The Lemonheads are an alternative rock band from the United States. Since forming, recording, and touring lineups of the band have included Evan Dando, co-founder Ben Deily, John Strohm (Blake Babies), Jesse Peretz, Corey Loog Brennan, Juliana Hatfield, Nic Dalton (Godstar, Sneeze, The Plunderers), Dave Ryan, Patrick "Murph" Murphy (Dinosaur Jr), Bill Gibson (Eastern Dark), Mark Newman, Kenny Lyon, and various others. The Lemonheads were formed by Evan Dando and Ben Deily, in high school, at the Commonwealth School in Boston, Mass., circa 1986. At this stage they played punk rock, and were briefly known as the Whelps, until a name change in 1987 led to the birth of the Lemonheads, named for a candy which Dando noted was sweet on the inside, and sour on the outside, possibly a metaphor for the band's sound.
Early years 1986-1991
Their very first recording as a group was titled Laughing All the Way to the Cleaners. Dando enrolled at Skidmore College, but couldn't maintain his grades and dropped out to pursue a career as a musician. Having signed to local label Taang! Records, the Lemonheads released the albums Hate Your Friends,Creator, and Lick with Deily and Dando sharing lead vocals and songwriting duties until about 1989, when Deily left the band. Dando then recruited David Ryan on drums, signed to major label Atlantic/Warner, and produced the album Lovey in 1990. Straddling punk, rock, country, and metal, this album was released a year before grunge became popular and did not sell well--the album sold roughly 30,000 copies.
Breakthrough and height of fame 1992-1997
Dando cut his losses and flew to Australia to write some songs with friends Nic Dalton and Tom Morgan. These songs formed the basis for It's a Shame About Ray, the Lemonheads' breakthrough album. However, a cover of "Mrs. Robinson" (recorded to promote the video release of The Graduate) was released to the annoyance of the band and got them the most exposure they'd had so far. When the Ray album was reissued, the track was tagged on to the end. The band enjoyed quite a bit of success on college radio, and modest mainstream exposure. During 1992-1993, Dando's face was on virtually every magazine cover, posters of him peering out between golden blonde locks hung from teenage girls' walls. Courtney Love said she had "impure thoughts" about him while he stayed with the Cobains.
The band officially renamed themselves from "Lemonheads" to "The Lemonheads" prior to the release of the Come on Feel the Lemonheads LP. Still, a huge breakthrough single still eluded the band as they released Come on Feel the Lemonheads in late 1993. This was a successful album but paved the way for future madness with tracks like "Style" and "The Jello Fund." Once again, the band enjoyed modest mainstream success, this time with the single "Into Your Arms."
The Lemonheads then toured throughout 1994; Dando famously befriended Oasis and appeared at the band's live shows. The cracks were beginning to show, and after one ridiculous interview where Dando (not being able to speak, having lost his voice after smoking crack) admitted to having a crack problem, he was no longer viewed as the "slacker sex kitten" of the previous year.
In 1996, Dando got a new band together, still called the Lemonheads, featuring old friends John Strohm and Murph (ex-Dinosaur Jr). This band produced another Lemonheads album, Car Button Cloth. While featuring jangly guitar songs such as "If I Could Talk I'd Tell You," this set also showed off the darker side of Dando's writing: "Break Me" and "Losing Your Mind" proved that all was not well with Dando's head. The band helped in a 1996 tribute album for Schoolhouse Rock creator Thomas G. Yohe, which contains remakes of many popular "Schoolhouse Rock" songs like "Conjunction Junction," "I'm Just a Bill," and "Interplanet Janet." The Lemonheads' contribution was "My Hero Zero."
The band toured successfully in 1997 and played a final gig in Reading, after which Dando promptly disappeared from view.
Atlantic's release of The Best Of The Lemonheads in 1998 only served to increase the mystery. Through 1998 and 2004 Evan Dando did some solo tours performing the band's songs but an official reunion was never confirmed. During this time Evan released a live album Live at the Brattle Theatre in 2001, and a solo album in 2003, titled Baby I'm Bored. Following the release of the album he performed his new songs all over the world.
