Mates of State has real family harmony
When talking to Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel , the husband- and- wife duo behind the indie-pop outfit Mates of State, it's difficult to tell where the story of their relationship stops and the history of the band begins. For the group, which plays the Middle East on Wednesday, matters of love and music have never been mutually exclusive.
Since meeting at the University of Kansas in Lawrence nine years ago, Gardner and Hammel have slowly carved a niche with their intimate sound. Gardner, who plays organ and sings, weaves her sweet cooing around Hammel's walloping drum beats and yelping vocals. The two are a sort of family band, traveling the country with their 2-year-old daughter in tow.
But back in 1997, he was playing in a rock band and she was involved in what Hammel calls ``a sort of two acoustic guitars and a bongo drum player kind of thing." Both were dating other people, but they got to know each other via e - mail.
``It was one of those Internet romance things where I'd go to the computer between every class to see if she had written me back and she would do the same," he said. ``So we started dating, and maybe two or three weeks into dating, we decided maybe we should attempt to play together."
After proving they could in fact work together, both playing guitar in a band, the two began experimenting with an organ Gardner had acquired. They brought their sparse tunes to an open mike and realized they had stumbled upon something special.
Their pop melodies, however, didn't quite fit in the Lawrence scene, which Hammel described as ``just a rock town."
The pair packed up and headed out to San Francisco where the sun and welcoming community helped nurture their music.
As a band and as a couple, 2001 was the turning point. They had been doing short tours while working other jobs (she was a schoolteacher and he was a cancer researcher), but playing all weekend and coming into work early Monday morning was taxing. So that spring they quit their day jobs to focus on the band.
That summer, they also decided to get married, but, once again, music would be a huge part of it. Besides writing the entire ceremony, Gardner walked down the aisle to Cat Power's cover of ``I Found A Reason" and the rest of the wedding party entered to Nick Cave's ``(Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?"
The first year of serious touring that followed wasn't easy. They took their lumps, sleeping on floors and playing shows to 10 or 12 people. Little by little, though, they began to see growth. The band kept up the grueling schedule even when Gardner got pregnant on a tour with Death Cab For Cutie in 2003.
``There were moments when I was pregnant and we were playing and we would have to stop in the middle of the set and be like `Does someone have a chair? I need to sit down,'" she said.
After the baby was born in 2004, the touring lifestyle changed completely. Hammel said they cater everything to the baby's schedule, from naptime to meals. Their daughter, Magnolia, stays at the hotel most of the time with a friend they bring along to help watch her while they play.
``I'm hoping like 10 years from now it's not going to be even hard -- there's going to be like a kid room or something to play in when you get there or day care or whatever it is," Gardner said. ``It's not a normal workplace, but it can satisfy family needs, and I know that sounds so anti-rock 'n' roll, but I really don't think it has to."
