The Stripdown

DJ Ocean Spray 0:00
Hello. This is DJ Ocean Spray, and you're listening to wknc 88.1 HD, one Raleigh. And this is another episode of the stripdown. And today I am talking to Merce Lemon. So to start off with, can you tell me where you're from?

Merce Lemon 0:17
Yeah, I'm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from,

like South Oakland, so very college part of town.

DJ Ocean Spray 0:25
And when did your current project begin?

Merce Lemon 0:29
I think I started playing either in my name. I think my first show was actually on my 19th birthday when I was living in Seattle.

DJ Ocean Spray 0:38
Um, and could you tell me, like, a little bit about your relationship with music, like when you kind of started, like being interested in it, and like playing instruments, or like singing and stuff.

Merce Lemon 0:52
I was always around music. My parents played music. I went to get all my shows. And when I was, like, between nine and 12, I wrote my own songs and played shows a punk band and an acapella group, and around 12 or 13 is when I kind of stopped playing music and kind of breathe that world when I was 19, or when I was like 17 and moved to Seattle, But I didn't kind of like share it another couple years.

DJ Ocean Spray 1:24
Um, and what made you choose to make music under your own name, rather than, like a stage name or something?

Merce Lemon 1:32
I kind of questioned that to some, like, about something more clever, but yeah, it was never, like, an intentional decision. I think I, like, my first demos were on Tumblr. Nobody ever has Merce Lemon, like, it's never a domain that's taken Yeah, Tumblr was

every social media. So I it kind of just like, like, snowballed into it, always getting that yeah, it works as a stage name in a way that sometimes they'll come up to me after shows and ask me what my real life is. So yeah, it kind of still serves its purpose.

DJ Ocean Spray 2:19
Yeah. And are you like, involved in any other like, music projects currently?

Merce Lemon 2:31
Strangely, no, I've always kind of been like the leader of my own project, and I'm not, I'm very self taught, so something that I'm really curious to get into is like playing with other people, being the front person I've done. I love singing, yeah,

DJ Ocean Spray 2:51
um, and do you make music full time?

Merce Lemon 2:55
No,

DJ Ocean Spray 2:56
if you don't mind me asking, what is like your other job?

Merce Lemon 3:00
Yeah, that is like my seasonal work. The comma of the two actually kind of really complement each other.

DJ Ocean Spray 3:10
We are going to take a quick break, and I will be playing, will you do me a kindness? By Merce lemon

Merce Lemon 5:37
I cook dinner with some friends
Tidy up the house tie up loose ends
Now the sun has yet to set
A little staring at the ceiling
Pick a book I never read
And I get lonely for a bit
Comes in waves and then it split
Like a kiss
That missed my lips

Will you do me a kindness?
Point the sun
Right into my flesh
I want
Nothing left
Will you do me a kindness?

The way a fly comes so quick
Through a door that’s swung open
Flung out chairs scatter the yard
While the wind does its whipping
From the porch a stranger’s song
And I get lonely I admit
Comes in waves and then it quit
Like a kiss
That missed my lips

Will you do me a kindness?
Point the sun
Right into my flesh
I want
Nothing left

I'll paint that hide cherry red
Leave no words to be said
Won't wear my heart on my sleeve
So I can slip out, will you sleep?

Will you sleep?
Will you sleep?
Will you sleep?
Will you sleep?

And will you do me a kindness?
Point the sun
Right into my flesh
I want
Nothing left

DJ Ocean Spray 9:02
And So getting into kind of like your writing process, do you tend to write from your personal experiences, or do you kind of write from more like abstract ideas?

Merce Lemon 9:17
I would say it is very personal. It's not like 100% factual by any means, but it's like very influenced by my lived experience.

DJ Ocean Spray 9:29
And when you're like, trying to create an album, do you kind of like intentionally channel, like a certain like vibe that you're trying to create, or does it kind of like just happen, like with the songs that you happen to be writing?

Merce Lemon 9:46
Yeah, I think with my next album, I'm curious to like more intentionally channel a vision, but with the past records, it's always been just an accumulation of songs that have. Like, piled up over X amount of time. And because I have enough songs for an album which are, like, often very cohesive and theme without me really trying, I think, yeah, it's like a moment of my life.

DJ Ocean Spray 10:13
And so I guess kind of going along with that, do you like set a space to write or do, like ideas kind of just like come to you and then you start writing. Yeah,

Merce Lemon 10:26
I am always like jotting things down. So, like, I have so many voice memos that are like 30 seconds of like tiny little ideas that maybe will never be something, or maybe will get turned into like, smushed all together and made it once, like, pretty collagey. But I a lot of my songs come from just like sitting down and strumming and singing and kind of like finding a melody and chord progression and fitting words to that, whether some of the words were already written or some of them come out while I'm just kind of exploring.

DJ Ocean Spray 11:02
Yeah, and you recently released a single and then released another one, like over the summer. Are you planning on releasing more soon, or, like, an album? Yeah, there's

Merce Lemon 11:14
an album coming out three weeks, actually, from today, every 27 so there's one more single next Tuesday, okay, yeah, and then the album,

DJ Ocean Spray 11:24
I have kind of some more random questions, but I love asking musicians about their album art. So could you tell me a little bit about the photo of you that's been used in your recent releases? Like who took it? And like, when? Yeah,

Merce Lemon 11:38
that was a photo my partner took in Burlington, in his house. I think we just, like, bought Polaroid film. And I can't even remember if we were just like, testing the film or, like, I was like, wanted some press shots or something. But it was actually not with the vision of it being album art. And I was kind of, like, struggling to figure out what my album art was going to be. And I came back to that photo, and I've never, like, put my full face as an album cover. And it felt like this album felt like a good moment for

DJ Ocean Spray 12:19
that, I guess. Um, and who are some of your like, I guess, favorite musicians?

