Evan Dando: The Lemonheads hit the road again with three gigs in Ireland

The American vocalist now lives in Brazil, but couldn't resist the urge to get touring again  Richard Purden

Evan Dando brings his Lemonheads to Cork, Dublin, and Galway. Picture: Antonia Teixeira

Evan Dando appears on my Zoom screen, walking towards me, with a guitar in his hands. There are now some grey patches in his beard, while the top half of his hair is scraped back. Behind him is an azure blue sky and the tops of trees bursting into view.

The Massachusetts-born singer is at home in Serra da Cantareira, in the hills above São Paulo, Brazil, where he has lived for the past four years. Dando is returning to Ireland next month for dates in Cork, Galway and Dublin in support of Love Chant, the first Lemonheads album of original material in almost two decades.

He tells me to listen to The Key of Victory and the closing track, Roky. “On the new record, start with the last song, Roky; it’s the best,” he says.

They are recognisably Lemonheads tunes. He's already started work on another record due in January, a Townes Van Zandt tribute, Townsville. “It’s like a Lemonheads record, and it’s fucking awesome; it’s the best-sounding thing I’ve ever done.” 

Also released last year was his memoir Rumours of My Demise. In the book, he dealt with one rumour concerning an affair with Courtney Love, suggesting it wasn't true. 

“I was way too close to that fucking tornado, man,” he says before adding in a soft drawl, “I love Courtney, but she’s really too much.”

The memoir takes him back to the years when the Lemonheads became part of the mainstream, and to the people orbiting around him. He recounts one memorable moment watching Neil Young. 

“I was sitting on the stage, and Kate Moss kept licking her finger and sticking it in my ear,” he recalls of an incident in which he says he was on ecstasy at the time. “I was trying to keep a straight face, but it was the best, seeing Neil Young.” 

There was also a co-write with Noel Gallagher. Dando had forgotten Purple Parallelogram until they met at Glastonbury. “He was the one to remind me of it. I did a George Harrison-style solo on it. Next time you hear it, the solo is really good.” 

The track can be found online and sounds like a classic blend of both bands, an unadulterated slice of 1960s-influenced guitar pop-rock.

Dando also has fond memories of Kirsty MacColl and Shane MacGowan. “I fell right in love with her; she was the dearest person. Shane MacGowan was always really nice to me. I once had to go and get him off a fucking exercise bike because we were taking speed and he wouldn’t get off."

The early punk version of The Lemonheads, formed in 1986 in Dando's hometown of Boston, was a different proposition. He describes Creator as sounding as though it was recorded on three tracks, despite using eight. By Lovey, their first major-label album, Dando had found his songwriting voice on tracks like Stove and Ride with Me. “No one bought it, but it’s a really good record,” he recalls.

Evan Dando on stage in 2003. Photo: Nick Laham/Getty Images

That changed with It's A Shame About Ray in 1992 . “We were trying to be as uncool as possible. At that time, everyone was doing grunge, so we decided to retreat and sound a little AM, a little bit thin and weird. We thought, ‘Let’s go against everything, and they’ll never call us grunge’.”

The story behind the title track was equally unlikely. “That’s just from the newspaper, this kid kept getting kicked out of all the Catholic schools, and the priest would say, ‘It’s a shame about Ray’. It became a catchphrase with my friends. 

"I had this piece of music, and then one day we were up like five days on speed, and it just came out. We brought it to the radio station and made them play the cassette live.” 

Juliana Hatfield, who features on Deep End from the new album, was also a significant part of the Lemonheads, playing bass and singing back-up on It's A Shame About Ray. Their musical relationship continued sporadically after the breakthrough years. 

“We did a world tour in 2010 and 2011. She wrote a song when we were estranged, and then we came back together.” 

Dando looks out into the distance. “Brazil is like heaven on a hill”, he tells me as our time draws to a close. He received his first guitar for his 10th birthday in 1977 and began teaching himself from a Beatles songbook. 

Nearly five decades later, I watch him reach for an old acoustic guitar. “What would you like to hear?” he asks.

• The Lemonheads play Monroe’s, Galway, September 17; The Grand Social, Dublin, September 18; and Cyprus Avenue, Cork, September 19