Lemon Drink | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: I love it. I've been looking forward to this. The

0:02 Speaker 1: band is Lemon Drink and the track is Patsy Kensett

0:06 Speaker 1: and we are going to speak with Lemon Drink in

0:08 Speaker 1: just a moment. Welcome everybody. This is Matt Connorton Unleashed

0:11 Speaker 1: and we are live from the studios of WMNH ninety

0:14 Speaker 1: five point three FM and glorious but very very very

0:17 Speaker 1: cold Manchester, New Hampshire on this Saturday morning, the last

0:23 Speaker 1: day of January, January thirty one, twenty twenty six. Welcome.

0:26 Speaker 1: Of course, we are live from the studios of wm

0:29 Speaker 1: and H ninety five point three FM, and you can

0:31 Speaker 1: stream the show from anywhere, go to Matt connorton dot

0:34 Speaker 1: com slash Live. We've got a great show ahead for you.

0:37 Speaker 1: We've got a couple of world radio premieres coming up

0:40 Speaker 1: in just a little bit, but right now we're gonna

0:43 Speaker 1: open the show with our conversation with Lemon Drink. I've

0:46 Speaker 1: become a big fan in a short time because I

0:48 Speaker 1: really really love their sound and I think via Microsoft teams,

0:51 Speaker 1: I think we've got the whole band here. Let's see

0:55 Speaker 1: who is who is with us? Do we have so far? Christy,

1:01 Speaker 1: Lauren and Paul. Is everybody here, Hi, Hey, welcome to

1:06 Speaker 1: the show. Everybody welcome, and you are in Glasgow? Is

1:11 Speaker 1: that correct? Very very good? Is it now? What's the

1:17 Speaker 1: weather like there? Here? It is bitterly cold. Does it

1:19 Speaker 1: get cold there?

1:22 Speaker 2: Yeah?

1:23 Speaker 3: I don't know if it's colder than the Manchester Napster,

1:26 Speaker 3: but it's pretty pretty cold.

1:29 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, oh really, Uh yeah, it's it's just been

1:32 Speaker 1: it's been absolutely brutal here. But but I love that

1:35 Speaker 1: track Patsy Kensitt and uh. At the end of our

1:38 Speaker 1: conversation too, we're gonna play We're gonna play the earlier single,

1:42 Speaker 1: that Demon Child song that I love a lot. And

1:45 Speaker 1: there's another song too that I'll probably play later in

1:48 Speaker 1: the show that I really like, A Drink for You.

1:50 Speaker 1: I listened to that one too and just love it.

1:51 Speaker 1: So everything that I've listened to I've really really enjoyed.

1:54 Speaker 1: But this is coming out, So the single is out

1:56 Speaker 1: Friday the thirteenth, Is that correct, that's right?

2:00 Speaker 2: Valentine's Day?

2:01 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, excellent. Can you tell us about that

2:05 Speaker 1: song because I feel like this kind of a humorous

2:09 Speaker 1: theme there with the lyrics. Tell us about Patsy Kensitt

2:12 Speaker 1: and also too and I'm curious why why you chose

2:15 Speaker 1: this for a single. It's a great track, but I'd

2:17 Speaker 1: like to know the relevance of it in your world.

2:21 Speaker 3: Sure, So, yeah, it was one of the first songs

2:28 Speaker 3: that me, Sophie and Kirsty Casey interchangeable use of.

2:32 Speaker 2: Names and I wrote.

2:34 Speaker 3: Actually so we wrote it years and years and years ago,

2:39 Speaker 3: and we started with the bridge, which is if anyone's

2:43 Speaker 3: ever written a song knows that that's a really odd

2:45 Speaker 3: place to start.

2:46 Speaker 2: With the songs. But we used to.

2:50 Speaker 3: So my mom had been seeing this guy and he

2:53 Speaker 3: was just like comedy gold on Twitter. He was just

2:56 Speaker 3: he was the worst in real life.

2:57 Speaker 4: So we just do We didn't so, I mean, Christie

3:01 Speaker 4: used to go on his Twitter formally known as Twitter, Yeah,

3:04 Speaker 4: and just like laugh at his tweets because they were

3:07 Speaker 4: so unself.

