(SOUNDBITE OF THE LEMONHEADS SONG, "IT'S A SHAME 四虎影院 RAY")
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
In the early '90s, The Lemonheads were on the way to rock stardom. Their brand of jangly alternative rock made them darlings of critics and fans alike.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IT'S A SHAME 四虎影院 RAY")
THE LEMONHEADS: (Singing) I've never been too good with names. The cellar door was open. I could never stay away.
RASCOE: But frontman Evan Dando largely pulled back from the spotlight for 19 years. Last month, the group released its first new album of original material since 2006. It's called "Love Chant."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEEP END")
THE LEMONHEADS: (Singing) Tell me, can you keep a secret? Can I keep your cigarettes? We can hold a meeting, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Maybe later on the weekend we can watch the clouds come over.
RASCOE: Evan Dando joins us now. Thank you for being with us.
EVAN DANDO: Oh, it's my pleasure.
RASCOE: "Love Chant" was released alongside your memoir, "Rumors Of My Demise." With all of this creative output, people might say this is kind of like a resurfacing for you. Is that fair?
DANDO: Well, definitely. I mean, I got off all the under-the-counter drugs, you know? I got onto, like, a decent combo, a hot mix from my shrink, and I just stick to that now. I don't take drugs anymore, you know? I just smoke pot, you know? So I connected my heart and my head back together 'cause heroin will - although it doesn't seem like it at the time, it gradually gets completely satanic and blocks you up. You know, you stop doing all that silly stuff. You start doing stuff that makes you really actually less bored 'cause you have to (laughter).
RASCOE: But you kicked the heroine habit three years ago.
DANDO: Uh-huh. Four, I think. Yeah, four. Yeah.
RASCOE: Well, congratulations.
DANDO: (Laughter) Yeah.
RASCOE: It's so important. How much are the songs from this album about the struggles that you had with addiction and where you are now?
DANDO: I wouldn't say any of them are at all (laughter). I like to write about life, like the little things. Like, I grew up on, like, Jacques Tati and absurdism, and it led me to a great appreciation for very simple things and just real life seen through two eyes.
RASCOE: Let's talk about the song "Cell Phone Blues."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CELL PHONE BLUES")
THE LEMONHEADS: (Singing) I live movies, which don't move me. Cell phone blues. Cell phone blues.
RASCOE: I know that you said you just like to kind of take slices of life, but I have to ask, is this an indictment of technology (laughter)?
DANDO: Yeah, I'd say it is. Yeah. I'd say, come on, wake up, everybody, 'cause it's a little coffin you're living in. I don't like it. And it doesn't like me. My imagination is overactive as it is.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CELL PHONE BLUES")
DANDO: (Singing) Easy passing time. Easy passing. I haven't written a song in one night for quite some time. All my life, I've been worried I would die. Volkswagen...
RASCOE: The Lemonheads had a pretty distinct sound in the '90s. Do you think that's changed or evolved?
DANDO: It's just phases and stages, circles and cycles. You know, I basically just sort of do my thing and, like, we have things for a while. And it's been called, like, a collective. Being in a band isn't easy, you know? There's all kinds of stuff that goes on, right? Things get hairy sometimes. A real band that knows each other, that know - really knows each other, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WILD THING")
THE LEMONHEADS: (Singing) If you really love me, then you'll do this. And you won't bemoan me if I do that. If you really love me, then you'll do this. And you won't begrudge me if I do that. Oh, I'm the lucky one who's always saying you were lucky to know me, baby. Oh, I'm the luckiest one. No one is luckier to know me than you.
DANDO: So it's like me and myself and Michael Farley Glavin (ph), we - it's fair to call it a band again. They're on the - there's pictures of them on the record cover inside. So I'd say it's fair to call it a band.
RASCOE: You said that it's come together. You can call it a band. Does it feel like there's momentum now for The Lemonheads? That's what it sounds like you're saying. Or will fans have to wait a while for another record?
DANDO: It's three-quarters of the way done already. That's why this record's so good 'cause we did, like, 31 songs. And we have, like, half of the new record. It's going to be out in a year. We're getting a little bit ambitious, you know, 'cause rock 'n' roll, like a lot of things, it's just counterintuitive, and it gets more and more fun the older you get.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOVE CHANT")
THE LEMONHEADS: (Singing) Tell 'em the way. Tell 'em the way.
RASCOE: That's Evan Dando of The Lemonheads. The group's new album, "Love Chant," is out now. Thank you for being with us.
DANDO: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOVE CHANT")
THE LEMONHEADS: (Singing) Tell 'em the way. Tell 'em the way. Tell 'em the way. Tell 'em the way. Tell 'em the way. Tell 'em the way. Tell 'em the way. Tell 'em the way I feel. Oh, yeah, I feel. Tell 'em the way. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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