LEMON SUN’S BIO, BY ROB KOLAR

A serene sandy coast. Men, women, and children scattered along the shore.  The burgundy-blue sky seems to bleed like water-color paint down to the horizon.  People gaze out over the ocean and their eyes catch a wondrous object in the sky.  A strange ball of flames inching closer from the heavens.  A massive orb heading towards us, bringing an eerie, yet hopeful sensation with its arrival.

When I woke from this dream all I was left with was the name Lemon Sun.  It seemed to describe what I had seen, or maybe it is the name the onlookers called the glowing sun.  The name stayed with me and inspired a lyric, which inspired a song, which in turn inspired this band.

Lemon Sun began as a recording project. Something to pass the time as I tried hopelessly to keep band after band together. Just an overpriced rehearsal space in the smelliest part of Los Angeles (Vernon, where the Farmer John meat factory resides) with some basic recording gear and a guitar. Every time we unlocked the door we ran inside to avoid the stench of rotting flesh and prayed that the metal band next door was not rehearsing so we could get a solid vocal take.

Once the recordings were done and thrown up on good ol’ Myspace, people caught word of the sound and rather quickly a band was formed.  Things happened quite fast.  An opportunity to play in front of 10,000 people at an arena with the ‘hot at the time’ Killers proved to propel us into a small but helpful spotlight.  We quickly established ourselves in the ever-evolving Echo Park/Silverlake music scene with a successful Echo residency.

Despite being embraced by many local bands and crowds, we always felt estranged from the somewhat exclusive and self-aware persona of the ‘east’ Los Angeles music scene. This is because at its heart Lemon Sun aims to write pop music.  Not in the vein of Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake or most of the overproduced ‘tracks’ you here on the radio but rather to follow the footsteps of our heroes like The Beatles, David Bowie, T. Rex, Tom Petty, Supergrass, The Doors, and many others. We want our songs to convey something melodic, lyrical, and even spiritual within the context of a memorable hook and progression.  Lemon Sun continues to build its growing fanbase and as other bands seem to lose their ‘flavor of the month,’ Lemon Sun writes songs that live on.

Led by myself, Rob Kolar, along with a cast of revolving characters that have been in and out of the band for the last 5 years, the band continues to expand its sound, embracing folk, psychedelic, surf, and blues in our new songs. An emphasis on the ‘visual’ side of the band has grown with new music videos gaining a lot of attention and further expressing our ideas.

Lemon Sun’s current lineup includes the young and talented Patrick O’Connor on lead guitar and vocals. I spent several months sleeping on Patrick’s couch when I was homeless and helped teach him to play guitar. Felipe Ceballos is a Colombian drummer who I met in San Francisco and he used to play with popular SF band The Mayfire.  We met again at a downtown LA warehouse party, pretentiously called “The Love In.”   He was wearing an amazing general’s jacket and ascot scarf so I knew it was meant to be when he mentioned he was looking for a band.  Scott refuses to tell us his last name or age.  He’s a truly amazing bass player and veteran of the music scene.  Scott plays like he was an original member of a classic blue-eyed soul band. Newly acquired John Rogers I met by chance outside of Spaceland. He made me laugh trying to do a Russian accent. On a whim I asked him if he played keys and could sing.  He said yes.

Lemon Sun has plans for a Spaceland residency in October, 2010.  We have headlined many clubs in LA including The Troubadour, Spaceland, The Echo, and The Roxy. The band recently performed with Mexican rockstars Zoe, along with notable bands Cold War Kids, The Killers, Silversun Pickups, The Hotrats (Supergrass), Local Natives, The Growlers, and many others.

We are currently in the midst of recording new material for a forthcoming album.  The first release featuring our stellar new lineup. In the meantime, we’ve just put out a compilation called Preludes that features old crowd favorites and a  few new songs. Enjoy.