The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member. After their initial punk-influenced releases and tours as an independent/college rock band in the late 1980s, the Lemonheads' popularity with a mass audience grew in 1992 with the major label album It's a Shame about Ray, which was produced, engineered, and mixed by The Robb Brothers. This was followed by a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson", which eventually became one of the band's most successful singles. Then Lemonheads were active until 1997 before going on hiatus, but reformed with a new lineup in 2005 and released The Lemonheads the following year. The band released its latest album, Varshons 2, in February 2019.
Blake Babies were an American college rock band formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts. The three primary members were John Strohm, Freda Love, and Juliana Hatfield. They recorded three albums before splitting up in 1991. They reformed to record a new album in 1999, and again in 2016.
Evan Griffith Dando is an American musician and frontman of the Lemonheads. He has also embarked on a solo career and collaborated on songs with various artists. In December 2015 Dando was inducted into the Boston Music Awards Hall of Fame.
Mammoth Records was an independent record label founded in 1989 by Jay Faires in the Carrboro area of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The majority of the acts on Mammoth were executive-produced by Faires and the label's general manager, Steve Balcom. The label was the first independent to produce two platinum records.
John Strohm is an American musician, singer, and lawyer. He began his musical career playing drum set in Indiana's punk rock scene, then moved to Boston in 1985 and switched to guitar. With Juliana Hatfield and Freda Love he co-founded the indie rock trio Blake Babies in 1986. In 1994 the band Velo-Deluxe with Strohm as the frontman released their only album Superelastic through Mammoth Records. Strohm also played drums in The Lemonheads from 1987 - 1989 and guitar during the years 1993-1994 and 1996-1997. He led the indie rock band Antenna and released his first solo album, Vestavia, in 1999. In 2007 Strohm released another full-length album, Everyday Life.
Some Girls is an American indie rock trio composed of Juliana Hatfield, Heidi Gluck and Freda Love Smith. Hatfield and Love Smith knew each other from the Blake Babies and wanted to write songs together. The group's songs are generally melodic, upbeat, and lighthearted.
Polara is an American alternative rock band formed in 1994 by Ed Ackerson, a musician and producer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band was considered one of the most prominent and creative groups to emerge from Minneapolis in the 1990s. Billboard writer Deborah Russell called Ackerson and Polara the front of "the emergence of a new local scene" more interested in pop music and postpunk than the punk rock of bands like Hüsker Dü and The Replacements.
Feel It is the debut studio album by Some Girls, released in 2003.
Nicely, Nicely is the debut album by the Blake Babies, released in 1987. The band financed the album themselves.
Earwig is the second album by the Blake Babies, released in 1989.
Sunburn is the third album by the Blake Babies, released in 1990.
Rosy Jack World is an EP recording by the Blake Babies, released in 1991. The album title was taken from a song on The Frogs 1989 album, "It's Only Right and Natural".
God Bless The Blake Babies is the fourth full length album by the Blake Babies, released in 2001. This album was recorded during the Blake Babies brief reunion.
Epilogue is an EP recording by the Blake Babies, released in 2002. This is the final release from the band before their break up.
Innocence and Experience is a compilation album by the Blake Babies, released in 1993. The title is a reference to the William Blake collection of poems Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
Ed Ackerson was an American musician and producer from Minneapolis. He produced or engineered dozens of records including works by prominent artists such as The Jayhawks, The Replacements, Motion City Soundtrack, Soul Asylum, Golden Smog, Dave Davies of The Kinks, Wesley Stace, Mason Jennings, Mark Mallman, John Strohm, Brian Setzer, Lizzo, Pete Yorn, The Wallflowers, Rhett Miller of The Old 97s, Jeremy Messersmith, and Juliana Hatfield. He owned a recording studio in Minneapolis, Flowers, and co-founded the Susstones record label. Ackerson led several notable Twin Cities pop/rock bands including Polara and The 27 Various, and released several solo records under his own name. He was also a prolific producer of albums by Twin Cities bands, and was regarded as one of the linchpins of the Minnesota music scene.
Polara is the self-titled first album by Minneapolis alternative rock band Polara.
C'est la Vie is the second album by Minneapolis alternative rock band Polara, and their first for Interscope Records.
Jetpack Blues is a 2002 album by Minneapolis alternative rock band Polara, their fourth full-length record, and first after breaking with Interscope Records and going independent. It was released on bandleader Ed Ackerson's Susstones Records label, and produced by Ackerson at his recording studio, Flowers, which he founded by reinvesting the money from the band's Interscope deal as well as an otherwise unsuccessful deal with Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures.
Hideout is an album by the American indie rock band Antenna, released in 1993. It is the band's second album.