3:09 Speaker 2: Aware and hilarious. But one of the I do is

3:12 Speaker 2: he used.

3:13 Speaker 3: To just randomly retweet selfies of Patsy Kensit without any context.

3:17 Speaker 3: Really yeah, very odd behavior. And he did lots of

3:22 Speaker 3: other very funny stuff on Twitter. But that's where the lyric.

3:24 Speaker 2: About Patsy Kensick came from.

3:27 Speaker 3: Because yeah, we just it was like every fourth or

3:30 Speaker 3: fifth tweet was just like a retweet of a selfie

3:33 Speaker 3: that Patsy Kenson had tweeted, which was odd. But yeah,

3:37 Speaker 3: so we'd written the bridge years ago. It took a

3:40 Speaker 3: long time to then try and get into what the

3:42 Speaker 3: song would actually be about, because just written a song

3:45 Speaker 3: about him felt it was just very niche and too specific.

3:49 Speaker 3: But once we kind of hit onto the theme of

3:52 Speaker 3: just people, but mainly men who are you know, big

3:57 Speaker 3: egos just like to take up the full room with

4:00 Speaker 3: their own self importance. And when someone you know starts

4:05 Speaker 3: dating a person like that, it means that they unfortunately

4:09 Speaker 3: have to be you have to then also spend them

4:13 Speaker 3: on by not through choice. So it's that's the kind

4:17 Speaker 3: of wider theme of the song. And once we kind

4:19 Speaker 3: of got into that more relatability. So when because we

4:22 Speaker 3: wrote this long before Paul and Lauren joined the band

4:24 Speaker 3: in our previous drummer Harry as well, and I think

4:26 Speaker 3: once we brought that theme to the rest of the band,

4:29 Speaker 3: it came about quite quickly because everyone knows someone like that. Yeah,

4:32 Speaker 3: you know, everyone unfortunate experience at least once in their

4:36 Speaker 3: life of being around a person like that. So after

4:39 Speaker 3: that it came together quite quite quickly. So and yeah,

4:43 Speaker 3: and that's also why it's called Patsy Kensit just because

4:46 Speaker 3: over here in the UK she is a bit of

4:48 Speaker 3: an icon. So and that because obviously was the catalyst

4:52 Speaker 3: of the whole song. That and you know, we did

4:54 Speaker 3: take the songs a bit teeky and playful, so it

4:57 Speaker 3: just felt absolutely natural that should be the name of

4:59 Speaker 3: the song as well, even know it was technically nothing

5:01 Speaker 3: to do with or about Patsy, not about Patsy Kenzy.

5:04 Speaker 1: Sure sure, yeah, I mean, and there's other examples of

5:10 Speaker 1: that in music, like you know, Rosa Parks by Outcast

5:13 Speaker 1: has nothing nothing to do with Rosa Parks for example.

5:16 Speaker 1: But but so I have to know though, so the

5:19 Speaker 1: person who inspired the song, or at least the you

5:23 Speaker 1: know what what the song initially was, are they still

5:27 Speaker 1: in your life in any way?

5:29 Speaker 3: No, no good. That's why I think as well, it

5:32 Speaker 3: became the right moment to do it. Obviously, if I

5:36 Speaker 3: think until they very thankfully broke up, I think it

5:40 Speaker 3: just like would be a.

5:41 Speaker 2: Bit too close to home. But luckily, you know, they're

5:43 Speaker 2: long long, long gone. So yeah, I'm sure that she

5:47 Speaker 2: knew so that she.

5:48 Speaker 3: Was okay without doing it.

5:51 Speaker 1: Well, she she probably uh, she probably gets a kick

5:54 Speaker 1: out of it, right, Yes.

5:56 Speaker 2: She really enjoyed hearing it for the first time.

5:58 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, that's really cool. That's really cool. So

6:02 Speaker 1: I mean this this sound of yours, I mean it's

6:07 Speaker 1: sort of, you know, kind of dreamy. You probably hear

6:09 Speaker 1: that word a lot, you know, kind of that that

6:11 Speaker 1: sort of dream distorted type of sound. And it seems

6:16 Speaker 1: to be the other songs I think have kind of

6:18 Speaker 1: a similar vibe. I mean, but the band has been

6:21 Speaker 1: around for a while, right, and I'm curious if if

6:24 Speaker 1: the if your approach to this has kind of changed

6:26 Speaker 1: over the years. It sounds like the lineup has been

6:28 Speaker 1: pretty stable, right, You've had you did have a different

6:31 Speaker 1: You said you had a different drummer at one point.

