Most bands abide by a couple of unwritten rules: Never include a drum solo in your set, and never play for free. While the enforcement of these and other edicts differs from band to band, there is one dictum that's almost always accepted: Never, ever join a band containing a couple. Mates of State doesn't have to worry about that, though, because newlyweds Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel are the only members of the group. After starting the band nearly five years ago in Lawrence, Kansas, Gardner and Hammel moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where they've been making sweet Mates music ever since. Still, conventional wisdom holds that attempting to form a successful band and marriage with the same partner will put one or... More >>>