内容
- The Lemon Twigsインタビュー
- ♪The Golden Years
- ♪Corner of My Eyes
- ♪How Can I Love Her More?
トーク（英語）
Our goal with each episode is to make you think,
How did I live this long and not know that?
Radio Lab, adventures on the edge of what we think we know
Listen wherever you get podcasts
★ I’m Tiffany Hanson, and you’re listening to “All of It”.
And that is the latest single from Long Island’s own The Lemon Twigs, the title track of their Forthcoming album, “A Dream Is All We Know” It will be the sibling duo’s fifth album following last year’s critically acclaimed -“Everything Harmony”, an album favorably compared to mid-60s Beach Boys, The Beatles, and Bee Gees by reviewers. Following its release, Paste magazine called The Lemon Twigs “the new princes of rock and roll”. Their forthcoming album captures more of the long-haired duo’s masterful retro sound That began on their debut, recorded, and released when they were still two high schoolers from Hicksville today, brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario.Did I say that right, you guys?
B■Yeah
M■Yeah, D’Addario, D’Addario, D’Addario
We’ll get there
B■It’s a bit like tomato tomato
★Nice, okay, well we’ll go, we’ll just, maybe I’ll just change it every time I say it
They’re here with me in WNYC Studio 5 to preview the new album which is out May 3rd and play Some songs live, Brian, Michael, welcome to all of it
BM■Thank you
★And, hey, how about, nice, in stereo, let’s just get started with a song, how about
My Golden Years?
Let’s start there
M■That sounds good
Let’s do it
ーー♪My Golden Yearsーー
★That was “My Golden Years” performed by the Lemon Twigs here with us in studio today.This is all of it. I’m Tiffany Hansen in front of Alison Stewart, the Lemon Twigs also known as Brian and Michael Daddario. Brian, let’s start with you.
B■Sure
Mersey Beach マージー・ビーチについて
★You guys have been credited with coining the term “Mersey Beach”
B■Yep
It’ll go on our Wikipedia page, it’ll say it on my tombstone hopefully.
★So what is it?
B■It is a combination, a perfect, I would say perfect combination of
the Beatles,
Mersey,
Jerry and the Pacemakers sound
And the Beach Boys, Southern California,
Jan and Dean,
the trade winds,
who else? Bruce and Terry?
That’s New York’s a lovely town
M■Harmony sound, yes, that wonderful all-encompassing stereo harmony sound
Right,
★ Jan and Dean, yeah, that was good, yeah
B■We’re hoping it’ll sweep the nation like a wildfire
★I mean, it already is now
So I’m wondering then, since you coined the phrase, you really view it as a thing, like
A real thing
It’s not just a marketing phrase for you
B■It’s as much a marketing phrase as it is a real thing, I would say
I wouldn’t say we put any conscious effort into combining those sounds, but when it comes To our biggest influences, I would say it neatly describes our biggest influences
★Well, in the liner notes to “A Dream Is All We Know”, there’s a focus on the year 1968
So I’m wondering, what, why are you giving me that look?
(6:30)
M■Oh, no, no, no, no, there’s no look
★You’re like, no, she’s wrong
M■No, no, this is all correct, this is all information, but I don’t know that it’s meant To be taken.
So literally or seriously, it’s kind of like, you know, you make a record and then they Kind of ask you to come up with some way to kind of present it,
so that it’s maybe People know what they’re getting into before they listen to it.
Right
B■In some context
M■But yeah,So for us, you know, these are things, and it’s certainly more accurate than it would Be, I guess, if somebody else wrote it.
(7:05)
★So, But 1968 was a year, is a year that you connect with musically.
B■Especially I think sonically
I would say the sonics of the record fit neatly into that
It’s another thing that fits very neatly
★So describe 1968 sonically for me
M■Well, I guess like, the record has a lot of, I don’t know, the record has a lot of Compression, a lot of bussing things together and, uh
★Bussing things together
M■Yeah, you know, kind of, you take the drums and you fuse them together and you put them
Through a compressor, you take that and you put it with the bass because you have a limited
Kind of number of tracks that you’re working with
Yeah, and all
‘Cause they were working with
Low track numbers on their tape machines and stuff, but it’s not as primitive as earlier
Than that, and the stereo image is kind of wider, and it’s kind of just
B■Yeah, ’68 allowed for overdubbing, like we record our records, playing all the instruments And doing one track at a time, but it also didn’t have quite the fullness in frequency That the mid-’70s, say, had
(8:22)
★I want to bring your dad in, no he’s not here, Ronnie D’Addario, also a musician
His website says he grew up listening to 1960s pop music.
