Euphoric and carefree, Evan Dando also gave clues about the new Lemonheads album in an interview with Rolling Stone Brazil
With hair in the wind, Evan Giving answered the Zoom call inside a car parked on the beach in Martha’s Vineyard, in the United States. Beside him was Antonia Teixeirawith whom he has been dating since 2022. “I fell in love with a Brazilian girl,” the musician admitted in an interview with Rolling Stone Brazil.
View this photo on InstagramA post shared by Evan Dando (@grif1111)
“We met in 1994. Actually, I said ‘Hi’ in 1994, and we actually met in 1997,” he reported. Along the way, the artist’s daughter Renato Teixeira married Rodrigo Sater. Givingin turn, lived a marriage with Elizabeth Moses for a decade. But it was not to be. The reunion of the founder of Lemonheads it’s from Antonia resulted in a relaxed romance and several photos of Evan in unusual corners of Brazil.
— Evan Dando (@Evan_Dando) June 20, 2024
New album
It was on one of these visits to the country, “at the premiere of a film directed by Antonia“, Elis and Tom, It Just Had to Be With You (2022), which Evan met the producer Apollo Nine. “He loves The Velvet Undergroundlike me. He likes things from the early Rolling Stones. We like the Taking Tiger Mountainof Brian Eno“, he said. “We both like Everyone Lives as They Want. We have a lot in common. We think a lot about ourselves.”
“I think I’m good. I think he’s good. And I’m glad he thinks I’m good too,” he continued. Giving It is Nine are working on a new album together. Asked about the sound of the project, Evan stated that it will be “a lot of the same”: “It’s like making my first record […] Right now, it’s a bunch of good riffs and melodies with some lyrics. It’s got guitar, bass and drums — the usual stuff.”
Two singles are now available on streaming services. “Seven Out”, one of the tracks released, features backing vocals by Erin Rae. “I love her voice,” he revealed. Giving about the partnership.
Covers
The discography of Lemonheads is filled with many covers. The new album will be no different: “There will be two or three.” The cover of “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon & Garfunkelin fact, continues to be one of the band’s most listened to songs. For some time, Evan hated having to include the track on the album It’s a Shame About Ray after suffering pressure from the record company. When the song ended up in a film directed by Martin Scorsese, the wolf of Wall Street (2013), his opinion changed:
My relationship is great with all of them. [covers]except with ‘Mrs. Robinson’, because we were fooled on that one. We did it in a second. The Rolling Stones they say that about ‘Satisfaction’, and I hate comparing the two songs, because ‘Satisfaction’ is really good, but they didn’t put much thought into it. Anyway, knowing that [‘Mrs. Robinson’] ended up in a movie Scorseseit’s okay. For me, that’s cool.
“I love doing covers,” he said. Givingadding that he considers the fourth album of Beatles — Beatles for Sale — “the best”, due to the cover “Words Of Love”, by Buddy Holly. “There’s so much good music out there, there’s no problem in doing old music. I don’t think it’s a minor achievement. But maybe it is, I don’t know.”
Relationship with the United States and life in Brazil
“The people and the places,” the singer replied when asked what he likes most about Brazil. “I don’t belong in the United States anymore. I don’t know, I don’t feel welcome anymore. I guess I’ve always been on the run.”
— Evan Dando (@Evan_Dando) December 20, 2023
“I’m so sad. I have light hair and I’m a white American. That’s enough, that’s the closest thing to what I look like. Donald Trump“, he lamented Evan at one point in the interview. His thoughts seemed to be racing so fast that the connections he was making in his head sounded almost meaningless. “It’s a nightmare! I hate Donald Trump” he exclaimed. “You know what? I don’t care. I don’t even know anything about politics, because I don’t care.”
View this photo on InstagramA post shared by Evan Dando (@grif1111)
“I come from a New England family, where people are too strict to live in England. Imagine that!” he joked. “America is the worst. It’s all over. No, I love my country and everything.”
Evan discovered a few months ago that Renato Russo loved his band. But he admitted that he didn’t explore the artist’s discography, not even the urban Legion. Antonia recalled that, even so, the relationship of Giving with Brazilian music is unsuspected. “The first song he learned from his father was ‘Água de beber'”, he reported, recalling his boyfriend’s memory of his first steps in music.
View this photo on InstagramA post shared by The Lemonheads (@thelemonheadsofficial)
The artist revealed that songs from Brazil are in his “DNA”, but do not form specific references for his work. He then stated that his own mother is very afraid that he “mixes things up, like Linda Ronstadt made a Mexican album”, because she would consider it “cultural appropriation”. Exactly for this reason, the musician promised to make at least one track in this sense. “That’s what we have to do, right? Annoy our parents”, he argued. Teixeira said that, from this idea, a collaboration with her father could come out, Renato.
I’m a country boy https://t.co/Co7lAD7UEq via @YouTube
— Evan Dando (@Evan_Dando) May 30, 2024
Shows in Brazil
On Friday the 19th, the Lemonheads ends the brief tour of Brazil, which has already passed through Belo Horizonte and Florianópolis. “The first show will be very good”, he said Giving. “The second one will be a good try.”
“The last one… I don’t know what to expect. We’ll do everything, we’ll play until the roof comes off,” he added, mentioning the performance in São Paulo.
View this photo on InstagramA post shared by Cine Joia 💎 (@cine_joia)
Source: Rollingstone
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
