Biography

Introduction

The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band, formed in 1986 by singer/guitarist Evan Dando, who has been the only constant member.

Since forming, recording, and touring lineups of the band have also included co-founder Ben Deily, John Strohm (Blake Babies), Doug Trachten, Jesse Peretz, Corey Loog Brennan, Byron Hoag, Ben Daughtry, Juliana Hatfield (Blake Babies), Nic Dalton (Godstar, Sneeze, The Plunderers), Dave Ryan, Patrick "Murph" Murphy (Dinosaur Jr), Bill Gibson (Eastern Dark), Mark 'Budola' Newman, Kenny Lyon, Vess Ruhtenberg, Devon Ashley, Karl Alvarez, Bill Stevenson, P. David Hazel and various others.

The Lemonheads' popularity grew in 1992 with the album It's a Shame about Ray which was produced, engineered, and mixed by The Robb Brothers (Bruce Robb, Dee, and Joe), followed by a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson", which eventually became one of the band's most successful singles. Cited as one of the most important alternative rock groups, The Lemonheads were active until 1997 and went on hiatus, but reformed with a new lineup in 2005 and released The Lemonheads in the following year. The band released its latest album, Varshons, in June 2009.

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 graced many a magazine cover, and he was included in People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People list.

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. The band continued to tour featuring various lineups including bassist Mike County and guitarist Bill Peterson. 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" (their highest charting UK hit to date).

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 , 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), as well as Ken Lyons of 38 Special. 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.

The band contributed to a 1996 tribute album for Schoolhouse Rock creator Thomas G. Yohe, which contained remakes of many popular "Schoolhouse Rock" songs - The Lemonheads' offered their take on "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" (which reached number one in the UK singles chart), 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.He also co-wrote the song The Last High with Courtney Taylor-Taylor of The Dandy Warhols for the album Welcome To The Monkey House by The Dandy Warhols.Following the release of the album he performed his new songs all over the world.

Comeback (2005-present)

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 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 and George Berz (Dinosaur Jr) both sitting in on drums during 2005, while Josh Lattanzi - chiefly known for his work with Ben Kweller - has frequently taken on bass duties for live shows.

On September 14 & 15 2005, Dando, Stevenson and Lattanzi performed two shows at Shepherds Bush Empire in London as part of the ATP Don't Look Back series, 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 featured 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. In the US, they toured with Vietnam and Hymns (band) as support. The same line-up toured again in 2007 and 2008. The recording line-up of Dando, Alvarez and Stevenson played live for the first time together on a 20-date US tour in late 2007.

While The Lemonheads reformed, 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, completed a 25-city European tour during January and February 2007, performing their own material alongside several Deily compositions from the first four Lemonheads releases. Varsity Drag continues to perform periodically in the Boston Area.

A deluxe reissue of Lemonheads' 1992 album It's a Shame About Ray was released in March 2008 (US) and April 2008 (UK) on Rhino Records., which features demos, B-sides and a DVD issue of the previously VHS-only Two Weeks In Australia, featuring footage from the band's Australian tour in the wake of their breakthrough album's release. To promote the reissue, the line-up of Dando, Ruhtenberg and Ashley performed the album in full at a number gigs between March and May 2008. Fall of 2008 has found the band touring again in Europe with Vess Ruhtenberg and P. David Hazel (drums) of Beta Male.

On 23 April 2008 at the inaugural NME US Awards ceremony at the El Rey in Los Angeles, Dando received the classic album award for It's A Shame About Ray, and also performed My Drug Buddy and the album's title track acoustically. According to reports, soon after receiving the award, Dando deposited it into a garbage can, telling a minder "I don't want this".

On June 23, 2009, The Lemonheads released Varshons - a collection of 11 covers, including tracks by Gram Parsons, Wire (band), GG Allin, and Christina Aguilera. The album also features actress Liv Tyler performing a duet on Leonard Cohen's "Hey That's No Way To Say Goodbye". Despite several websites reporting a release date of 13 September 2008, the album was not released on this date. Later, in a blog post on the band's MySpace page, Dando hinted at a March 2009 release. On 27th March 2009, it was announced that Varshons would be released on 23rd June on The End Records. A ninth album of original material is also expected to follow.