Lemon
Their Funky Alternative Rock / Indie Dance, influenced by bands like Primal Scream, Stone Roses, The Kooks, Talking Heads and The Charlatans, left the audience super excited in many clubs and on many festivals. On Gigstarter.nl their shows are consistently rated with almost exclusively 5-star ratings. “Like fireworks on stage”, said a booker of a gig in Germany.
To underline the influence of the Madchester sound - that Wikipedia defines as a mix of Indie Rock, Psychedelica and Dance music - the band titled their third album ‘‘Nedchester’. Their fourth album reached the top-10 of best albums of the year of famous Dutch pop journalist Swie Tio. All releases are available on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer etc. etc.
How can you rhyme that shit?
Die Vorbilder schlicht und weg Giganten der Szene, des Genre. Primal Scream, Stone Roses oder The Charlatans um einige zu nennen. "It will be hard to withstand the infectious groove, influenced by the sound of the second Summer of Love." war zu lesen.
Der Inhalt, sicher nichts für Verschwörungstheoretiker, geboren aus dem aufgestauten Frust der sich in den letzten Monaten, eigentlich schon Jahren angesammelt hat. Irgendwann drohte dieser zu explodieren und dass tat er folglich dann auch in Form von "How can you rhyme that shit?". Das Intro beamt uns direkt zurück in die Hochblühte des Madchester Sounds.
Die Drums signifikant für den Stil, die Gitarre steht um nichts nach. Der Bass vereint sich gekonnt mit den Drums und groovt jetzt elegant vor sich hin. Bis jetzt hat man nur getanzt, mit dem Einsatz der Vocals kommt noch eine große Portion Staunen hinzu und man ist wieder zurück im second Summer of Love, der Track bietet schlicht weg alles was den Sound von damals ausmachte.
"How can you rhyme that shit" by Lemon definitely a groovy reanimation of the Madchester Sound, be careful you will love it!! In that sense I have to say "How can you rhyme that shit?" should be named "How can't you love that track?".
Q&A
Lemon are...?
Lemon is a band from Amsterdam with band members:
Mark 'Bong the Bass' Bongers (bass, vocals),
Paul Hesen (drums, vocals),
Ralf Hesen (guitars, vocals) and
Thomas Gense (guitars, keyboards, percussion, vocals).
Who inspired you to make music in general ...and especially to the song "How can you rhyme that shit"?
Lemon is heavily influenced by the sound of the Second Summer of Love, when bands like Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, The Charlatans, The Farm and Stone Roses mixed Sixties pop with some psychedelic influences and a load of dance influences.
We title our interpretation of this sound Nedchester (referring to the Madchester sound: Ned stands for The Netherlands, in Dutch: Nederland). Other bands who take inspiration from the Madchester vibe are The Kooks, Kasabian, Cut Copy, Jagwar Ma and Chk Chk Chk.
Our new song "How Can You Rhyme That Shit?" is inspired by the upswing of conspiracy belief, specifically the QAnon conspiracy tale. It’s born out of frustration. I just don’t understand how people can believe human beings are capable of hiding such a weird worldwide scheme. The lyrics say it all: "I think it’s vanity, I don’t see us pull that off”.
What is your creative process like and was it different for this song?
There is no rigid structure for the creative process. Most of the times I (Ralf) come up with a draft for a song and in our rehearsal room we jam and we tweak until it feels good. Most of the times I start with a guitar melody. Or a guitar riff. Sometimes the lyrics come first.
This time I heard a piano thing that laid the foundation for How Can You Rhyme That Shit? The idea for venting my irritation about this stupid right-wing QAnon theory had been on my mind for a while. So I started singing "What makes you think like that?"
What do you prefer, a live gig or a studio session?
A live gig by far. A studio session doesn't even come close to the high of a gig. To feel the energy floating, to feel connected with the audience, to forget about everything else and just be in the moment: on stage you feel more alive than ever.
What's your most useful talent besides music?
Being able to 'read' (most) people.
How would you describe 2021 in a sentence?
A total bummer!
What was the first ever Pop/Rock/etc. ... song you listened to or remember on?
Love Is The Drug - Roxy Music
Do you remember your first ever self-written song?
Yes I do, it was called 'Heart of Stone', hahah.
What’s next for you?
We'll release a new album in 2022. Last year we released four singles that all collected raving reviews, check the blog on www.lemon.amsterdam. Two featured guest singer Cath Coffey of the legendary Stereo MC's from London! Next to How Can You Rhyme That Shit? we recorded seven other new songs that haven't been released so far.
Together that makes twelve tracks: an album! Of course I also hope we will be able to play all shows that have been cancelled because of COVID measures this year, especially the two shows we would do as support act for Stereo MC's.
Photo credits:
Peter Mitchell
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