I think as kids we are drawn to what our parents are listening to a lot of the time
I remember specifically songs that were on the radio when I was in my mom’s
Opal and I was a little kid driving around I can tell you exactly what that
Feels like and what that day feels like so how does that influence from your dad
Affect all of this attraction for you to that specific era
B■well a number of
Ways because he’s a musician as well as you said and he
When we were first writing songs, you know, there was the influence of like not only like I love this music
But there was the influence of like just when it came to melody and chords things had to be sort of interesting
You know to get his attention so they had to be kind of
Uncommon they had to go in a way that you didn’t necessarily expect
M■Yeah
B■which is also what the great, you know Beatles or Beach Boys songs do they? Modulate a lot they go from key to key and you know things like that
So that was the biggest
M■but in a pop format, you know
You’re doing that and and you’re able to put it into this pop format
But I mean of course just the era of music and everything is entirely, we were kind of, we had Tunnel vision you know like we were we were presented with, we didn’t know really what was going on in the outside world.
Musically we really only listened to what my dad and mom played and
Oldies radio and stuff and Kind of shunned modern music, really
(10:06)
★Is there modern music you connect with?
B■Yeah,I would say like “Royal Trucks was like the last
Modern thing that I was very into
M■Modern, you know, it’s like, they’re not really modern
At this point, I suppose
B■Well, their last album came out in 2019, I was into that
– Yeah, there’s lots of things
– That’s modern
– Well, no, no, no, but they’re a band, you know,
From the ’90s
– Started in the late ’90s
– Oh, right, right, right, right
M■There’s lots of bands that we like, they’re typically indebted to the 60s and 70s though
They typically have a sound that’s reminiscent of that era
(10:43)
★So both of you have also had acting careers
You’ve been on Broadway.
Brian, you were in The Little Mermaid, Les Mis,
Michael, You were in All My Sons on Broadway
So I’m wondering how that professional theater experience
Influences your approach to live performances
Like this one here as The Lemon Twigs.
B■Well, I think we’re a little bit more used to it, I guess
We definitely turn on when, you know, the camera’s on or whatever, maybe
I don’t know
M■We get into sort of a performance mode, I would say
★Are you in character?
B■No, just like a little bit more focused than we would be if we weren’t performing
Yeah, but that’s probably the case for non, you know, actors
M■People without that experience, too
I think that that are
We also, simultaneously, we were playing a lot of shows when we were kids in bands and stuff, so it’s hard to chalk that up to, the acting or whatever, because we were kind of always performing in different contexts
(11:54)
コンセプトアルバムについて
★Your 2018 album, Go To School, was, quote, “a musical by the Lemon Twigs” It’s a concept album.
So talk about the challenges of creating a concept album
B■Well, you kind of, in that case, I was way more into the story than Michael was, and
I would kind of say to him, you know, “your song has to be about this, you know, write A song about this”
And I had this sort of feeling of like, really wanting to go through with it because we Had the impetus of the idea And
You know, in retrospect, I don’t dislike the album,
But I think it’s more healthy and creative
To write without that aim of like having to tie songs
Together in a conscious way
It’s better to just sort of let the song be a vehicle
For your subconscious or–
★So no more concept albums coming from the Lemon Twigs
B■Probably not (laugh
★That’s the headline (laugh
★Any idea that it might, that Go To School？Might actually go to a stage show?
M■I don’t know, there was interest a while ago but it’s kind of like if that were to Work we’d have to be really into it and it seems like
B■ it seems like something we could
Possibly do when it’s a little bit, you know further away, further in the rear view, yeah
★All right well let’s get to some more music here how about um let’s hear corner of my eye?
BM■Sure
★Another little slurp of water
ーー♪corner of my eyeーー
★That’s the lemon twigs here on “All of It”
You are listening to us live in studio
前作から約１年でのリリースについて
That song, “Corner of My Eye,” came from your last album,
“Everything Harmony,” which will turn a year old on May 5th
That’s just two days after the release of this new album
Called “A Dream Is All We Know”
I’m gonna say that seems like a really tight turnaround
B■Well there was quite a bit of time between finishing Everything Harmony and releasing
That Maybe about nine months
And so in that interim we weren’t touring and we really got into working on A Dream Is All We Know at that time
We weren’t like fully signed to capture tracks at that point and there were things like manufacturing Things that happened
M■
★But, I mean, there are musicians who will tell you it takes me ten years to come out with another album
So, I mean, I look at what you said, nine months, and I think, “Holy cow, that’s like more than a song a month”
B■Yeah, I mean, we’re writing like way more than that, you know, it’s just, it’s way easier to write the songs for us than to record them and produce them
★Why is that?
