By Ryan Swan, ArtsEtc. writer

Mates of State coast into Madison for the third time in a year today, hot on the trail of their latest release, Team Boo. “It’s a lot like Lawrence, actually,” drummer/singer Jason Hammel told the Badger Herald via telephone. “It’s a college town, and everybody gets into the music that way. It’s just got that vibe.”

Kori Gardner (vocals/keyboard) and Hammel may be the most famous romantic couple of rockers to tour since Fleetwood Mac — or maybe the ambiguous White Stripes — but the point is deliciously moot. The pair is much more interested in the rock-out than the make-out.

Hammel and Gardner met at school in Lawrence, Kan., playing in a number of rock outfits. It was after their year-long stint as guitarists in Vosotros that Mates of State really took off. The two found that their tastes matched as well as their vocals, and after an impromptu engagement, they set about making their rock duo a reality.

“We fit in quite well, actually,” said Hammel, talking over the static connection of disparate keyboards. “Lawrence was really pretty straight-up rock. Lots of guys with guitars yelling.”

It doesn’t seem like the Mates would fit in so well. They break all the norms when it comes to rock arrangement. The equation is actually fairly simple: one kit plus one keyboard plus two voices equals four instruments. On stage sitting by itself, the equipment looks unimpressive, but when Gardner and Hammel take the stage, it all makes sense.

“We played a show in Tulsa once at Mohawk Park, if you know it,” interjected Gardner, remembering a story. “There were all these punk kids there, running around and drinking beer and stuff, and we pull up in our SUV and ask where to unload. We asked this guy when we were playing, and he just said, ‘No, trust me, you’re not playing.'”

The punks eventually submitted, though, and after culling together a setup by taping microphones to drums, the Mates put on a set that had the punks gleefully rolling around in glass bottles.

Mates of State have that kind of unclassifiable, transcendent vibe to them. It’s so simple: there’s the big, clunky Yamaha Electone organ and a drum kit, and they both hit you hard. The organ sounds deep and percussive, running through a bass amplifier, and Hammel’s drumming is spot-on throughout.

The way the pair talks, even apart from one another, is uncanny. More than being married, years of touring one-on-one have synched up their minds. When they’re on stage, there’s no else to pay attention to.

It’s no surprise that they prefer the live setting. “We’ve never had a recording situation that felt 100 percent right, before this one. I’d probably still pick the live aspect if I were forced to choose,” said Gardner.

This time seems to have been different, though. For their latest release, Team Boo (Sept. 2003), Mates of State took a trip down to Texas to work with old friend John Croslin (GBV, Spoon, Waylon Jennings, Pavement), who engineered their previous effort, My Solo Project (2000). They also enlisted the help of Jim Eno (Spoon).

Gardner explained their choice: “We went back to John because it went great the first time, and he had actually moved to Texas since the first time we worked with him, so we knew we wanted to record at that studio and got lucky that he was there. The Jim Eno thing kind of happened by accident.”

With a pair of engineers in the studio, the Mates had no shortage of ideas — for the first time in their recording history, Eno and Croslin convinced Gardner to record with different keyboards.

Gardner saw a change of focus, too. In her words, “You can take a different view of recording; you don’t have to reproduce everything you do exactly, because you’re never going to get that. The way you sound live is so honest that sometimes it just doesn’t come through the same way on a recording.”

Mates of State aren’t just for the intelligentsia either. Gardner and Hammel have a kind of modest rock-star quality. When I found out that Hammel grew up less than 30 miles from me, it seemed natural if only because the way that they relate, both on-stage and off, is so familiar.

Gardner stretched for anecdotes she thought were memorable. “Our van got broken into and all of this important stuff got stolen: passports, luggage, tour money. That’s just normal stuff, though. Once our van broke down right in front of a used-car place, and we traded it in for the cheapest thing they had, but that stuff happens to everybody.”

Maybe it’s just that they’ve seen it all in the past few years. Gardner was quicker to remember anecdotes about Hammel, though. On a whim, I asked about a Feb. 2002 interview with www.bettawreckonize.com in which Gardner said Hammel had gotten down on all fours in his sleep and begun barking like a dog.

“Oh, he does all kinds of weird things in his sleep,” she said laughing. “The other day he sat up straight and said to me really loudly, ‘You’re my Jesus.’ I’ve never heard him use Jesus in a sentence before. Maybe he’s living this life of a Christian-rights activist in his sleep or something. That’s a pretty good thing for someone to say to you though, right?”

For those who want to find out what Mates of State is about first-hand, they play Club 770 at Union South tonight, Oct. 1, at 9 p.m. Victory at Sea and The Reputation open. You can also check them out online at www.matesofstate.com.

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How to mix a Mates of State

Gardner related this confusing concoction when asked what drink a Mates of State would be, saying, “You wouldn’t think it would be so good.” Called a Kalimotxo in Spain, it goes like this:

Mix equal parts red wine and Coca-Cola and stir well. Serve with ice and an optional lemon wedge.

Who’d have thought that just two ingredients could turn out so well?