Comeback 2005-2006
After a nine-year recording absence, during which Dando performed off and on as a solo act and released a live solo album, it was announced in the summer of 2005 that the band had quietly reformed - with a recording lineup bolstered by Bill Stevenson and Karl Alverez, ex-members of The Descendents. Recently, the live lineup has fluctuated, with Bill Stevenson, Chris Brokaw (Come), and George Berz (Dinosaur Jr) all sitting in on drums during 2005, while Juliana Hatfield and Josh Lattanzi - chiefly known for his work with Ben Kweller - have performed a few shows on bass. On September 14 and 15, 2005, Dando, Stevenson, and Lattanzi performed two shows at Shepherds Bush Empire in London, where they played the It's a Shame About Ray LP in its entirety. Live photos from this show can be seen here. In April 2006, the Lemonheads were signed to Vagrant Records. Their self-titled Vagrant debut was released on September 26, 2006 in the United States and one day earlier in the UK; the album features special guests Garth Hudson and J Mascis on select tracks.
While the Lemonheads keep moving forward, co-founder Ben Deily went to Harvard University and received a degree and is currently in the power pop/punk band Varsity Drag. To hear his songs and for more info go to http://www.bendeily.com
Evan Dando
Consider the Lemonheads leader's reaction to this description of him in Spin magazine: "a first-rate rock 'n' roll weirdo, a less bonkers Syd Barrett for the generation that buys its psychedelics at Urban Outfitters." "When I read that, I thought, 'Yes, my life is a success. I'm a first-rate rock 'n' roll weirdo!"' Dando said. "Really, I was pleased with that. I try not to get carried away with my own press, but sometimes I read it and think 'score.' That was my whole idea in the first place." Dando certainly seems the model of rock insincerity: pin-up model looks, an intentionally scatter-brained manner, highly publicized drug problem and a taste for smug cover songs such as REO Speedwagon's Keep 0n Lovin' You. Yet when he's on his game, Dando makes sunny, optimistic rock songs that are catchy but not cloying. Dando saw his life spin out of control in the aftermath of the 1993 album, Come on Feel the Lemonheads. That record wasn't quite the success that some had predicted, but it did well enough to mess Dando up. "I just got a little over stimulated by the crazy chicks," he said. "In England, it was really crazy there for awhile. That was a weird experience, and you don't ever come out completely unscathed from something like that."
Mixing heroin, LSD and cannabis led to a crash in Sydney, Australia, where Dando remembers "feeding quarters into grates in the sidewalk, handing flowers out to people. It was sad. It was really, really scary." Through the intervention of his family, Dando was sent to a rehab center in New Canaan, Conn., which he doesn't credit for leading to a recovery. "It was a good, scary reminder that people were worried about me," he said. "I accepted that. Of course, as soon as I got out, I went and scored drugs. That's what rehab's for, so when you come out you can enjoy your drugs more -- at least that's the way I looked at it. The way I got out of heroin and hard drugs was from knowing that it was turning me into a selfish jerk and it could possibly take my life away from me, and I cared too much about my life," he said. "The only way you can quit drugs, at least from my perspective, is by not taking them anymore." Evan duetted with Kirsty on the single Perfect Day, and the Lemonheads recorded a riotous cover version of He's on the Beach while "out of their tree" in Rio de Janeiro, according to Kirsty who enjoyed their efforts so much she brought it to my attention.
For the Lemonheads' first album in ten years, singer Evan Dando has recruited a crack team of collaborators, including Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis and one of the most formidable rhythm sections in the history of punk rock: Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson and bassist Karl Alvarez. At its best, The Lemonheads sounds exactly how you want the Lemonheads to sound -- "Rule of Three," "Let's Just Laugh" and "No Backbone" apply that same gnarled mix of country, alt-rock and punk Dando has used ever since It's a Shame About Ray and Come On Feel the Lemonheads. But the better tunes were actually penned by Stevenson or Dando's old writing partner Tom Morgan, of the Australian group Smudge; few of the Dando-authored tracks can compare to Stevenson's hard-stomping breakup anthem "Become the Enemy" or the ode to his late father, "Steve's Boy." Dando does his dulcet-throated slacker-frontman thing as winningly as ever, which ought to set aquiver the panties of aging Gen X gals everywhere. Me, I'm saving the quivering for a Bill Stevenson solo album.
