The Lemon Twigs

The Lemon Twigs are an American pop/rock band from Long Island, New York, United States, fronted by brothers Brian D’Addario and Michael D’Addario.^[1] Both brothers are vocalists, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, and are joined by Megan Zeankowski on bass and Danny Ayala on keyboards and backing vocals. All of the members of The Lemon Twigs attended Hicksville High School (also the alma mater of rock legend Billy Joel).

Biography

The Lemon Twigs were founded by brothers Brian and Michael D'Addario while they were both students at Hicksville High School on Long Island, New York. The siblings both perform lead vocals, lead guitar, drums and occasional other instruments.

On their debut album, "Do Hollywood", each brother takes the lead on vocals and guitar on the songs he composed; during live performances, this setup is preserved, with the remaining D'Addario manning the drumkit.

Fellow schoolmates Zeankowski and Ayala (who has played with the D'Addarios on and off since their youth) handle, respectively, bass and keyboards when the Twigs play live. Ayala is also a vocalist and figures prominently in the harmonies and contrapuntal backing vocals that are a key component of The Lemon Twigs' sound. He announced the debut of his side project, Dr. Danny, in May 2017.

The Lemon Twigs write and play music that updates the classic rock sound of 60s baroque pop like The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Zombies and the 70s power-pop and art-rock styles of Big Star, Badfinger, The Raspberries, 10cc and Todd Rundgren. The Times characterized The Lemon Twigs as "a modern-day band combining the melodic, harmony-rich soft rock of Wings and Supertramp, the underground cool of Big Star and the Ramones, and the theatricality of Broadway musicals."^[2] The Guardian cited the "humbling beauty of their songs" and their "sumptuous harmonies."^[3]

The band was signed to British alternative music label 4AD in 2015. Their debut album, Do Hollywood, was released in October 2016 to widespread critical acclaim. A number of diverse pop music figures have publicly expressed admiration for the Twigs: Elton John, The Zombies, Boy George, Laura Marling, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Gary Brooker of Procol Harum, and Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance.

The Lemon Twigs served as opening act for fellow New York City/Long Island-based alt-rockers Sunflower Bean on their East Coast tour in late 2016 and performed on television programs like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, CBS This Morning "Saturday Sessions" and Conan along the way. In early 2017 it was announced that the band would play on day one of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California on April 14, 2017. This performance saw the Twigs joined by one of the band's "favorite musicians ever, in the whole world", Todd Rundgren, to play "Couldn't I Just Tell You" from Rundgren's classic 1972 double album, Something/Anything?.

The Lemon Twigs released the Do Hollywood tracks "These Words" and "As Long As We're Together" as a double-A-side single and made videos for both songs. The third single was album opener "I Wanna Prove to You" and features a video directed by Nick Roney.

The band played several esteemed festivals in the summer of 2017, such as Glastonbury Festival, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Music Festival, and the Montreux Jazz Festival, in addition to opening for Phoenix across the United States. These 2017 shows saw the band covering songs such as "Fish and Whistle" by John Prine, "I Walked with a Zombie" by Roky Erickson, "You Can't Talk to the Dude" by Jonathan Richman, "I've Begun To Fall In Love" by R. Stevie Moore, and "I Can Feel the Fire" by Ronnie Wood; they notably performed the latter song with Thomas Hedlund of Phoenix on drums while supporting Phoenix at the Hollywood Bowl alongside Mac DeMarco.

The band is set to release an EP, Brothers Of Destruction, in the fall of 2017, containing songs recorded during the Do Hollywood sessions,^[4] and have already started working on their second album, a concept album which they plan to entitle Go to School.

Members

• Brian D'Addario - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, trumpet, violin
• Michael D'Addario - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, percussion
• Danny Ayala - keyboards, backing vocals
• Megan Zeankowski - bass

Discography

Studio albums

• What We Know (2015) [Unofficial Album]
• Do Hollywood (2016)

Singles

• "These Words"/"As Long As We're Together" (2016)
• "I Wanna Prove to You" (2017)

References

External links

• New band of the week: The Lemon Twigs (The Guardian, July 18, 2016)