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Image by: Andrew Eis, Courtesy of Sonicbids
Are you thirsty for some refreshing music? Then you must check out Lemonade, an awesome dance/techno/uncategorizable band originally from San Francisco and recently transplanted to Brooklyn. Welcome! After a stint opening for El Guincho on his North American tour, they have since been playing various NYC-area shows. They have a few coming up (Friday night at The Shank with Tanlines, Sunday night at Santos’ party House with DJ Holy Ghost, and February 25 with Icy Demons at Mercury Lounge), and are then heading to SXSW to represent! Their new album is out now, so give it a listen. I had the chance to ask them a few questions:
BigAppleMusicScene: I saw you guys open for El Guincho at (le) Poisson Rouge a couple months ago. Before that I had never heard of you and I can say you certainly left an impression on me. How did you start playing your unique type of dance/electronic music?
Lemonade: Well…when we started, we were into noise and improvised music, dub, and the feeling of being at a scary rave when the sun comes up, but as the band progressed we got more into new electronic dance music, so what we’re doing today is sort of a combination of those things, and a million other things. It’s been a very organic development. We haven’t had to think too much about our sound, we have just had to figure out how to get it, which technologies to use, which percussion instruments to acquire, and all of that. We just make the music we want to hear, and teach ourselves how to make it as we go along.
BAMS: How does being from/living in New York affect your music?
Lemonade: We’re actually very new to New York. We moved here in October from San Francisco. It’s cold here right now and we are broke but it’s exciting in that “I am an artist in New York and I am hungry and dedicated” way. Also, when you move with a band, you become so much more committed and focused, like the Beatles or the Eric Clapton’s Blues Brigade or whoever did that. As far as our sound goes, most of our influences are from Islands and stuff like that, but the experience here is surely shaping us creatively. maybe ask us in a year and we can figure out what happened.
BAMS: Do you guys really like Sun Chips? And lemonade?
Lemonade: Yes. We love Sun Chips and other chips too. Ben is a “snackaholic” and is addicted to diet soda. If you really want to know, we named that song “Sunchips” because we smacked a bag of Sun Chips in front of a mic and sampled it and used it in the song, it’s the “tchachu tchachu” sound. The file was named Sunchips and we never changed it. Alex actually prefers limeade to lemonade, but who doesn’t like lemonade? We wish we had some right now.
BAMS: What bands and musicians today excite you?
Lemonade: We listen to a pretty diverse mix of music, but as far as current musicians go we really like our friends Ghosts On Tape and Lazer Sword in San Francisco. El Guincho’s new material that he played on tour was really inspiring and made us feel good. Our friend Glasser in Los Angeles is making really beautiful stuff. The new UK funky and grime/dubstep stuff gets a lot of play in our van. We’re way into the new electronic cumbia scene like Bersa Discos and the Zizek people. Anything on the Hyperdub label like Kode9 and Zomby. Maurice Fulton. C.L.A.W.S. and War Vs. Sleep making creepy vampire techno. We adore Delorean’s glorious new pop songs. You can listen to a Rinse FM podcast and hear 30 tracks you have never heard that kinda blow your mind, and you won’t even know how to buy the music. There’s a lot to be excited about.
BAMS: Is this your first time going to SXSW? Are you nervous, excited?
Lemonade: We’ve been to SXSW with other bands or just for fun (Alex’s infamous “rattlesnake in the desert” photos were taken there 2 years ago), but this is Lemonade’s first time. We’re stoked to be touring, and stoked to play a big free-alcohol fueled party week where we get to see friends and make friends. We like exposure too. Mostly. Big ups Sonicbids.
BAMS: You guys have a lot of other people remix your songs. How does that happen? Do they approach you or do you approach them?
Lemonade: Most of the remixes were done by friends of ours. The others we asked on MySpace like, “Hey I like your tunes, remix us?” and now we are friends. We are very excited about people remixing our songs so coming together with a wish-list was easy. There will be so many for our next record. At least twice as many next time.
BAMS: What is in the future for Lemonade?
Lemonade: We are also wondering what the future is for Lemonade. We have many ideas including an energy drink and a reality TV show. One thing is for sure though, more releases–recording soon at the Brothers Studio, more touring of the US and Europe (and hopefully next winter in South America or Austrailia?), more remixes, more parties, a few festivals, more awkward press photos, blog interviews, humiliation, and ultimately success.