Mates of State

Kori Gardner, handling keyboards and vocals, joined Jason Hammel, who played drums and sang, after both had already performed on guitar and vocals in Lawrence, Kansas; the pair launched Mates of State together in 1997. Their layered vocal harmonies and spare pop sensibility caught the ear of Omnibus Records, which issued the band’s inaugural EP as a split with Fighter D in 1999. Following a move to San Francisco, the duo unveiled its next EP, It’s the Law/Invitation Inn, alongside the debut full-length My Solo Project in 2000. Midwest tours filled the subsequent year as fresh song ideas kept emerging. Gardner and Hammel, wed in early 2001, secured a contract with Polyvinyl ahead of tracking new material. Summer dates alongside Superdrag, the Anniversary, and Beulah supplied both live momentum and road-written songs that shaped the 2002 follow-up Our Constant Concern. Polyvinyl re-pressed My Solo Project the following spring, then issued the next studio album, Team Boo. Once the Polyvinyl agreement concluded—with the 2004 EP All Day—Mates of State shifted to Barsuk, which put out Bring It Back in 2006 and Re-Arrange Us in 2008. Two years afterward came Crushes: The Covers Mixtape, while Gardner and Hammel simultaneously tracked the successor to Re-Arrange Us across six studios during an 18-month stretch. Mixer Chris Coady shaped the finished 2011 release Mountaintops. Sporadic touring marked the ensuing years, yet the arrival of two young children prompted Hammel and Gardner to devote greater attention to family life. They resurfaced in 2015 with the Fierce Panda hits compilation Greats and the EP You’re Going to Make It. That same year the pair also scored and appeared in Marc Brener’s film The Rumperbutts.