B■I think it’s just more fun to write songs for us, you know?
It’s like, I don’t know, it’s just really fun
M■Yeah, yeah, it’s such, and it’s, and we just get kind of melodic ideas a lot of the time,
But carrying out and having the time to carry them, carry them out and to
B■Produce them the correct way, you know?
M■Yeah, to produce them in really the right way where
B■Strings and things like that
//抜けあり//
M■Yes, certain ones need that kind of thing
★So one of you will say hey
I’ve got an idea for this
Thing I I’m hearing in my head and play it and then next thing, you know, it’s a song
//抜けあり//
M■Right .I mean and I will do that a lot independently too, you know
More so than we do it together
Get an idea
I’ll get an idea
B■But we get arrangement ideas when we’re just playing each other, what we’ve written
The other person will get arrangement ideas and it helps to have a pool of songs, you know?
M■Right
(19:10)
パンデミック時期の辛かった話
★So you talked about, you know, the recording process for you and how different
That is from the songwriting process
You recorded everything harmony between 2020, 2021
That’s major pandemic era.
So how did that affect things?
B■Well, I mean, we had decided to move out of our parents maybe about a year into the pandemic,
Maybe a little less, six months
And the recording studio was there for, you know,
Our whole career up until that point
And so we moved to this place in Midtown that
Was just a rehearsal studio
And, um,
I mean the pandemic it was just you know we only had we could only record or whatever
But we weren’t necessarily more productive because our
M■got pretty sick of each other …
★yeah
B■I don’t know
★yeah
B■it just well…
★welcome
B■ I just I tend to forget that whole thing
M■well we we have bad memories in general
★uh oh all right just not not specifically of the pandemic but
Just in general you guys don’t yeah yeah
M■we retain a lot that’s not musical
(20:20)
前作との制作プロセスの比較
★Well, can you remember how the process was different from, just as compared to the process For this current album?
M■Yeah, well-
★Like, just how it felt?
M■Well, when we went to finish the album in San Francisco and it was just Brian and I And an engineer, our friend Rias-
B■The Everything Harmony album
M■The Everything Harmony album, yeah
And I guess it was, you know, more isolated, way more isolated
B■We hadn’t played any shows, like we had played a lot of shows this past year
M■That’s true, that influenced the album a lot
B■And that did kind of inform the album because
M■We wanted more upbeat stuff
Yeah, the last record was pretty down because, I mean, it was just
Yeah, we were down and we were in our rooms with, you know, acoustic guitar and stuff
B■Yeah, singing quietly.
★And you say touring and being in front of live audiences
Affects the work, is that like, oh, everybody,
That seems to really resonate with people, for sure
M■That’s typically what it is, you know
You might wanna, you have more of a reason to do
Like a little rock and roll song or something like that
As opposed to a ballad just ‘cause people fall asleep
★Yeah
M■Standing up
★Okay
(21:33)
ショーン・レノンについて
★I want to talk about collaboration
There’s a song on A Dream
Is All We Know that is co-produced by Sean Ono-Lennon, who is also featured on bass
And it’s called “In the Eyes of the Girl”
So what I want to talk about specifically is
Collaboration and how you approach that
B■Well, we typically don’t do all that much on our records,
Aside from bring people in to play
And we generally have pretty specific ideas
About what we want them to play
But it was really nice working with Sean,
Because he has a really good ear for harmony and melody
And he wouldn’t suggest something
That harmonically didn’t work
He’s like a true musician, you know?
And so it’s always good when you get to play with someone who’s bringing in, you know, something and also who can take direction well and things like that, you know, and also he has ideas that,
M■you know, sometimes you kind of got to work with somebody and they have an idea and you go, Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,
★mm hmm
M■You know, but you know you’re not gonna do that, but that wasn’t the the situation with him and
Luckily with most of the people that we collaborate, I mean you find out pretty quick if it doesn’t work that well
To work with somebody
(22:53)
夢のコラボレーションは？
★Any dream collaborations?
Now’s the time!!
B■McCartney would be cool
M■★Yeah, McCartney Jeff Lynne
B■Yep,Roy Wood
M■★Roy Wood, yeah
(23:09)
トッド・ラングレン などとの共演について
★You had guest appearances on previous albums
BM■Yeah
★Um, Todd Ruddengrin, how was that unique?
