Evan Dando was born in Essex, Massachusetts, in 1967 and moved to Boston aged nine. In 1986 he co-founded alt-rock band the Lemonheads (initially known as the Whelps), putting out four albums before their 1992 breakthrough It’s a Shame About Ray and hit cover of Mrs Robinson. The band has since released another five albums and Dando a solo 2003 record entitled Baby I’m Bored. Dando now lives in Brazil with his partner, video-maker Antonia Teixeira. He plays La Belle Angele in Edinburgh on 16 October, touring the UK until the end of the month.
1. Documentary
Elis & Tom (Dir Roberto de Oliveira, Jom Tob Azulay)
I went to the premiere of this documentary in São Paulo last year, about Elis Regina and Tom Jobim [Brazilian musicians who released the bossa nova album Elis & Tom in 1974]. It’s definitely the happiest music – Waters of March is one of the best songs in the world – and the film was great. There were no subtitles at the premiere but I just let it wash over me. The director had the footage for ages and he finally decided to put it together. I’m very glad he did.
2. Restaurant
This is just my favourite little restaurant. It’s right for any mood, you can go in there and always find something you want. It’s a calm and peaceful place with amazing food. I usually get the gnocchi or the minestrone soup. Last time I got pasta carbonara – they make their own pasta and it’s really delicious. Italian food is not too fattening. Well, it can be, but this is a really ideal place to go if you want to chill and eat great food and just have the New York experience. I recommend it really highly.
3. Website
Oh, man, this website is totally weird. I found out about it on some YouTube video last year and I keep getting people to check it out. It’s complete mayhem – layers of different colours and random text and crazy pictures and weird music – but it’s awesome. It’s different every time you go in, and if you click on something it’ll send you on a journey. I can’t tell whether it’s some surveillance thing or an art thing or, like, a satanic cult, but it’s everything you want a website to be. As arcane as it gets.
4. Music
Lucy is a project by a guy called Cooper B Handy, who also plays guitar in the Taxidermists. He’s done all these crazy tapes and a few years back he started messing with an 808 drum machine and putting out more electronic stuff. Best of Lucy was the first tape I got. It’s fantastic. The songs are all short, like a minute thirty, and they’re anthemic – he writes really catchy tunes. He’s playing the Camden Assembly in London on 30 October – unfortunately we’re playing the same night in Islington so I’ll miss it.
5. Book
Journey to the End of the Night by Céline
Céline was a horrible person later in life – a collaborationist, an antisemite – but I loved this book. I read it when I was younger and listened to it again recently on Audible. It’s just so good – ahead of its time and so funny. You laugh out loud a lot. It’s a semi-autobiographical story of a medical student’s experience in the first world war and all the horrors he encounters then and afterwards. Reading it, you can’t believe it was written in the 1930s. Things weren’t that different back then – that’s the scary part.
6. Bar
Liar’s Club, Chicago
I think this is one of the five best bars in the world. I started going in the 2000s and I’ve never stopped. I’ve seen a lot of great music there – DJs and live acts – and I’ve played there a few times as well. It’s a rock’n’roll bar with black walls and crazy red lights that make it look like Christmas all the time and punk memorabilia everywhere. It’s a really special place. If you’re in Chicago, you’ve got to go. That’s where you see the real culture.
