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Subt Lemon
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SUBT
LEMON |
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Sid and JT had been composing with purpose since early 1999. There was no
previous band history to shout about, but they quickly managed to have one of
their first ever tracks; ‘Virtually Sali’ selected for the BBC1 demo
website. This was within a year of starting the Subt Lemon project. A
natural progression involved the hard slog of finding and selecting a
drummer who was as incompetent a musician as they were, yet able to
understand the required unique Subt Lemon sound and add their own slant to
the show.
In Late 2000,
Jorge was recruited as the Subt Lemon drummer. There was a strong
uncertainty that Jorge would be in the country for much longer than a couple
of years, his Panamanian roots were strong and this was initially regarded
as a potential long term threat to the success of Subt Lemon, however after months of rehearsing |
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and several
gigs, it was clear that Subt Lemon was in
no immediate threat of having to search for a replacement, Jorge, as
everyone knows, has settled into London life with vigour, sealing the long term generic growth of the rock and
alternative power trio that is, or was Subt Lemon. |
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At the end of 2001, on Sid's and JT’s birthdays (same day one year apart), Subt lemon scheduled a long overdue recording session for four songs,
including the diametrically defining ‘Subt Lemon Country Club’. The event
provided another huge learning experience for the band, recording for the
first time as an entire band instead of layering the instruments
independently of one another. The recording engineer’s intensity and concern
in getting the exact sound the band wanted was impressive, and for 48 hours,
Subt Lemon were removed from the world and absorbed into a thoroughly
creative environment. With very little sleep (none at all on Sunday night),
the sound engineer demonstrated his huge talent for sound production and
additional lead guitar playing, bolstering the guitars on a couple of the
tracks including the reworking of ‘Big White Comet’. After 2 days, the four
tracks were completed. A week later, the engineer; Mickey Howard, expressed
his desire to join the band and a week later Subt Lemon started rehearsing
as a four piece band
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2002
was a very busy year for the band with over 30 gigs in the capital which
developed stage presence, ability to cope with technical problems/crap PA's and
all that kind of thing, but as a team the reality dawned on the band that if
this was going to develop beyond a 'just having fun thing' the stakes had to be
raised. This was at slight odds with the whole 'we don't care' attitude
previously adopted, as clearly you have to care a bit if you're going to succeed
at anything. So towards the end of 2002 the decision was made to record and
finish an album that could be sold as a product, documenting the last 2/3 years
of song writing and performance. This meant many months in the studio at vast
personal cost in particular to Miky (mentally as well as financially) who put
off accepting paying customers, and for the rest of the band it has involved
many hours of commitment after their demanding day jobs and at weekends. The
album production continued over into August of 2003 where the album is now
complete. Subt Lemon have set up
their own record label, Suspect Records Ltd to permit manufacture and licensing
of their songs. From a musical perspective, it has always
been clear to Subt Lemon that they require a unique quality to their sound and a
fresh approach to song writing to make them stand out. By gigging heavily at
almost every opportunity to sometimes non-existent crowds, intense rehearsal
schedules and professional cocking for SID's voice, the band had taken their
playing skills to new heights by the end of 2003. Subt Lemon are confident
they have something original and interesting to offer.
As they say, 'every journey starts with a
single step' - Subt Lemon could now be said to be in the 'jog in the park' stage
of their growth. Whether they are mentally prepared for success or failure as
they attempt to transition to the 'running slightly faster as if to catch a bus'
stage is yet to be seen. |
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SID |
JT |
JORGE |
MICKEY |
back |
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Whats in a name? Sublemon Subt lemon Subtlemon sub
lemon subtle mon sub tlemon lemon sub who knows? who cares? x |
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