(Left to Right: Sheena Ozzella, Max Gregor, Alex Kerns)
Lemuria’s last album, The Distance is So Big, first delighted our indie, pop-punk sensibilities back in 2013. Fans welcomed The Distance is So Big as the third record in Lemuria’s warm, 90’s indie-rock influenced discography, which began with 2008’s Get Better. Way back in 2004, Sheena Ozzella (guitar/vocals) and Alex Kerns (drums/vocals) formed Lemuria in Buffalo, NY, and they’ve run through a few of bassists before Max Gregor joined in 2010. Since then, Sheena, Alex and Max have been busy touring with (just to name a few) Joyce Manor, Against Me! and Polar Bear Club. Back in early June, Allston Pudding’s Mark Zurlo covered Lemuria’s show with The Menzingers, which was part of a larger Menzingers Summer tour that will be concluding in Baltimore on July 6th.
Lemuria plans to hit the road without skipping a day, as on July 7th they’ll begin a smaller tour with indie-rockers Kind of Like Spitting at Boston’s Great Scott. We here at Allston Pudding will be jumping around to Lemuria’s sweetness at the Great Scott on the 7th, and hopefully you will too! Somehow in between all this touring Alex Kerns found the time to chat with Allston Pudding via email about touring, song writing, and liquor.
Allston Pudding: How has the most recent tour with The Menzingers, Pup and Cayetana been?
Alex Kerns: It has been great! Musically, it’s an eclectic mix of bands. But audience-wise there is a lot of crossover and I think every band on the tour is having a blast. Everybody gets along very well, it sort of feels like summer camp.
AP: How will you all find the energy to come from The Menzingers Tour, and then immediately kick of the next tour with Kind of Like Spitting?
AK: The tour with Kind of Like Spitting is only 10 days, which for us will feel like a breeze. But KOLS are old friends of ours and we have toured with them before. All the drives are pretty short too since it pretty much stays in the Northeast Region.
AP: What has been the weirdest part of touring?
AK: The weirdest thing is that when you come home from tour, a lot of things are different. It’s hard to catch up on all your friends and what has been happening while you’re away. Your life is not that different from a truck driver’s life.
AP: What is your favorite song to play live?
AK: I have two favorites. “Paint the Youth” and “Oahu, Hawaii.” I enjoy them because all three of us sing throughout the songs, and musically they are a little more linear. Especially with “Paint the Youth” I feel like I get to do some Manu Katche style drumming.
AP: Can you describe the song writing process that Lemuria approaches new material with?
AK: There isn’t one set way that we write. Some songs start with a drum beat. Some start with a lyric. Some start with a guitar part Sheena wrote, or that I wrote. A baseline that Max has. Some even start with a hummed melody. Some songs are written completely by Sheena and some are written completely by me. We send demos back and forth to each other, often times we send videos of he songs so we can see what is happening on the instruments instead of solely relying on our ears. Once a bunch of ideas are on the table, we all get together and practice them and just hash it out in a space either in Buffalo, Austin, or Washington D.C…. since we all live in different places.
AP: From where do you usually find lyrical inspiration?
AK: Family and relationships. I would say the lyrics on our records are basically just a way of keeping a journal.
AP: Sheena has said some of her early influences were Superchunk, Guided by Voices, Magnetic Fields, and Elvis Costello. Who are some of your personal influences?
AK: I would also second all of those groups. “Tusk” era Fleetwood Mac even. The Clash, Archers of Loaf, Polvo, Mission of Burma.
AP: What have been some challenges for you as the lead man at your record label, Art of the Underground?
AK: When you put out an album for a band, in a way… you are married to them. For the rest of your life they are going to rely on you in one way or another to be providing albums to them. I’ve cut back on releasing full lengths for bands once Lemuria picked up and we started touring a lot. I just don’t have enough time to be there for the artists. I enjoy putting our 7″ releases that come out, sell out, and become a part of history.
AP: Any thoughts on self-releasing future projects through Art of the Underground?
AK: Lemuria has self-released a couple of records. We recently self-released an LP version of our 2004 demo. We also released a 7″ that had two outtake tracks from our Get Better album. They weren’t on Art of the Underground or any real label. The reason behind that was that we didn’t want them to be confused to be new songs. They were songs we just wanted to be made available to people, but at the same time not misunderstood as a creative direction we are steering towards. Art of the Underground probably wouldn’t be putting out any Lemuria albums, because, with the band on the road a great deal, it’s good to have a strong home base of people who can send you records when you’re out, or take care of any other miscellaneous obstacles.
AP: If you could tour or collaborate with any current band/artist who would you choose?
AK: We played one show with Superchunk, I would love to do more. Also, bands like Spoon and The Marked Men.
AP: Does Lemuria have a drink of choice? What about you?
AK: Collectively, the band gets wild with tequila. Straight shots with lime and salt. Margaritas, yes of course. But personally, I really enjoy whiskey and ginger. I’ve noticed some bars have started using ginger beer instead of ginger ale. I strongly back that.
Check out Lemuria’s website here, and check them out at the Great Scott on July 7th.