The Lemonheads

Information about The Lemonheads

This article describes the musical group. For the candy, see Lemonhead; or for the Monkey Island character, see Lemonhead (Monkey Island).


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), Doug Trachten, Jesse Peretz, Corey Loog Brennan, Juliana Hatfield (Blake Babies), Nic Dalton (Godstar, Sneeze, The Plunderers), Dave Ryan, Patrick "Murph" Murphy (Dinosaur Jr), Bill Gibson (Eastern Dark), Mark Newman, Kenny Lyon, Bill Stevenson and various others.

History

Early years 1986-1991

The Lemonheads were formed by Evan Dando and Ben Deily, in high school, at the Commonwealth School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, circa 1986. At this stage they played punk rock, and were briefly known as The Whelps, until a name change later that year 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. 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 Records, 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 - 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. A cover of "Mrs. Robinson" (recorded to promote the video release of The Graduate) was released as a single to the annoyance of the band and got them the most exposure they'd had so far. This cover was also used in the film Wayne's World 2. 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.

The band officially renamed themselves from "Lemonheads" to "The Lemonheads" prior to the release of the Come on Feel the Lemonheads LP. 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." 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 particularly disjointed interview where Dando (not being able to speak, having lost his voice after smoking crack cocaine) admitted to having a drug problem [1], he was no longer viewed as the "slacker sex kitten" of the previous year.

In 1996, Dando re-formed 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" suggested 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 at the UK's Reading Festival. Following a cameo line in the BBC's all-star cover version of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" (a UK #1), Dando continued to play live solo shows.

Hiatus 1998-2004

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 2005-2007

After a nine-year recording absence for the band, during which Dando performed frequently as a solo artist and released two solo albums, it was announced in the summer of 2005 that the band had quietly reformed - with a recording lineup bolstered by Bill Stevenson and Karl Alvarez, 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. The album, simply titled "The Lemonheads", 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.

To promote the album Dando toured the UK, Europe and US in late 2006 with a band consisting of Vess Ruhtenberg (bass) and Devon Ashley (drums) of The Pieces. The same line-up are on tour again in 2007.

While The Lemonheads keep moving forward, co-founder Ben Deily received a degree from Harvard University. He currently works as an Associate Creative Director in the advertising industry. His power pop/punk band, Varsity Drag, recently completed a 25-city European tour during January and February of 2007.

According to a press release for a 7th September show, at which Dando will support The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Lemonheads are currently writing and demoing songs for a new album to be released next year.

Discography

Albums

Singles and EPs

Bootlegs

Tribute

External links

Interviews
This article describes the candy. For the band, see The Lemonheads.
Lemonhead is a brand of candy produced by the Ferrara Pan Candy Company. Lemonheads are a lemon-shaped, lemon-flavored candy consisting of a sweet coating, soft sour shell, and a hard
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Monkey Island is the collective name given to a series of four graphical adventure games produced and published by LucasArts, originally known as LucasFilm Games through the development of the first two games in the series.
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Alternative rock (also called alternative music or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s.
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Evan Dando is an American musician, most famous for fronting the alternative rock band The Lemonheads.

Biography

Early life

Evan Griffith Dando was born in Boston, Massachusetts on March 4 1967, and raised in its environs.
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Ben Deily is an American musician, most famous as one of the founders, writers and lead singers (along with Evan Dando) of the Boston-based alternative rock band The Lemonheads.
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John Strohm (or John P. Strohm, born Bloomington, Indiana) is an American guitarist, singer, and lawyer. He began his musical career playing drum set in Indiana's punk rock scene, then moved to Boston in 1985 and switched to guitar.
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Blake Babies was an indie rock band formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts. The three primary members were John Strohm, Freda Love (born Freda Boner), and Juliana Hatfield, with Evan Dando, Andrew Mayer, Seth White, Anthony DeLuca (who played drums in place of Freda for the
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Jesse Peretz is an American bass player and film director. He played bass for The Lemonheads and started out as director by shooting videos for the songs "Mrs. Robinson", "Confetti" and "It's a shame about Ray".
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T. Corey Brennan (born 1959) is an associate professor of Classics at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, (USA) and was a guitarist and songwriter involved with several bands, most notably the alternative rock band The Lemonheads.
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Juliana Hatfield (born July 27, 1967 in Wiscasset, Maine, United States), is an American guitarist/singer-songwriter from the Boston area, formerly of the indie rock band Blake Babies.

