Evan Dando Interview

Former Lemonhead Lightens Up

Evan Chase interviews former Lemonhead Evan DandoUpon the release of his first solo recording, Baby I'm Bored

EC: Nice to finally meet you, Evan.ED: Nice to meet you, Evan.

EC: We crossed paths a few times, back in the Vineyard Days, 1997.ED: The Vineyard Days have not ended yet.

EC: You played a friend of mine's wedding, Jon Fiutak, married an Amherst girl.ED: Yeah yeah yeah. Somebody had some mushrooms.

EC: Yeah I was wondering if you enjoyed playing the show.ED: Definitely, it was at the Chilmark Community Center.

EC: Really, where they have the Feast?ED: You weren't there?

EC: I hadn't discovered the Vineyard. It was much later, I saw you - you were rolling around on Gay Head, I introduced you to my mother actually.ED: Cool.

EC: Yeah it was cool. Good times. And I saw you out back at the Hot Tin Roof. You sat down with me and my brother and we had a smoke. So how's the tour going?ED: Good.

EC: Enjoying yourself?ED: Yeah totally.

EC: I know you spoke with the New York Times, and you're living in New York now.ED: That is correct.

EC: Happily married?ED: Yeah, definitely. Very.

EC: A sweetheart, your wife, Elizabeth? Congratulations on that. (Evan shows me a picture of Elizabeth in his journal, on a rooftop behind which are the ruins of the World Trade Centers.)ED: See those buildings in the background? That's where the World Trade Centers were.

EC: Oh, right on.ED: We live two blocks away. I was on the roof when the second one hit. We were south of it.

EC: So are you happy in New York?ED: No, no one is. We want to move to Paris. New York just recently became part of America. When the towers came down, now it's a part of America. Before it was more international, like an island off the coast of America. It really was. It felt a little different. And since that happened, it's totally changing. It sucks right now, I think. Rent's too expensive for anyone interesting to live there. Not that rich people are boring. I know.

EC: Well, they are, we both know that.ED: What I mean is they don't come out of their houses. It doesn't make for a good community.