6:34 Speaker 5: Yeah, we h.

6:37 Speaker 2: Oh need to learn.

6:39 Speaker 5: Yeah, we had the same drummer for a really long time.

6:43 Speaker 5: I think you guys parted out with him, didn't you,

6:46 Speaker 5: Sophie and Percy before I joined, and he left recently

6:53 Speaker 5: to be a dad. He's such a good dad. He's

6:55 Speaker 5: got a little boy, so understandably he's dedicating his time

6:59 Speaker 5: to that. Then we had a couple of successive drummers, briefly,

7:05 Speaker 5: but we've we settled on someone that we think is

7:08 Speaker 5: the right fit now, which is nice because it means

7:12 Speaker 5: we've got that stability to get cracking again. But yeah,

7:17 Speaker 5: that Paul is a relative, well the public to the

7:23 Speaker 5: public that we're ending. But yeah, that's been a pretty

7:29 Speaker 5: seamless kind of transition adding pauland because he's really good

7:34 Speaker 5: at what he does, and I think has just really

7:37 Speaker 5: enhanced everything that we do, the older songs, new songs

7:43 Speaker 5: that we're writing. Yeah, I think that's really helped us

7:47 Speaker 5: kind of I don't know, just kind of easily find

7:50 Speaker 5: a sound that feels natural to us. And we're kind

7:56 Speaker 5: of finding that we're writing things that we think, oh actually,

7:59 Speaker 5: yeah that kind of line up with that that we've

8:01 Speaker 5: written all this and it's we can feel a progression

8:04 Speaker 5: in ourselves, which is nice.

8:06 Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, yeah, no, that's excellent. And then what's

8:10 Speaker 1: kind of the live situation there? Are are you doing

8:13 Speaker 1: a lot of shows? Are you touring at all? What's

8:15 Speaker 1: what's going on with that? Because I bet these songs

8:17 Speaker 1: sound really good live, I would imagine, Yeah, I.

8:21 Speaker 2: Mean we like to think that they do.

8:23 Speaker 3: I think, yeah, I think just because of all the

8:27 Speaker 3: the drummer changes and kind of getting everyone up speed like.

8:30 Speaker 3: Unfortunately we've not been able to play live shows for

8:33 Speaker 3: a little while, but that's us now, full five key

8:37 Speaker 3: stable line up and ready to hit the ground. So

8:39 Speaker 3: we've got a headline show to launch a single on

8:42 Speaker 3: the twentieth of March at a really great venue in

8:47 Speaker 3: Glasgow called mccool's, really old established venue, independent important especially

8:52 Speaker 3: for the Scottish and British.

8:54 Speaker 2: Independent venues are really important support.

8:57 Speaker 3: And then after that, yeah, the whole is tours, know

9:00 Speaker 3: more more gigging. We just were ready to kind of yeah,

9:03 Speaker 3: as you say, let people hear them live because I

9:05 Speaker 3: think we do have this fun, raw, energetic quality that

9:10 Speaker 3: you know, you just hearing them live, you know, you

9:13 Speaker 3: get that better than anything.

9:15 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, I can imagine absolutely. And then now

9:19 Speaker 1: is this is the single part of an upcoming EP

9:22 Speaker 1: or what's what's the situation there? There's so many different

9:24 Speaker 1: ways to release music now and so many different strategies,

9:27 Speaker 1: But do you have an EP coming up that this

9:29 Speaker 1: is going to be on?

9:32 Speaker 3: This one is a standalone So we're launching Patsy. So Patsy,

9:37 Speaker 3: I think made sense to do as a standalone single

9:39 Speaker 3: because this it definitely hints at the music that's to come.

