Lemon Demon

All About Lemon Demon (taken from the old version of LD's website)

Hi my name is Neil Cicierega, the singer and songwriter behind Lemon Demon, a musical project and live band based out of Kingston, Massachusetts.

This is me.

Long before Lemon Demon existed, from ages 12 to 16, I wrote music under the flag of Trapezoid. It was fun, synthy, mostly instrumental music. In the year 2003, I decided to start creating songs with lyrics and more realistic sounding instruments, and generally improve my songwriting. So I changed my band name to Lemon Demon and got to work. That year I released two albums! Go me!

Around 2004 my neighbor and childhood friend Alora Lanzillotta took up bass playing. With her skills, my keyboard, and an iPod loaded with drum beats, we started performing Lemon Demon songs at local open mics. We did that for a little while.

In late 2005 I released a song called "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" alongside a flash animation by Shawn Vulliez. To date it's my biggest hit, getting millions of views and even some radio play. Hot damn!

In 2006 the live band took on Charles "Chooch" Sergio, my brother-in-law, on guitar. We hosted the first annual "Lemonic Demonade", a show/party/BBQ/sleepover in the yard between me and Alora's houses. Lemon Demon fans from all over attended, generally impressing and confusing me. It wasn't until 2007 when we ditched the iPod drummer and got Tony Wry to join our squad. In addition to the second Lemonic Demonade, we were invited over to Michigan to play at Youmacon, a gigantic Anime convention. We don't even have anything to do with anime, but it was totally awesome.

Now it's 2008. Lemon Demon has released six albums, sold tons of CDs and shirts, developed a rabid fanbase of lovable misfits and evil geniuses, and generally brought joy to the world on a platter made of love. WHAT NEXT?!

What Happened Next

Well, it's not 2008 anymore, so I (Riley) will fill in what's happened since then. After the release of View-Monster in 2008, there was a very long stretch of time before the next Lemon Demon LP came out. There were some EPs released, however, and LD continued to play live shows, mostly at Youmacon (an anime convention in Detroit). Also, Neil did some other things, like moving to the big city, getting married, and making Smash Mouth mashups. And all the while he was working on the next album.

Finally, on February 29, 2016, Spirit Phone was released. It's widely considered to be the best Lemon Demon album yet, demonstrating the massive improvements Neil had made to his musical skills over the previous 8 years. The release of Spirit Phone, followed by Mouth Moods in 2017, created a great deal of attention toward Neil and his music. A new generation of Lemon Demon fans emerged, sharing their love for the music on Tumblr and Twitter.

In 2018, it was announced that Spirit Phone was being released on physical media for the first time by Needlejuice Records. Subsequently, Nature Tapes, I Am Become Christmas, and View-Monster all got Needlejuice releases as well.

So what's next for Lemon Demon? Neil says he's working on the next album, but there's no way to know how long it'll be before it comes out. Hopefully, we won't have to wait until 2024. But who knows!