Lemuria
Lemuria are from Buffalo, New York and have been a well respected member of the US indie-rock scene since 2004. Andy Maddison (who else?) caught up with drummer Alex Kerns to chat about the latest full length, ‘Get Better’, and life on the road…
Myspace: www.myspace.com/lemuria
Official site: http://www.lemuriapop.com/
AM: You are one of those bands that is forever out on tour, describe your typical mode of transport, accommodation whilst on the road and more importantly how you all manage to not kill each other whilst living in such close proximity for extended periods of time.
AK: We tour a lot, but then again…there are some bands that tour about 10 months of the year…so compared to those bands, we don’t tour nearly as much. But yes, still a great amount! We travel around in our dodge van. It’s name is Gary Gas Hands. Ever since we bought the vehicle, after you drive it the steering wheel makes your hands smell like gasoline. Its a very comfortable van though…I was napping in it earlier. We’re a trio, so we fit pretty well inside it. Sometimes we feel like we’re going to kill each other…but at the same time we all are great friends, and that’s just inevitable when you’re in a van together and you’re constantly having to compromise your decisions every day. We always get over whatever little bickering match we have.
AM: Nobody can ever deny that you have all put the work in, do you ever see a time when you will be able to make a living from the band or at least gain wider recognition from the more mainstream areas of the media? Or do you feel that this door is currently closed to your particular type of music.
AK: I don’t really think the door is closed. It’s a touchy subject because a lot of people consider bands who start getting more recognized and start making more money to be “sellouts”. I don’t really think that’s exactly how it is. Some bands just end up gaining a larger audience and start selling more records and getting paid more at shows because they have been doing the band for a long time and are putting out music that pleases peoples ears. That isn’t a crime. Our plan as a band is to keep writing the music that we love, and continue to express ourselves the way we always have. If more people start listening to us, great! If we don’t have to have jobs back home and have more time to write more music and tour more, incredible! We’re not going to shamelessly exploit ourselves to reach a level of accessibility to mainstream media, but people are people and I don’t care if you’re a punk, hippie, or an accountant from Iowa…if you like our music then I’m happy that you’re getting something out of it.
AM: Comparisons are often drawn between yourselves and bands such as The Breeders, Superchunk or Belly. Are these bands that you feel close too musically? What and who influences your sound?
AK: Superchunk is definitely a big influence, and we also like The Breeders, Pixies, Sebadoh, Lemonheads, etc. I’ve never really listened to Belly, but now that you bring them up I’ll check them out. That name sounds familiar. These bands not only influence our sound, but they’re great representations of bands not having to act like rockstars on stage and they just get to be themselves and it’s refreshing. I’m generally turned off by bands that try to “work the crowd”. I just like to see some genuine characters up there.
AM: You have been over and toured the UK, and your current album ‘Get Better’ is out over here on Kingston up on Thames label Banquet Records. How did you hook up with Banquet and are there any plans for you to return to the UK?
AK: Mike Park at Asian Man Records had contacted them about releasing the album, because they had released some other Asian Man releases prior to ours. It worked out very well for us because we had the opportunity to come back and play a handful of shows with Dave House who is such a great musician and person that we all immediately felt close to. I’m really happy about the people we’ve met through this band…it’s pretty magical how many good friends we’ve made through music.
AM: With you being out on the road so much, you must come across some bands that are both awful and amazing. Who would you recommend that we check out?
AK: Tin Armor, The Arteries, Bangers, The Marked Men, Orphan Choir, Gordon Gano’s Army, Delay, and so many more. I could go on and on…
AM: Finally, what is the plan for Lemuria? What will you be doing for the remainder of 2010?
AK: We just started our tour, and we’re out for pretty much the whole summer touring the US. We’ll be recording a new full length this summer with J. Robbins in Baltimore. Bridge 9 Records is going to release it, so we’re very excited about that! This fall we’ll probably just take it easy and play some weekend shows and wait for the album to be pressed. We really need to come back to the UK soon though!
Andy Maddison
