It's been ten years since Emerson Drive's first hit single, "I Should be Sleeping," broke into the top five on the country music charts. Since then, the band has been a fixture of country radio and has seen a great deal of success. This year, to celebrate the decade of success, the band is releasing a new greatest hits collection, "Decade of Drive," and is touring the country. On February 20, 2011, they will be in Yorkton, at the Anne Portnuff theatre.
David Pichette, fiddle player with the group, has been with the group since 2003. He says that the group's success over the past decade is something they can be proud of, and he's especially proud of the band making a mark as a Canadian band.
"It's always great to find recognition in your own back yard. Just the fact that we've been able to put on shows around the country for ten years, I think we feel proud of that and are definitely looking forward to the next ten years of fun."
While the tour is in support of the greatest hits compilation, Pichette says that the band will bring along some new surprises with it. He notes that the show will be about not just where the band has been, covering the tracks that have made Emerson Drive a household name, but where it's going as well.
"We're tying the old with the new. It's going to be high energy, a lot of fun, and people can expect a really good time."
The tour will take the band to a wide variety of locations, from big cities to smaller towns. Pichette enjoys going to smaller centres, because it's an opportunity to bring music to more people.
"There are not a lot of artists or big acts that go to smaller towns, and people are used to having to travel to the bigger city, which is always a couple of hours away. It's fun for us to be able to visit people in their own turf and bringing the music to them," Pichette relates.
"That's the reason we do what we do, to reach out to people and connect with people in many ways."
While the band has seen some great heights in their career, there has been tragedy in their lives as well. The band lost bass player Patrick Bourque to suicide in 2007, and their new single "When I See You Again" was written as a tribute to their fallen bandmate.
Pichette describes the process of writing the song as difficult, as the band wanted to have a fitting tribute to Bourque. He says that the group went to Bourque's family for approval of the song, in order to make sure they were comfortable with the material and with the tribute being released.
"We're obviously still in the process of coming to peace with it, and you never really get completely at peace with it. At this point, it was the first time we were able to voice the feelings of losing a member in a song... It's a tribute to our fallen brother... Everybody has lost somebody in some way, and it really hits home to a lot of people, just expressing the feelings of losing somebody important," he recalls.
The process of compiling "Decade of Drive" was a difficult one, Pichette says, as the band had so much material they wanted to include.
"We could have definitely released a multi-album greatest hits, in the sense that there was so much music we wanted to put on this record. But, we had to get realistic and we had to start leaving a lot of stuff aside," Pichette recalls.
The album and the tour are not the only ways that the band is commemorating the past ten years. Pichette promises that the band's website - www.emersondrive.com - will be updated frequently with material which looks back on the past decade.
The new releases are about wrapping up the last ten years, Pichette says, as the band is preparing to go in a new direction with their career. He notes that the band is on a new label, is recording new music and is working with a new producer.
"It is just a new day for the band. This album and this single are turning the page on the last ten years and opening a new chapter for the next ten," Pichette notes.
The show will take place on February 20, at the Anne Portnuff Theatre. People can call 306-783-8722 to purchase tickets.
