Ticket 2 Ride

This is truly the season of The Lemonheads. Concert tour, new CD and leader Evan Dando releases new book.

I had a ticket to see The Lemonheads on December 8 in Lawrence, Kansas, but they canceled. Explanation below:

“After a recent run of shows overseas, we realized that performing more than four nights in a row takes more out of us than we expected. To make sure the rest of the tour is the best it can be, we’ve had to reduce a few dates from the upcoming schedule.”

Damn. Oh well.

Let’s move on to the CD, Love Chant (2025, Fire Records).

It took me several listens before I could offer an opinion on Love Chant. It’s not a bad set of songs, but it’s not a great set either. I say this as a fan – I expected more. It’s been 19 years since a Lemonheads album of original material. In that time Dando released two albums of covers, in which he functioned as stylist of other people’s song. Prior to these releases, you have to travel back to the 1990s to get their best material. Yes, a Dando solo album, Baby I’m Bored (2003), and The Lemonheads (2006) had their moments, just didn’t quite have the verve, or enough of it for me. So, yes, I was expecting a lot.

The Love Chant CD liner notes proudly states:

“…it’s a bold, melodic reaffirmation of one of alternative rock’s most distinctive voices…The result is a record that sounds both fresh and familiar: rooted in the hallmarks of The Lemonheads’ best work, yet expanded by years of lived experience and new surroundings.”

The Lemonheads, in whatever variant they appear, are products of the post-punk, indie rock, garage band era where songwriting rules were made to be broken. In his memoirs, Dando talks about going into the recording studio with unfinished songs or songs without choruses and just seeing what would happen. Each song on Love Chant is a bit of a surprise in its structure and melding of styles. I like about half of the songs and the others feel unfinished or just lacking something. There’s no “It’s About Time” here, nothing jumps out that screams “play me again and again.” After a few listens I like Love Chant, but I’m not in love.

1. 58 Second Song 03:22
2. Deep End 03:20
3. In The Margin 02:20
4. Wild Thing 02:54
5. Be In 02:31
6. Cell Phone Blues 03:35
7. Togetherness Is All I’m After 04:11
8. Marauders 04:01
9. Love Chant 02:50
10. The Key Of Victory 03:50
11. Roky 03:02

The CD clocks in at just over 36 minutes. That’s a very brief album, but it’s not the length that matters. That’s what she said.

Rumors of My Demise paints a strange story indeed. Night terrors including regular sleepwalks and loud outbursts, drug addiction including a cozy relationship with heroin, a fascination with Charles Manson (his music, not his criminology) and many other strange tales are included in this book. Notice the photo on the front cover – a cross between Beach Boy Dennis Wilson and Manson. The Manson references in the book are a bit much. Thankfully, the book covers other facets of Dando’s life, like drugs, and music, and drugs.

Dando grew up in the Boston area, his parents were of means, but he ditches the lifestyle and decides college wasn’t for him, and followed the sex, drugs and rock & roll calling. Dando reminds me of Spiccolli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a kid that skated on life, followed his own trail and was on a different wavelength. Evan Dando is not a stupid person, but his path led him to a certain lifestyle. Of course many believed he ODed or suffered some other tragedy, especially when he went off the radar for years at a time.

Dando isn’t The Lemonheads, but yes, he mostly is. He’s the only constant and is the face of the band, but many others, including Juliana Hatfield, have passed through the lineup in four decades. Dando is more lucky than talented. Dando admits that he’s an average musician, with an average voice and his songwriting is hit and miss. So, what accounts for his success? Attitude, timing and his good looks. Early on, marketers knew that Dando’s face on a photo or video or on center stage had marquee value. Women lined up to fuck him, he was named one of the 50 most beautiful people by People Magazine, and he had the swagger and deep baritone voice that gave his indie rock guitar thrashing an audience. To be fair, Dando is quite expressive with his music, and his slacker/surfer/party boy persona has created quite a following across Europe, Australia, Brazil and the U.S. So many bands of that era have crashed and burned or simply disappeared, but the return of The Lemonheads is news.

Here’s a guy who limited his own career and life by bad choices – his drug habit and his unpredictable behavior. At age 58, Evan Dando is still here, while many had written him off. Death by overdose is the expected coroner’s report. Dando is now happily married and living in Brazil with his second wife and her kids, although he’s kind of mum on the specifics.

Final thoughts…

I hoped that Dando had cleaned himself up, was sober and off drugs, but even after stunts in rehab, he’s slowed that lifestyle down, but writes that he still drinks and gets high, but says NO to the hard stuff.

His book was revealing, but one has to read between the sentences to find a deeper reality. Frankly, halfway through the book I thought about the title of his one solo album: Baby I’m Bored. That’s how I felt. I understand that his life has been one long party, to score drugs, play his music, screw when he feels like it, trash other people’s property, and avoid responsibility. That’s most of the book, so I assume that’s most of his life. He’s lived mostly on his own terms. Who am I to judge. I hope this phase of his life is happy and he’s really in a good place. Dando has remained true to his music, and listens to the muse that has guided his life.

His thoughts about The Lemonheads’ success:

“The environment was finally right for bands like the Lemonheads to thrive….People didn’t come to see the Lemonheads because we were talented musicians who wrote great songs. They came to see a bunch of guys getting drunk and playing loud and fast.”

And finally:

“At the end of the day, I think fame is about luck, and the Lemonheads were very lucky. It’s tempting to look at my career as a progression—from punk rock kid bashing away on a drum kit to an indie rock singer-songwriter strumming on a guitar. But to me it seems like a series of happy accidents.”

Fans of The Lemonheads will enjoy this book, or those who dug the early 1990s sound. I admit to being both of those.