Merce Lemon 12:28
Yeah, I listen to a lot of old country music heavily inspired by that like, because of the melody and harmonies and those harmonies, I'm trying to think of, just like recently, who I've been listening to more, so how I'm always stumped by this question. I mean, Gillian Welsh is like an inspiration, and someone I've been listening to my whole life. Joanna knew some like, very like, wordy, melodic, driven songwriters, and then, like, also rockier stuff. Like, I love, I've, like, loved Black Sabbath since I was, like, in eighth grade. Yeah, yeah. So, like, kind of pulling from all of those things, not just like, one

DJ Ocean Spray 13:19
genre. And so, since we are here at hopscotch, are there any like musicians that you are excited to see this weekend? Yeah,

Speaker 1 13:27
a lot of my friends are playing, which is kind of why I'm here. I was having a bit of FOMO. I wanted to hang out everybody. Yeah, I actually don't know if there's like, anyone that I was, like, have never seen before that I'm my friends, like, Feeble Little Horse are playing two hours, yeah, down the street from where we are right now. So it's always, honestly, just, like, really special to see all of my friends in a new place, like performing for people that are really stoked on them.

DJ Ocean Spray 14:02
Um, and do you have like, a favorite venue that you've performed that

Merce Lemon 14:15
I I feel like probably the places that have left an impact on me. I've probably been like DIY spaces, like backyards and stuff. Yeah, I played in a backyard of Portland recently where there's like, strong strung up lights and, like, almost like a living room set up outside. And I think those are the ones I feel the most connected with, because it's like, the most intimate setting. Yeah,

DJ Ocean Spray 14:42
um, is there anything that you like always have on your rider?

Merce Lemon 14:48
I actually just got asked to make a rider for the first time. I like text my band, and they sent me like the most absurd things. I put classic stuff, like fruits and fresh fruits and vegetables, and then I also. I put capo, I put a, I was like, having any venue by the capo, because capos are really expensive, and I always lose them. Yeah, heavily depend on the capo. So that is that, that's my I'm testing, I'm testing that right now. Yeah,

DJ Ocean Spray 15:17
and do you go to, like, a lot of shows and stuff,

Merce Lemon 15:22
um, I wouldn't say like, out of the ordinary amount of shows, just because so much of my life is like performing. So I'm like watching a lot of music, yeah, while I'm playing. But I love when my friends come through Pittsburgh, and I'm really still like, I like smaller shows. So when Acts, when huge acts, come to Pittsburgh and are at, like, stadiums and stuff for the huge venues, I often opt out of that, like, more intimate performance.

DJ Ocean Spray 15:56
Are there any like performances that you've seen recently that you, like, particularly enjoyed,

Merce Lemon 16:03
yeah, I was like, I just stayed with my friend Aaron, who's in the band fust, yeah, yeah. And I met them at South by this past March, and we both played this like, like, unofficial Day party at this gallery that was, like, completely unprepared to host a show, and it was the first time meeting all those guys I'd like toured with sluice are the same and bust set, like, really, really moved me, especially like in that setting, just like super DIY, everyone's like, hot and sweaty and tired, and it actually, Like, brought me back to life. I've been having like, such a hard time, and I was like, re inspired. And, yeah, yeah, that was really, I was really stoked on

DJ Ocean Spray 16:51
that. And where could listeners find you, like, social media, band camp and stuff.

Merce Lemon 16:56
Everything is under Merce Lemon, okay,

band camp, Instagram. Spotify, all the streaming services. I think I have a website, but I stopped paying for it, so I don't know how to use it. Yeah, so it's kind of like forever has looked the same since the first time I made it, but that will exist until January 7 kicked off.

DJ Ocean Spray 17:21
And then, do you have any other upcoming shows? Yeah,

Merce Lemon 17:25
playing the hopscotch Day party today at dear life, that dear life is putting on. I'm playing three shows with that band team in like Morgantown and two cities in Ohio. And then I'm doing a album release tour, like four or five dates on the East Coast and

DJ Ocean Spray 17:44
Midwest. Thank you so much for letting me speak to you today before you're set this has been another episode of the strip down, and I am DJ Ocean Spray, and you're listening to wknc. Thank you. Finally, I will be sending the listeners off today with crow from Merce's recent album, watch me drive them dogs wild. Thank you so much for listening and enjoy

Merce Lemon 18:20
A murderous flock, beating the wind
They don't need any friends
They're up to their necks in them

Say I was a lonely gust of wind
Could I redirect them? I'd make a city of this ghost town
Even let the crows come
Rest their necks and nest their young
Even let the crows come
Rest their necks and nest their young

Troubles are gone on the horizon
So I stick a finger in
Just to test the sweetness

Say you gave all of your troubles
To someone deserving?

They'd make a city of this ghost town
Even let the crows come
Rest their necks and nest their young
Even let the crows come
Rest their necks and nest their young

Transcribed by https://otter.ai