Evan Dando
 |
Evan Dando |
|---|
Evan Dando is an American musician, most famous for fronting the alternative rock band The Lemonheads. Today, he is the only original member left in the current Lemonheads line-up, having served as lead singer since the band's original formation in 1986.
Biography
Early life
Evan Griffith Dando was born in Boston, Massachusetts on March 4 1967, and raised in its environs. During his youth, Dando had gravitated towards such influential '80s punk outfits as Hüsker Dü and the Replacements. For high school, he attended the Commonwealth School, in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Lemonheads
Along with school friend Ben Deily, he formed The Lemonheads at the Commonwealth School in Boston circa 1986. At this stage they played punk rock, and were briefly known as the Whelps, until a name change in 1987 led to the birth of the Lemonheads, after a candy which Dando noted was sweet on the outside, and sour on the inside, possibly a metaphor for the band's sound. Their first recording as a group was titled Laughing All the Way to the Cleaners. Dando enrolled at Skidmore College, but could not maintain his grades and dropped out to pursue a career as a musician. After being signed by local label Taang! The Lemonheads released the albums Hate Your Friends, Creator, and Lick with Deily and Dando sharing lead vocals and songwriting duties until about 1989, when Dando left the band.
However, the lure of a European tour and moderate success of single "Luka" brought Dando back on tour with the Lemonheads, where night after night he continually played the guitar riff of "Sweet Child o' Mine" during Deily's songs. The relationship had broken down, and Deily left.
Dando then recruited David Ryan on drums, was signed to major label Atlantic/Warner, and produced the album Lovey in 1990. Straddling punk, rock, country, and metal, the album sold roughly 30,000 copies. Dando cut his losses and flew to Australia to write some songs with friends Nic Dalton and Tom Morgan.
These songs formed the basis for It's a Shame About Ray, the Lemonheads' breakthrough album. However, a cover of "Mrs. Robinson" (recorded to promote the video release of The Graduate) was released to the annoyance of the band and brought them the most exposure they'd had so far. When the "Ray" album was reissued, the track was tagged on to the end. The band enjoyed quite a bit of success on college radio, and modest mainstream exposure.
During 1992-1993, Dando's face appeared on many magazine covers. People magazine voted him one of the "Sexiest Men Alive." He also garnered attention in 1993 for admitting to smoking crack cocaine.[1]
Still, a huge breakthrough single still eluded the band as they released Come on Feel the Lemonheads in late 1993. This was a successful album which included the tracks "Style" and "The Jello Fund." Once again, the band enjoyed modest mainstream success, this time with the single "Into Your Arms."
The Lemonheads then toured throughout 1994; Dando famously befriended Oasis and appeared at the band's live shows.
Dando continued to appear in the pages of the music press with Juliana Hatfield.
In 1996, Dando assembled a new band, still called the Lemonheads, featuring old friends John Strohm and Murph (ex-Dinosaur Jr). This band produced another Lemonheads album, Car Button Cloth. While featuring jangly guitar songs such as "If I Could Talk I'd Tell You," this set also showed off the darker side of Dando's writing: "Break Me" and "Losing Your Mind."
The band toured successfully in 1997 and played a final gig at the Reading Festival, after which Dando promptly disappeared from view. Atlantic released the The Best Of The Lemonheads in 1998.
Solo career
Dando recorded a duet with Juliana Hatfield for the 1999 album, Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons. The two sang Gram Parsons' "$1000 Wedding".
Dando started making public appearances again in late 2000 (having done "monitors for Enya"), singing with the Blake Babies and playing some acoustic shows. A full acoustic world tour kicked off in earnest in early 2001, with Dando garnering some rave reviews and renewed interest in his back catalogue. He played with Ben Lee and Ben Kweller, with several strong new songs, and seemed to regain a measure of confidence.
These shows led the way to Dando's first solo release, Live at the Brattle Theatre, which was released in Australia in 2001. In addition to a number of live songs from a Boston concert, the release also included a second disc with several covers of country songs.
In March 2003, Dando finally released his first proper solo album, Baby I'm Bored, to critical acclaim and a top 40 placing on the UK albums chart. Described by many as a return to form, it allowed Dando to continue to tour, except this time with a full band.
As well as guesting with the reformed MC5, writing songs with the Dandy Warhols, collaborating with soundtrack composer Craig Armstrong, and having two tribute CDs recorded for him by fans through his fan site, Dando played several live dates, including a full performance of the It's A Shame About Ray album as part of All Tomorrow's Parties' Don't Look Back festival.
Lemonheads Return
In 2005, Evan Dando put together a new lineup for the Lemonheads, consisting of Karl Alvarez and Bill Stevenson (both most known for their work with pop-punk pioneers, the Descendents) and signed to Vagrant Records. A new self-titled Lemonheads album, produced and engineered by Stevenson, was released September 25 in the UK and September 26, 2006 in the United States. Since then, Dando (along with a new touring lineup featuring Vess Ruhtenberg and Devon Ashley of the Pieces) have toured extensively in the UK, Europe, Australia and North America with bands such as Vietnam and Hymns.
As of January 2008, The Lemonheads are currently working on a new studio album that should be released from mid to late 2008.
Discography
- 2001 Live at the Brattle Theatre
- 2003 Baby I'm Bored
Trivia
- Ben Lee's song "I Wish I Was Him" is a tribute to Dando, who has often covered the song when performing live.
- Was briefly involved with singer/actress Bijou Phillips when she was 15.
- Mentioned in Kimya Dawson's song "The Beer."
- Expressed his distaste for The Smashing Pumpkins in an interview, especially towards front man, Billy Corgan.
References
- ^ Dando Comes Clean: Is alt-rock pinup a Lemonhead or crackhead?, Rolling Stone