I See You Again was therapeutic in helping them deal with their grief. The parents of the boy gave anniversary pins, as it was coming up to the boy’s 2 year anniversary of his death, to Brad, and Dannick who were proudly wearing them. Then he began to sing When I See You Again.
Next, the band expressed their humorous side and took pictures of the audience, and said that they will post up the pics on facebook and to tag ourselves in the picture if we saw ourselves.
They sang Let Your Love Speak, followed by the fan favorite Countryfried Soul, followed by Testify, then, lastly, I Should Be Sleeping, with everyone singing in the audience. The band then left the stage. Of course, the crowd wanted more! The band came back onstage to sing their encore, which did not disappoint! The encore was truly unique, and amazing! They sang a medley of songs from Kings OF Leon’s Use Somebody, The Rolling Stones Sympathy For The Devil, and ended with The Devil Went Down To Georgia by The Charlie Danniels Band.
What a great show! Thumbs up to Emerson Drive! And a special thanks to staff at the Sanderson Centre, I always feel welcomed, as the staff is always so friendly and helpful.
