A wild, winding conversation with newly married Evan Dando

Boston Globe

04-03-2025

Talking to Evan Dando feels slightly hallucinatory, like chasing a ghost through a garden maze.
Just as the Lemonheads frontman, holding an unlit cigarette in his paint-stained hand, is, at last, about to answer a question related to his new record, he turns suddenly and motions toward the horizon.
'Mengele was caught — well, almost caught — over there, about a mile or so from our house,' Dando says, referring to the infamous Nazi known as 'the Angel of Death.'
OK, hold on. We should say Dando, who grew up in Boston and authored such indie classics as
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For about an hour over Zoom, the conversation continues like this, a cascade of tantalizing non sequiturs: a backstage encounter, facilitated by
Evan Dando and Antonia Teixiera got married at their home in Brazil in December.
João Wainer
The pair got married Dec. 30 in a small ceremony at their house in Serra Da Cantareira, which Dando refers to as 'the Topanga of Brazil.' Guests included actress Polly Noonan —
that's her
'It's a Shame About Ray' — and Springa, the singer for the pioneering Boston hardcore band,
'I met Springa when I was 16,' he says. 'Me and my friend were, literally, doing lines of Excedrin off the table in McDonald's and he was, like, 'Uh, guys.''
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Dando wore a three-piece, powder-blue suit; Teixeira's dress, with 4EVAN discreetly stitched into the corset, was created by the Brazilian designer, Helo Rocha, whose handiwork — a
Detail shot of Antonia Teixeira's wedding dress, created by the Brazilian fashion designer Helo Rocha.
João Wainer
Over the years, as the title of Dando's (maybe) forthcoming memoir implies, his heavy drug use not only hobbled his career but
led to
He credits Teixeira for saving his life. He says she rescued him from Martha's Vineyard, where he'd become involved with derelicts and dealers who wanted to stash drugs at a house he owns on the island. 'She got me out of a hairy [expletive] situation on the Vineyard. She's good,' says Dando, who's been married once before. 'But she gets annoyed at me a lot because I'm annoying.'
Teixeira, who has two daughters and a son ranging in age from 19 to 25, went to film school and makes videos. But she knows something about the music business. Her father is
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'Everybody knows her dad's songs,' Dando says. 'You can sing 'Romaria' in the mall — I tried it! — and everyone starts singing. That's the coolest — to be really big but not known by the rest of the world. That's the real thing.'
Lemonheads frontman Evan Dando will release a single in May in advance of the band's Australian tour.
Fire Records
At 57, Dando doesn't much resemble a 'pin-up with poet's eyes,' as he was once described by GQ. He's paunchier now and his shaggy sideburns are graying. But what of his colossal skills as a songwriter? Dando says he's proud of the new Lemonheads record, 'Love Chant,' calling it one of his band's most 'relaxed' collections of songs. (The title is taken from a
'This just in: aging rocker thinks new record is his best yet,' Dando says.
The musician, who graduated from the Commonwealth School in Boston and briefly attended Skidmore College, says writing the book has been a chore. He tried to get it done during the pandemic, but there's still work to do.
'Three years late and 15,000 words short,' he says, with a laugh. Also, the publisher, Simon & Schuster, wanted it to be more personally revealing. 'I guess I didn't put enough slander of myself in there,' he says.
Asked to describe the book, Dando pauses.
'First of all, it's in Sanskrit,' he says.
Dando spends a lot of time these days painting and playing acoustic guitar on the couple's patio, which is surrounded by flowering trees and Portuguese laurel. 'The birds jam out with me,' he says. 'Like, the parrots are totally down.' (Unprompted, he picked up his guitar at one point and played Neil Young's '
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He doesn't speak much Portuguese, at least not well, but Dando nonetheless considers himself an 'honorary Brazilian' and has no plans to move back to Martha's Vineyard. He's been watching what is happening in the US politically — 'sounds like a pain,' he says, lighting the cigarette — and thinks he may be better off where he is.
Dando is looking forward to the release of 'Love Chant' — it'll be the Lemonheads' first album of original songs in nearly 20 years — but wonders if anyone will be interested. He hopes so.
'America loves a phoenix story, don't they?' Dando says.
Mark Shanahan can be reached at