The Lemon Twigs talk rockin' new singles (listen), next LP & more in BV Q&A
Brian and Michael D’Addario are currently putting the finishing touches on The Lemon Twigs’ second album for 4AD, which they’re making in their 24-track analog basement home studio. In the meantime, they’ve just dropped two new songs — “Foolin’ Around” and “Tailor Made” — both of which are in much more of a straight-up rock style than anything on The Lemon Twigs Do Hollywood, pulling from ’70s riffers like Big Star, Cheap Trick and Thin LIzzy. They won’t be on the new album and you can listen to both below.
Brian took time out from behind the board to answer a few questions, via email, about the new songs, their new album, tour plans, and the band’s search for a permanent drummer. You can read that below.
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These two new songs have been in your live rotation for a while and are pretty different than what you’ve done previously. What’s the story behind them?
The next record’s a musical and, naturally, any song that didn’t fit the concept we left off. “Foolin’ Around” was written by Michael. I think that we both wanted to write some songs that didn’t digress at all musically and were clear in meaning. “Tailor Made” was written by both of us when we were playing acoustic guitars together, which isn’t typically the way we write. It’s the first truly co written song that we’ve released. We wanted that one to sound more like a group of musicians playing together than two guys layering everything, even though that’s what it was.
I remember seeing you a couple years ago, before ‘Do Hollywood’ came out, you intro-ing some song as being not from the new album but the album after that. What’s the Lemon Twigs’ song stockpile like?
We’ve got the next record’s songs all written and we’re almost finished recording them. There are about 18 fully written songs potentially for the 3rd album. We have tons of musical ideas for future albums and other songs we’ve demoed but decided aren’t good enough. We work pretty far in advance but now that the studio’s set up, I imagine our records won’t take as long this one has.
What can you tell us about the next album?
Well, we have a few guests we’re really excited about on this new album. I think we’ve improved a lot as writers since the last one and I’m very happy with the way the studio sounds right now. We’re recording everything to tape on a 24 track in our basement. We’ve got a really nice board and some basic outboard gear.
You worked with Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado on ‘Do Hollywood’ and then were basically Foxygen’s rhythm section on last year’s Hang. What did you learn about making records with Jonathan?
I think a big thing we took from working with Foxygen was how to edit and conceptualize your work. We saw Rado and Sam discuss overarching themes for their records and heard demos get edited and shaped into what the album became. When we were first starting out we were just throwing ideas against the wall and seeing if they stuck; there was not a lot of self editing.
You and Michael are both great drummers but you are looking for an actual drummer for The Lemon Twigs. How is the search going?
There are a couple of solid options at the moment but nobody’s locked in yet. I’m excited to get to work on the live show once this new material’s finished.
You have some European festival dates lined up for August. Any plans for North America this year?
We’ll definitely have some shows in North America later in the year, but I don’t think anything’s booked.
The Lemon Twigs – 2018 Tour Dates
AUG – 11 – HALDERN POP – Haldern, Germany
AUG – 17 – Green Man Festival – Wales, United Kingdom
AUG – 19 – La Route du Rock 2018 – Saint-Père, France
