The Drive

The Drive is a touring pop rock band from Rhinebeck, NY whose roots trail back to early 2010. It all began when two former band mates had a conversation about what genre of music they wanted to play. Dan Edwards and former bassist (of The Drive) made a decision based on their love of Alternative Pop-Rock music. They went through high school listening to bands like; All Time Low, Cartel, Green Day, Forever The Sickest Kids, We The Kings, The Plain White T's, and many other bands of this style. They knew this was the type of music they wanted to play but they wanted to stand out. In April of 2010 The Drive recruited a female vocalist from the nearby town of Red Hook to give a shot at the band. After the audition they saw the potential and knew what could happen, so they selected Alix Dubernard to front the band on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. Dan Edwards, Alix Dubernard, and the former bassist quickly recruited a drummer and keyboard player to join them and after recording some home made demos, landed themselves a big opening slot with Wind-Up Records' Cartel for their first show.

After The Drive's first show in June of 2010, the band played various miscellaneous local shows throughout the rest of June and July. In early August, an argument regarding songwriting style and the band's future plans resulted in the departure of the band's drummer and bassist. With recording time booked for late August, they needed to quickly find a solution. Strongly determined and each being multi-instrumentalists, Alix, Dan, and former keyboardist decided to continue with the plans to record their debut EP, even missing a drummer and bassist. After 2 weeks of endless work and the learning of (now missing) instrument parts, they entered Rough Magic Recording Studios in Poughkeepsie, NY with producer Jon Stern. With a low budget, the band recorded, mixed, and mastered their entire debut EP in 2 short days. In September, The Drive unexpectedly announced that their EP would be available on many online music stores, including iTunes, through Island/Def Jam Record's Distribution program.

On October 22nd, 2010, The Drive released their debut EP online (through Island/Def Jam recs) and as a physical CD. They played a release show with a temporary drummer and guitarist for the CD that night at The Loft in Poughkeepsie, NY. Before the show, the band ordered a few dozen t-shirts and 50 physical CD's for the show. The Drive's merch table was sold out by the time of their departure. After signing their CDs, shirts, and pictures the band packed up and left for the night. Just days later, the band announced that they would be working with a local based entertainment company, Massive Action Productions (and artist management) for promotion and tour booking. The Drive is still using Massive Action Productions for management and tour booking.

At this point, Dan Edwards moved to rhythm guitar so that Alix could focus on her singing without having to worry about guitar parts. The band found a temporary drummer, bassist, and lead guitarist to play all upcoming shows. With their EP selling impressively, in November of 2010, The Drive announced that temporary guitarist, Ryan Nichols (who also played guitar solos on two tracks of the EP), would be joining the band as a permanent member. Throughout the rest of November and December, The Drive waited as Massive Action Productions booked up their first tour which spanned from January to May.

The Drive had an impressive line up of festivals/venues to perform at, but they went into the tour prepared. In January of 2011, the band's temporary drummer hinted his soon-to-come departure and shortly after, he announced that he would only be able to complete the first half of the tour due to personal reasons. So during the tour's two week break in February, the band auditioned several drummers and eventually selected another short lasting drummer. The band completed the rest of the tour impressively, earning hundreds of new fans and seeing their name on big bill shows with bands like; Good Charlotte, Third Eye Blind, Sparks The Rescue, and many many more. After the tour, their recently released EP began picking up sales in Europe and becoming a successful album overseas as well.

After the tour, the band played several miscellaneous local shows with a strong line up; Alix Dubernard,, Dan Edwards, Ryan Nichols, a live drummer, and their live bassist. In September of 2011, The Drive announced that they would be headlining a Winter tour, asking fans for venue suggestions and promising an upcoming release of tour dates. In October 2011, the band announced that Chris Hoose would be the band's new permanent drummer. They also announced that Matt Dowden would be their live bassist for the Winter tour.

Currently, with a fan base in most US markets, the band is working on new material and briefly leaked details that they would begin the recording of their new album with producers Dave Ryan and Rob F