Evan Dando rebuilt The Lemonheads with the rhythm section of Descendents for the band’s first album in nine years, bringing together a cast that also included J Mascis and Garth Hudson.
by Paul Cashmere
Twenty years ago, The Lemonheads returned from a nine-year recording hiatus with an album that gave Evan Dando a new rhythm section, a surprising collection of collaborators and a fresh chapter for one of alternative rock’s most distinctive bands.
Released on September 26, 2006, The Lemonheads was the eighth studio album from the band and the first since 1997’s Car Button Cloth. For Dando, the comeback involved a particularly unexpected partnership: the rhythm section came from punk veterans Descendents, with Karl Alvarez on bass and Bill Stevenson on drums.
The new lineup was announced in April 2006, when The Lemonheads signed with Vagrant Records. The news marked the end of a long period without a new Lemonheads studio album and established Stevenson and Alvarez as central players in Dando’s return.
Stevenson was more than the drummer. He co-produced the record with Dando, contributed guitar and backing vocals, and wrote “Become The Enemy” and “Steve’s Boy”. The latter carries a personal connection, being dedicated to Stevenson’s father, William A. Stevenson.
The album also brought together musicians from very different corners of the American and Canadian music scenes. Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis played lead guitar on “No Backbone” and “Steve’s Boy”, while Garth Hudson of The Band contributed keyboards to “Black Gown” and “December”.
Other contributors included Josh Lattanzi on bass, Andrew Berlin on electric piano, Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers providing cassette noise, and Spot contributing guitar to “Steve’s Boy”.
The material itself combined Dando originals with songs written by collaborators. “No Backbone” and “Baby’s Home” were written by Tom Morgan, with Dando providing the introduction to the latter. Morgan had already been an important part of the Lemonheads story through his association with the Australian band Smudge and his songwriting relationship with Dando.
The album’s 11 tracks moved between compact guitar songs and more reflective material. “Black Gown” opens the record at just over two minutes, while “Let’s Just Laugh” stretches to almost five minutes. “December”, the closing track, provides the album’s longest piece at 4:22.
The record’s return was not simply a studio exercise. After a handful of UK shows in July 2006, The Lemonheads began touring the United States in November and December. Another US run followed in January and February 2007 before the band travelled to New Zealand and Australia in March and April.
That Australian and New Zealand tour placed the reunited Lemonheads back in front of audiences in this part of the world after Dando’s long recording absence. The band subsequently toured the US East Coast in July 2007 with The Icarus Line.
The album received generally favourable critical attention. Metacritic ultimately recorded a score of 70 out of 100 from 23 reviews. The response ranged from praise for Dando’s accessible guitar-pop writing to criticism that the record carried a sense of weariness after the turbulent years between Lemonheads albums.
What makes The Lemonheads particularly interesting two decades later is the combination of continuity and disruption. Dando remained the central creative force, but the record was built around musicians whose principal histories were rooted elsewhere, particularly Stevenson and Alvarez’s work with Descendents and the contributions from Mascis and Hudson.
The album was also a reminder that The Lemonheads could operate as a flexible musical project rather than a fixed lineup. That approach had been part of the band’s identity throughout its history, and the 2006 record extended it into a new era.
A limited-edition yellow vinyl pressing followed in 2008, including signed copies made available through The Lemonheads’ website.
Twenty years after its release, The Lemonheads stands as the record that ended the band’s nine-year studio silence. It did so with Dando at the centre, but surrounded by an unusually eclectic group of musicians who helped make the comeback record distinct from what had come before.
The Lemonheads Tracklisting
“Black Gown”
“Become The Enemy”
“Pittsburgh”
“Let’s Just Laugh”
“Poughkeepsie”
“Rule Of Three”
“No Backbone”
“Baby’s Home”
“In Passing”
“Steve’s Boy”
“December”
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