9:45 Speaker 3: I think the sound if you look kind of our

9:46 Speaker 3: original stuff and then this, it does feel like a

9:49 Speaker 3: more mature, elevated kind of sound than what where we've

9:52 Speaker 3: come from, and definitely hints at what's to come. But

9:55 Speaker 3: the sort of that sort of like vintagey, nostalgic kind

10:00 Speaker 3: of sound probably sits alone with Patsy, but that dreamy,

10:04 Speaker 3: sassy qualities definitely. You can definitely hear that in the

10:08 Speaker 3: other songs to come. So loads of songs kind of

10:11 Speaker 3: ready to go, but Patsy just forms part of her

10:14 Speaker 3: own own kind of special universe.

10:16 Speaker 1: Okay, interesting, and I was reading too. Is this correct?

10:19 Speaker 1: So that you recorded that with Andy Monahana from Santa's Name, correctly,

10:24 Speaker 1: that's correct, but only the single, right, the previous singles

10:28 Speaker 1: you did not record with him, correct?

10:31 Speaker 3: He mixed Demon Child, so the Child we recorded, Yeah,

10:35 Speaker 3: so we recorded that at the Chunky studios, so he

10:38 Speaker 3: didn't engineer and record that with them, but he did

10:41 Speaker 3: mix it for us. So that final sound, the final

10:44 Speaker 3: kind of recording of Demon Child, we worked for Andy on.

10:46 Speaker 3: So that's why we knew we really wanted to do

10:48 Speaker 3: a song from start.

10:49 Speaker 2: To finish with him.

10:50 Speaker 3: Oh, actually, Patsy, because he is he is great what

10:54 Speaker 3: he does, he's fantastic, and he's just he's a really

10:56 Speaker 3: good guy. And you know, we're big fans of Frighten

10:59 Speaker 3: Rabbit as well, of course, So yeah, it was a

11:02 Speaker 3: real dream working with him.

11:03 Speaker 2: So it was great.

11:05 Speaker 1: So as far as the EP, is your plan to

11:08 Speaker 1: work with him on that as well, or are you

11:09 Speaker 1: gonna or is that gonna be a different direction or

11:12 Speaker 1: do you know yet? I don't know if you've started

11:14 Speaker 1: working on it yet, but we don't know yet.

11:17 Speaker 2: I think that's the thing. We've got.

11:18 Speaker 3: All of the songs are kind of still at the

11:20 Speaker 3: demo stages and then all of that still to be

11:23 Speaker 3: worked out. But yeah, plans are a fit, which is exciting.

11:27 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I mean he definitely captured something here,

11:30 Speaker 1: so that's great. Although I have to tell you that

11:33 Speaker 1: song I really love is it a drink for you

11:37 Speaker 1: or a song for you? Oh? A song a song

11:39 Speaker 1: for you? I really like that one a lot too.

11:42 Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to sneak that one in later as well. Yeah,

11:45 Speaker 1: really really good. Yeah, and I think too, so the

11:49 Speaker 1: debut EP Better Run. When did that come out? Was

11:52 Speaker 1: that four years ago?

11:55 Speaker 2: Yeah, that was twenty twenty.

11:57 Speaker 3: Unfortunately it came out I think four day before the

12:00 Speaker 3: UK locknown Sorry.

12:04 Speaker 2: Time of life not great? Yeah, I think.

12:10 Speaker 3: Yeah, we played our EP launch show on the Saturday,

12:13 Speaker 3: so it came out the Friday, watched on the Saturday,

12:16 Speaker 3: and then Lockdown UK and I think started on the Wednesday,

12:20 Speaker 3: so I think there was also like we held a

12:23 Speaker 3: super spreader event.

12:24 Speaker 5: Oh no, yeah, it was nice to go out with

12:28 Speaker 5: a bit of a bang though.

12:29 Speaker 1: Yeah. This is this has been such a consistent thing

12:33 Speaker 1: that comes up on the show over the past several years.

12:36 Speaker 1: Is so many artists who you know, either just released

12:39 Speaker 1: something or they were about to go on a big

12:41 Speaker 1: tour or something right before everything just went to hell.

12:48 Speaker 5: It's nice to see that people are still kind of

12:51 Speaker 5: trying to come back though, Yeah, which is you know,

12:55 Speaker 5: tenacity is the key I think with these things, and

12:59 Speaker 5: it's really great to see that people still, you know,

13:02 Speaker 5: tried to keep making music and yeah, yeah, derail them.

