Photo Michael Hili
“The period’s correct, but when people try to guess our influences, they tend to be wrong.” Brian D’Addario, one half of the Lemon Twigs beside his brother Michael, has been hailed for reviving 70s glam rock. Their high camp performances have seen them described as “a Zoomer Darkness” and drawn comparisons to T-Rex and the Sweet. It turns out their influences lie elsewhere.
“A lot of glam bands seem to be way more steeped in 50s rock, where the chords are very simple and it’s really about the attitude,” Brian says. “We tend to be more influenced by songwriters.” He’s referring to the likes of Brian Wilson and ELO’s Jeff Lynne, although his songs’ complexity also owes a debt to the brothers’ background in musical theatre. “Our process is so steeped in melodic and harmonic ideas.” He cites their main guitar influences as The Band’s Robbie Robertson, and Alex Chilton from cult power pop heroes Big Star, adding that his favourite guitarist is singer-songwriter Richard Thompson. “To me if there were gonna be any comparisons, as far as how we were gonna produce it, we were thinking of records like John Cale’s records and Cat Stevens.”