Background

The daughter of Philip M.
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Blake Babies was an indie rock band formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts. The three primary members were John Strohm, Freda Love (born Freda Boner), and Juliana Hatfield, with Evan Dando, Andrew Mayer, Seth White, Anthony DeLuca (who played drums in place of Freda for the
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Sneeze is a music group from Sydney, Australia consisting primarily of Nic Dalton (who also runs the band's record label, Half A Cow), Tom Morgan from Smudge and drummer Simon Gibson from Half Miler. Their recordings have featured a range of guest artists including Robyn St.
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Evan Dando is an American musician, most famous for fronting the alternative rock band The Lemonheads.

Biography

Early life

Evan Griffith Dando was born in Boston, Massachusetts on March 4 1967, and raised in its environs.
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Ben Deily is an American musician, most famous as one of the founders, writers and lead singers (along with Evan Dando) of the Boston-based alternative rock band The Lemonheads.
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Commonwealth School is a small independent high school of about 145 students located on Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
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Boston, Massachusetts

Flag
Seal
Nickname: Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe), The Cradle of Liberty, City on the Hill, Athens of America
Location in Suffolk County in Massachusetts, USA
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Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Flag of Massachusetts Seal
''Nickname(s): Bay State State Bird = Black-capped Chickadee''
''Motto(s): Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem (Latin: By the sword she seeks peace under liberty)''


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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
This article describes the candy. For the band, see The Lemonheads.
Lemonhead is a brand of candy produced by the Ferrara Pan Candy Company. Lemonheads are a lemon-shaped, lemon-flavored candy consisting of a sweet coating, soft sour shell, and a hard
..... Click the link for more information.
Skidmore College is a private, liberal arts college located in Saratoga Springs, New York, and is ranked as the nation's 47th best liberal arts college by U.S. News & World Report [1] . The college currently enrolls approximately 2,500 students and offers B.A. and B.S.
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Taang! Records is an independent record label based in San Diego, California. The label mainly releases records by punk, Oi!, Ska and hardcore bands.

Originally founded in 1981 in Boston, Massachusetts, Taang! also ran a storefront in Harvard Square in Cambridge,
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Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a subgenre of alternative rock that was created in the mid-1980s by bands from the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area.
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Tom Morgan (born 1970) is an Australian musician and songwriter best known for fronting 90s indie pop group Smudge. Morgan also famously wrote and co-wrote a number of major songs for Boston power pop group The Lemonheads.
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It's a Shame About Ray
(1992) Come on Feel the Lemonheads
(1993)

It's a Shame about Ray is an album by The Lemonheads. It was released on June 2, 1992 (see 1992 in music).
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All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Wayne's World 2 is a 1993 comedy film starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as hosts of a cable access television show from Aurora, Illinois.
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Come on Feel the Lemonheads is an album by The Lemonheads. It was released on October 12, 1993 (see 1993 in music). Tracks "Into Your Arms", "It's About Time", and "Big Gay Heart" were released as singles in the UK.
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Come on Feel the Lemonheads is an album by The Lemonheads. It was released on October 12, 1993 (see 1993 in music). Tracks "Into Your Arms", "It's About Time", and "Big Gay Heart" were released as singles in the UK.
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Oasis are an English rock band, formed in Manchester in 1991, led by lead guitarist and primary songwriter Noel Gallagher and his younger brother, lead vocalist and songwriter Liam Gallagher.
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