Buffalo, NY’s power-pop trio Lemuria has been touring consistently on the DIY circuit since 2004. Their first full length, Get Better was released on Asian Man Records in 2008 and you couldn’t ask for much more from a debut record. They have also released a collection of prior EPs and singles, First Collection. Drummer Alex Kerns was kind enough to give us a few words on their upcoming album, which will be released later this year on Bridge Nine Records.
Buffalo, NY’s power-pop trio Lemuria has been touring consistently on the DIY circuit since 2004. Their first full length, Get Better was released on Asian Man Records in 2008 and you couldn’t ask for much more from a debut record. They have also released a collection of prior EPs and singles, First Collection. Drummer Alex Kerns was kind enough to give us a few words on their upcoming album, which will be released later this year on Bridge Nine Records.
RVA: Do you feel the name Lemuria has more to do with the fictional land mass in the Indian Ocean, the Roman Festival, or the secret island in the Nintendo game Golden Sun?
AK: The fictional island from history. I’ve never played the game, what game is that again?
RVA: Golden Sun for Gameboy Advance. It’s great, you’re an enterprising young alchemist. It’s a really great RPG, you should check it out.
AK: That rules.
RVA: So more the fictional island in the Indian Ocean?
AK: More that one. I relate more to that one.
RVA: You’ve been busy writing for a new record. How many new songs do you have?
AK: We’ve got about twelve right now, I’d like to get a few more written. I’d like to write a few more in case a few don’t turn out the way we want them to or if they don’t really fit in with the album.
RVA: How many songs will be on the new album?
AK: I’d like to do twelve. That’s what we had on Get Better. I think ten is the minimum and fourteen is the max. One of the songs is definitely not going to be on the album, because we’re going to do a seven inch before the album that will have one song from the album and one as an unreleased track.
RVA: The new album is going to be recorded with J. Robbins, how did that come about?
AK: We all love J. Robbins a lot, not only his recording catalogue, but also the bands he’s been in – Jawbox, Channels, Burning Airlines – we’re big fans of all those bands. I talked to the others and we decided he was someone we wanted to record with. I ended up just emailing him, he wrote back and was just like, “Sounds good. Let’s do it.”
RVA: Does the album have a name yet?
AK: We’ve got a couple ideas, but we haven’t decided which one yet. I don’t want to say which it is, because we don’t really know yet.
RVA: What influenced the decision to release with Bridge 9, a traditionally hardcore label?
AK: It’s a really funny story. It’s really kind of out there, how it happened. We played a show in Nashville, Tennessee and the singer of the band Paramore, Hayley, came to it and bought a shirt for herself and a shirt for her boyfriend – Chad from New Found Glory. I was like, “This is just weird, how have these people heard our music?” I remember that show was just a basement show with like twenty-five people and she was one of them. Chad had contacted me before about recording with together but we couldn’t make it work. He said all the guys at Bridge 9 really wanted to do a 7” and I was like, “Really? They’re a hardcore label.” But I ended up getting in touch with them and they were like, “Yeah, we’d love to do it.” It was weird way of going about things, but really cool.
Lemuria will be perfoming live at the Camel, 1621 W. Broad Street, with Polar Bear Club, Moving Mountains, and Living with Lions. The show is $10 and doors open at 7pm. You can find more information at www.rvashows.proboards.com