13:08 Speaker 1: Well, I've always said I always say too, you know

13:10 Speaker 1: when the subject comes up. The pandemic was awful, obviously,

13:13 Speaker 1: but we have to find these silver linings where we can.

13:15 Speaker 1: And I think one of the one of those few

13:17 Speaker 1: silver linings is a lot of musicians found new ways

13:20 Speaker 1: to kind of be creative and and find ways to

13:23 Speaker 1: or find ways to collaborate with others online, you know,

13:27 Speaker 1: from a distance. The technology to do that was all

13:30 Speaker 1: already there, but not everyone necessarily was embracing it. And

13:33 Speaker 1: I think people were forced to embrace it in ways

13:35 Speaker 1: that they hadn't before. So so that's that's a good thing.

13:40 Speaker 1: And and so a lot of people, you know, it

13:42 Speaker 1: couldn't really tour, but you could still make music and

13:44 Speaker 1: and uh and a lot of a lot of great,

13:46 Speaker 1: great stuff came out musically from that. So but yeah,

13:51 Speaker 1: so so what ended up happening? So so right before

13:54 Speaker 1: so you played that show and then everything shuts down.

13:58 Speaker 1: But from what I was reading online, I mean, you

13:59 Speaker 1: still had some success with the EP right in terms

14:02 Speaker 1: of placement and airplay and so forth.

14:06 Speaker 3: Yeah, it was really well received, and I just the

14:10 Speaker 3: unfortunate thing is not being able to obviously what you want.

14:13 Speaker 3: As event, we were on a really good you know,

14:16 Speaker 3: grassroots you know, getting somewhere it felt really good, and

14:20 Speaker 3: then obviously what you want when you release an EPs

14:23 Speaker 3: to then launch that into tours and playing lots of

14:26 Speaker 3: shows and getting really good support slots, and just unfortunately

14:29 Speaker 3: that none of that could happen. So it was as music.

14:33 Speaker 3: It was well received, but we couldn't really capitalize on it,

14:36 Speaker 3: And because it was our DBP, it was tricky because

14:39 Speaker 3: it just meant there was so little to like work with.

14:43 Speaker 3: Did a follow up single, Demon Child, and that's why

14:47 Speaker 3: we ended up doing this as a standalone again, just

14:49 Speaker 3: try and keep some sort of momentum going. And I

14:51 Speaker 3: think that did even better than the EP, because by

14:54 Speaker 3: that point it was twenty twenty one, okay, but still

14:57 Speaker 3: in Scotland and the UK again, gigs weren't still really happening.

15:02 Speaker 2: It was still very much kind of pandemic y vibes.

15:05 Speaker 2: So again that did really well and.

15:07 Speaker 3: Was welle received, but we just haven't been able to,

15:09 Speaker 3: you know, off the back of those, we just weren't

15:11 Speaker 3: able to do that the dream scenario of getting tours

15:14 Speaker 3: and booking shows.

15:15 Speaker 2: And getting that kind of more you know, the real world.

15:18 Speaker 2: That's why you do it.

15:20 Speaker 3: You like putting up music, but you put music so

15:21 Speaker 3: that you can actually play in front of people.

15:24 Speaker 1: Right, exactly, exactly. Yeah, So it must be wonderful to

15:27 Speaker 1: really be in a position now where you know you

15:29 Speaker 1: continue to have all this, you know, you clearly have

15:32 Speaker 1: a lot of momentum here and to be able to

15:34 Speaker 1: finally really do everything and you know, try to fulfill

15:39 Speaker 1: the full potential for the band in terms of I mean,

15:42 Speaker 1: like I said, it sounds great, but to be able

15:44 Speaker 1: to get out there and play and do all the

15:46 Speaker 1: things you know, obviously, I'm sure you want to do

15:48 Speaker 1: a lot to support the single Patsy Kensitt, which is

15:51 Speaker 1: great and I do love it even more now that

15:53 Speaker 1: I know the story behind it, because because what you

15:56 Speaker 1: said is true, we all know people like that, So

15:57 Speaker 1: I think it's highly relatable.

