Interview: Lemonade

Part San Francisco part Brooklyn, Lemonade are made up of Alex Pasternak on drums, Ben Steidel on bass and vocalist Callan Clendenin. Having initially released their self titled debut album in 2008, 2010 saw them drop the Pure Moods EP and one of the tracks of the year in 'Lifted'. Utterly unique' doesn't really do them justice to be honest as they merge 90's rave with melodic calypso beats like its an easy task to pull off.


We had the chance to ask Ben from the band a few questions. Read it below.

(One For The People) How have you found the response to ''Pure Moods'' thus far?

(Lemonade) We haven't had a chance to tour too much since the release but the Internet has been receptive, and as usual a bit confused.


(1FTP) ''Lifted'' sounds like it was dreamt up whilst you were at some Caribbean paradise, was that actually the case?

(L) Listening to the radio in the Virgin Islands, mostly in cabs, definitely affected many aspects of the production of Pure Moods, but the song Lifted was written at the end of a cold New York winter.  It was kinda like begging "please get warmer so I can love again".


(1FTP) I imagine your influences to make music are pretty far and wide. Can you give us a few....

(L) When we started it sounded like Liquid Liquid with a more free-noise psychedelic approach, but we immediately incorporated ideas from dancehall, German New Age like Ashra, grime producers, techno, old rave music, dub, acid-house, etc. Kinda everything made it in somewhere. These days we incorporate different influences that range from Stevie B and Bobby Brown to the Durutti Column and Art of Noise.


(1FTP) "Underwater Sonics'' (in particular) is next level. What mind frame do you have to be in when recording a track like that? 

(L) That song has always felt really transcendent, and when we recorded it, it felt emotional. The redundancy of getting clean takes probably wiped out a lot of the transcendence when we were in the studio, but playing it live, always felt exciting, like rushing to the edge of a cliff and diving off into water.





(1FTP) Musically, what can we expect from your third offering?

(L) So far the album is more complex and developed than our previous recordings, but also more familiar sounding. Less day-time music and more night-time music than Pure Moods, and maybe a bit more like the actual Pure Moods compilations.


(1FTP) What does the rest of 2010 hold for you? Any chance of a visit to the UK?

(L) It looks like a few trips are in the works, certainly something in the UK eventually. We are really excited to go to South America for a couple of weeks in August. Lots of recording and studio time this fall but no Bestival this year.

(1FTP) And finally..... Lemonade recommends:

(L) Blondes!
 

A big thank you to Ben for taking his time out to speak with us. Be sure to head on over to Lemonade myspace for more tracks and you can indulge yourself in the delightful sounds of 'Lifted' below.








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