Your Three Words: 'Now' by Mates of State
March 19, 2011 — -- This week's featured Y3W song is "Now," by the husband-wife duo Mates of State.
Kori Gardner (keyboards, vocals) and Jason Hammel (percussion, vocals) first started making music together in 1997, and have recorded six studio albums as Mates of State.
Early on, they used drums and electric organ to accompany their signature vocal harmonies. They later began to incorporate a broader variety of instruments and additional musicians.
In the time since the band's initial formation, the couple married and gave birth to two daughters, Magnolia and June. The young girls often have joined their parents on tour, traveling to various shows in a minivan, and Gardner writes regularly about her dual role as musician and mother on her blog "Band On the Diaper Run."
In addition to their own tours, Mates of State have also performed in connection with NPR's "This American Life" tour and the children's show "Yo Gabba Gabba."
Their 2010 release "Crushes" is the first full-length album entirely recorded and produced by the Mates themselves. The track listing also is entirely covers, including re-imagined versions of songs by Death Cab for Cutie, Fleetwood Mac and The Mars Volta, among others.
Gardner and Hammel recently finished recording their latest album, which is planned for released in summer 2011.
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