Photo: Ingrid Sofia Hedenström
Introduce yourself…
L: I’m Léonie and I play in Lemongrab.
J: Hey I’m Joris from Leipzig. I play the drums in Lemongrab.
F: Hello I’m Fritz Ali from Berlin, I play bass in Lemongrab.
G: I’m Gaelle. Singer in Lemongrab. I'm from Montreal, Canada but now live in Berlin since 6 years.
Why do you play music?
L: It seems like the perfect art form to have some impact, from diy to arena it’s an accesible venture. I enjoy travelling through the tours we do, even with pretty low budgets we still have a great time exploring around cities, villages and little corners of the world we would never get such personal insight into. That’s a huge part of it for me. Making music is special in it’s own way, i love listening to music and trying to figure out why it’s so exciting to hear. Making it feels like being a part of something bigger as we all dig into ourselves to say things we would’nt know how to say otherwise.
J: I play music cause I am pretty much obsessed with it. I always play gigs or go to concerts, it never gets boring. Meeting all the other musician out there, getting inspired, I couldn’t think of a betterway to spent my time.
F: I play music for a plethora of reasons; it’s a great emotional outlet, a way to connect with like minded people and a sort of universal language that lets me speak to most anyone in the world so long as they have ears to hear it. But mostly I play music cause it’s fun and I like drinking after shows.
G: I do music because it's an art form I connect deeply with and it's fun to do! It allows you to travel and be part of a community. I met most of my friends through music.
What was a major influence on you as an Artist/Band?
L: There’s too many to think of but let’s say like this two strong people whose words continue to inspire me are Leonard Cohen and Courtney Love. They may be two slightly incompatible sides of a coin but they meet somewhere in their undeniable search for truth and poetry and that’s beautiful to me.
J: I continuously get influenced by local bands and friends. Everybody has their own thing to say and its worth listening to. But talking about famous artists I would have to say paul mccartney. I like artist the most that can express themselves in different genres and always have a recognizable sound.
F: I’ve had many influences ranging from rock n roll hall of famers to local bands of 17 year olds but if I had to narrow it down to a few house hold names I’d say: New Order, Gary Numan and The Strokes.
G: Probably the riot grrrl movement ! For politics and sound.
What’s a favourite book or film?
L: The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing because it over-analyzes every human interaction from the
point of view of women.
J: Im a David Lynch fan so Id probably go for Fire Walk With Me. The movie is a little bit more
horror than the series and I like that.
F: I’m a huge fan of Ian McEwan’s writing, specifically 'The Cockroach' and 'Machines Like Me' but
with recency bias I have to say my favourite book I read recently was 'Chrome Yellow’ by Aldous
Huxley. In terms of movies I’m less snobby I mainly watch slop, I’m a big fan of mob movies so
I’d have to go with ‘Goodfellas’ or ‘Donnie Brasco’ I also liked La La Land a lot.
G: It's hard to pick one, but I would say one we often talked about between us was The Golden
Notebook by Doris Lessing.
Do you prefer the recording process or performing live?
L: I prefer performing live because we have done it much more. It’s a familiar feeling but it never feels old and it’s very freeing- althought I would be so thankful to get the chance to spend more time in the studio and enjoy experimenting with sounds to the extreme. Creating an album fully in the studio with unlimited ressources and time would be a dream.
J: Definitely playing live. Tweaking knobs and creating something is also fun but nothing beats playing live.
F: It depends on the project. With my solo project (Fritz Ali Hansen) I think I almost prefer recording and layering synths and guitars for hours trying to get a specific sound which I’ll most likely never be able to recreate live without the help of an orchestra but with Lemongrab I definitely prefer playing live and standing perfectly still in the corner watching Gaelle and Leonie jump around the stage like the punk creatures they are.
G: Performing. But recording is also sweet because of it can feel like being in a summer camp with your bandmates and you get to experiment more with different sounds you don't have access to live.
What would be a dream collaboration?
L: Linda McCartney
J: David Byrne
F: If I could pick anyone in the world to collaborate with it would have to be Peter Hook. His song writing, specifically in the bass department, has been a huge influence on me and I have immense respect for his ability to show restraint as a songwriter and let simple repetitive melodies tug away at your heart strings.
G: Lee “Scratch” Perry.
Describe a favourite album.
“When I hit you- You’ll feel it” by Leslie Winer has been a favorite recently, she used to be a fashion model in new-york in the 80s and later was laying low and writting a lot. She ended up collaborating with some really great musicians and making a few albums, this one is my favorite. Her lyrics are blunt- and the instrumentalization is suave, vibey and unique.