M■Well, similarly to Sean, he’s somebody who’s a really great musician, so
★Right,A musician’s musician, for sure
M■And when that’s the situation, it’s pretty easy
It’s just a matter of getting the performance on tape or whatever or, you know, knowing what you want
And I think that with Todd, he’s famous for if you don’t know what you want, he’ll figure out what you want anyway
Or something, an alternative
So, yeah, he’s the consummate professional
We had him on stage and playing with us, too,
And he was handed a guitar that was a very difficult
Guitar to play
He played it very, very well
He didn’t want anything in his monitor
You know, he can just work with anything, is my point
★You’ve said about the album we talked about, “Go to School,” that obviously it’s a concept album that’s very escapist in its storytelling
Generally speaking, do you think your work overall has kind of an escapist bent?
B■It could, yeah
I mean, maybe less so the last album, ‘cause it was more about, like, day-to-day life and it dealt with some, you know, more slightly heavier feelings, Everything Harmony, but we tend to fall back on this sort of thing that’s just more, like, joyful
I mean, I think our lyrics sometimes are, they usually are about something true
M■That’s really happened, yeah
B■But I think that just the whole, the way it’s all packaged and stuff like that, it’s Just supposed to give you a good feeling.
M■Yeah, I think that the instrumentation is a big part of that and kind of that, like Use of, you know, harpsichord and kind of fun instruments that people don’t typically,You know, it’s not this real raw thing with like, you know, it’s just a, you know, it’sA straight rock band or or just an acoustic guitar often it’s pretty ornate with a lot of harmonies and stuff which I think seems escapist right you know how’s that feel
★right ,right
★Well we’re gonna take a quick break we are talking with the lemon twigs about their forthcoming album
A dream is all we know and we’re gonna do some music when we come back how’s that sound
Cool all right you’re listening to all of it i’m tiffany hansen in for allison stewart
You’re listening to All of It, I’m Tiffany Hanson, and for Alison Stewart, and we are
Talking with The Lemon Twigs about their forthcoming album, A Dream Is All We Know,
Forthcoming as in out on May 3rd
And Michael and Brian, I said let’s play some music, so let’s play some music, how about
It?
BM■Cool!
★Forthcoming album, A Dream Is All We Know, and we’re gonna do some music when we come
Back
How’s that sound?
Cool
Alright, you’re listening to All of It
I’m Tiffany Hansen in for Alison Stewart
You’re listening to All of It, I’m Tiffany Hanson, and for Alison Stewart, and we are
Talking with The Lemon Twigs about their forthcoming album, A Dream Is All We Know,
Forthcoming as in out on May 3rd
And Michael and Brian, I said let’s play some music, so let’s play some music, how about It?
BM■Cool!
ーー♪How can I love her more？ーー
♪How can I love her more？について
★That song, in case you couldn’t tell from the last line,
Is called “How Can I Love Her More?”
B■That’s its debut
★ I like it, so tell me about that
Tell me about this song
M■It’s kind of like an Upbeat Turtles type tune
You know, yeah, I wrote that pretty much alone, and yeah, we’re gonna do a video for it like Next week or something
B■Yeah
★Alright, so we got the scoop
M■Yeah, yeah, you got the scoop
2024 public song projectについて
★Alright, so before we let you go, because we’re running out of time here, I want to mention that
All of it is in the midst of a 2020, our 2024 public song project
Listeners invited to submit
Songs based on work in the public domain
You can join our public song project by going to
Wnyc/publicsongproject
Another part of this project is that we have some guest contributors
You guys are included in the guest contribution, so tell us about that
B■Well, we just finished mixing it last night
It’s a song called “Tired of Me”
I’m blanking on the writers right now,
But I know a version by Henry Burr
That was done in about 1920
And I got into Henry Burr through Tiny Tim,
Who I’m a big fan of
We’re both fans of Tiny Tim fans
And he loves Henry Burr’s voice,
M■And we love Henry Burr’s voice too, yeah
We just love this song, and we did kind of like a, it’s not really country, but it’s
Got kind of a swing country feel, but it’s a really great song, I think
I think we did a good job
★Well, we’ll hear that, won’t we?
B■Yes, we will, you can be the judge of that
★That’s right
★We’ve been talking with The Lemon Twigs, a dream is all we know is their forthcoming
Album, it’s coming out May 3rd
Thank you so much for being in studio with us
BM■Thanks for having us