16:01 Speaker 5: Everyone that listens to has somebody that they picture in.

16:04 Speaker 1: Them absolutely absolutely one. I have eleven or twelve that

16:11 Speaker 1: I can think of. But but Americans are We're a

16:14 Speaker 1: bit narcissistic over here. So well, so where should people? Oh? Actually,

16:23 Speaker 1: before I ask you that question too, I forgot to

16:25 Speaker 1: ask you one of the obvious questions Lemon drink? Where

16:28 Speaker 1: does the name come from?

16:32 Speaker 2: See?

16:32 Speaker 3: I really think you know it's funny we get obvious question,

16:36 Speaker 3: but we've yet to come up with a more interesting story.

16:41 Speaker 2: I don't know, Chirsty, you tell it.

16:44 Speaker 6: I mean, it's it's not a fantastic story. But me

16:48 Speaker 6: and Sophie were just out one night bar in Glasgow

16:51 Speaker 6: getting some amortosuers and they were perhaps the worst amorts

16:55 Speaker 6: we've ever had. It was just they just squeezed some

16:59 Speaker 6: lemon and some memory into a glass. I was like,

17:03 Speaker 6: this is just a lemon drink. And then that's that

17:07 Speaker 6: was it, And like, great name for band, and here

17:09 Speaker 6: we are.

17:11 Speaker 3: Like but also I think at that point it was

17:14 Speaker 3: like to the morning we're probably it maybe felt better,

17:17 Speaker 3: but the next day it's still stuck.

17:19 Speaker 2: So yeah, later is stuck.

17:22 Speaker 1: So yeah, that's not that's not such a dull story.

17:25 Speaker 1: I like it. That's a great name and uh and

17:27 Speaker 1: and here you are going strong with it, So that's

17:29 Speaker 1: that's wonderful. So in a moment, we're going to I'll

17:33 Speaker 1: let you all go, and we're gonna play that track

17:35 Speaker 1: Demon Child, and I'm also gonna I'm also gonna sneak

17:38 Speaker 1: in a song for you because I love that one too. Uh.

17:40 Speaker 1: That's that's such a good song. I really really like

17:43 Speaker 1: that a lot. But where should people go online to

17:45 Speaker 1: keep up with everything that Lemon Drink is doing. Where

17:47 Speaker 1: should people go?

17:50 Speaker 2: All the usual places.

17:51 Speaker 3: We're on all the socials, so yeah, Instagram, Lemon.

17:56 Speaker 6: Drink Band on Most.

17:58 Speaker 1: Okay, Lemon Drink Band.

17:59 Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, and Spotify as well. Obviously get ready to

18:05 Speaker 3: stream stream our new her new single Patsy Kensit, so.

18:09 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, and yet we'll remind people that comes out

18:12 Speaker 1: February thirteenth. Any chance of a video for that.

18:17 Speaker 3: Yes, we're actually shitting it next week and we've got

18:19 Speaker 3: fun a fun concept that, So keep an eye on

18:22 Speaker 3: our socials for us releasing bits.

18:25 Speaker 2: Oh from that too.

18:26 Speaker 1: Oh fantastic, can't wait to see that. That is wonderful.

18:29 Speaker 1: Well listen, Okay, so thank you all of course, Sophie, Casey,

18:32 Speaker 1: Lauren and Paul, thank you all so much for joining

18:34 Speaker 1: us this morning. We're gonna let you go. I'm gonna

18:36 Speaker 1: hit that track Demon Child, and I am going to

18:38 Speaker 1: play a song for you as well. But we will

18:40 Speaker 1: definitely do this again in the future as you're releasing

18:42 Speaker 1: new music. We'd love to have you back on. Like

18:44 Speaker 1: I said, I became a fast fan. I really like

18:47 Speaker 1: your sound and you know, and I like the dose

18:48 Speaker 1: of humor in this track too, or the track that

18:51 Speaker 1: we played earlier, Patsy kensit. But and I wish you

18:54 Speaker 1: much success and we'll talk again soon, I'm sure. Lemon drink.

18:57 Speaker 1: Thank you all so much, Thanks, thank you. Oh you

19:01 Speaker 1: got it all. Bye bye, take care