J: Tender Buttons by Broadcast. Is probably the album with the most songs that I absolutely adore. Songs that sent you to another time and another place. Her voice seems ancient and modern at the same time and the weird electronic sounds also seem like from a time between very long ago and very far into the future.
F: An album I’ve listened up and down since it’s been released has been The Strokes’ ‘The New Abnormal’ to me it’s pretty much perfect and a great example of a band breaking their mould and still making hits. Plus the whole album could be absolutely shit and ‘Ode to the Mets’ could still save the damn thing.
G: It's an album you can listen to many times in your life and every time it takes on new meaning. I love simple lyrics and story telling, like Joni Mitchell's or Neil Young's. Instrumentally, it could take many form, I'm not so picky.
What's your favourite local haunt?
L: I miss Loophole.
J: Hitness Club will never let you down!What's your strangest experience while performing live?
F: I live at 8MM bar.
G: Loophole (RIP), now you can see us at Schanki or Tennnis Bar.
What's your strangest experience while performing live?
L: I got drunk while performing in a skate park and I couldn’t manage to find a way out of the bowl.
J: The weirdest one was probably being shut down by the police while on acid in a backyard in thuringia after they searched for us in the hills forever only to then decide to let us continue.
F: When we played the generator show at the underpass in Montreal we had a pyromaniac in the crowd, or so I assume, and about halfway through our set I caught a Roman candle round straight in the ass. I had to do a little jig to make sure my ass doesn’t end up with more than one hole and as I was hopping around the drone operator who was filming the whole thing decided to circle around me. I may or may not have knocked his rather expensive looking drone out of the air with my bass. All in all strange but fun.
G: I think the strangest experience is mostly what happens after the show, where we end up sleeping or people we meet along the way. THAT we could have a lot to tell, but while playing a show nothing comes to mind.
If I were pursuing anything other than music it would be…
L:If I were pursuing anything other than music it would be living in the middle of nowhere for a while.
J: Maybe some nature camping survival stuff idk.... or I would try to become a writer.
F: If I weren’t a broke musician I’d probably be a broke cook or writer. Either way I’ve got neither ambition nor ability to pursue anything more lucrative. Alas…
G:I'm not sure I understand this question, I don't think being a musician stops me from pursuing any other form of desire. I guess it would be hard to have a serious career while touring, but I have no intention of becoming a hard worker. Idling time and joy is the most important thing.
What are some of your favourite aspects of being a musician in Berlin/ Leipzig?
L:There is a beautiful cross-europeen diy scene that is so welcoming and open to all sorts of music. People invite you to their homes and show you all their favorite tapes and posters from all the shows they’ve put on throughout the years. It really warms my heart to think of all the unsung heros who organize all the concerts for smaller bands and how excited they are when some of these bands kinda make it.
J: In Leipzig there are just so many actually amazing musicians and venues. You can do anything you want and find support from everywhere!!
F: I feel Berlin has long enjoyed the reputation of being Europes artistic Mecca, the google example sentence for Gravitate was ‘European teenagers gravitate to Berlin’ for a long time as it were but it’s a reputation quickly falling by the wayside as Berlin becomes increasingly inhospitable to the broke and dreaming. But still whenever I leave for a while and return I realise that there is still a strong scene here, even as venues get shut down and arts funding gets slashed communities band together to keep Berlin an artistic hot spot and make things happen. We’ve had to get more creative sure, but isn’t that the point? I love making music in Berlin because I can go out on any given Tuesday and know there’ll be a good show or exhibition somewhere and odds are I’ll know most everyone there, and that’s rare.
If you weren’t playing music in Leipzig/Berlin where would you be?
L: Feeding wild cats
J: I would be in Spain enjoying the sun and working a badly paid job.
F: Probably New York but Marseille and Tbilisi are also high on the list. Any sage advice for young musicians?
J: Always do what you really want to do and do it exactly how you feel its right. Celebrate your uniqueness, enjoy being able to play music and hang out with everyone!
G:If I was not playing music in Berlin I would be in Cape Breton or country side France.
Any Sage advice for young musicians?
F: Wear flip flops when you shower at a squat.
J: Always do what you really want to do and do it exactly how you feel its right. Celebrate your uniqueness, enjoy being able to play music and hang out with everyone!
G: Stay curious ! Listen to everything, new and old.
Check Out Lemongrab’s latest… ANOTHER KIND OF FREEDOM via BANDCAMP BELOW.
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