Green Lemon: Music to ‘make love’ to

Handing out tortillas to the crowd and opening for religious

mimes, local band Green Lemon has paid its musical dues during its

four years together. The band originally from Oklahoma City began

playing together in garages, its first gig being in a roofless tin

shack in the Oklahoma countryside.

After gaining local familiarity the five musicians: Lincoln

Greenhaw, guitar, Wayne Allen, guitar, Matt Fioravanti, bass,

Jonathan Cordero, keyboard, bongos, and Chris Cox, drums, moved to

Fort Collins to dive into the local music scene. They have been

featured at the Aggie Theatre several times as well as the

Mishawaka Amphitheater and were at one time the house band for

Rasta Pasta.

The band’s sound, a fusion of reggae, jam, acid jazz and

synthesized funk is unparalleled as it contains tone-shifts that

span several musical genres.

“I saw them a couple months ago at the Aggie and I was really

digging their reggae sound,” said semi-pro surfer Terry Gannon of

The Legends, after seeing Green Lemon in concert. “Then they

shifted into some kind of synthesized ’80s punk feel. It was crazy,

it produced an almost euphoric feel.”

Green Lemon has a rather engaging stage presence as its members

frequently dress in eccentric costumes including ’70s wigs and

mustaches and Native American attire. “They’re kind of like the

Village People after a really long bender,” said Tom Conway, a

senior natural resources recreation and tourism major.

David Burns, The Flaming Lips and Ween are just some of the

band’s influences and hints of The Talking Heads and Bob Marley can

be heard on its new self-titled CD available at ABCD’s and The

Finest. It can also be heard on KCSU.

The CD has been dubbed “a great album to make love to,” by

junior technical journalism major Ryan Hoisington.

“My girlfriend is coming up this weekend. She’s going to love

it,” he said.

Over the last couple of years, Green Lemon has been on tour,

playing venues in Wyoming, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Texas and

many venues within Colorado including Durango, Telluride and

Denver. Green Lemon regularly returns to Oklahoma to play sold-out

shows among itsinitial fan base. As the band’s tour continues, they

will be playing several dates in Arizona in January.

Green Lemon is an ambitious band, projecting as goals the Taj

Mahal and eventually the moon as target venues, saying, “Yanni did

it, we can do it too.”

OUTBOX: Green Lemon will play a free show this Saturday at the

Aggie. Doors open 8 p.m.