Q&A with Sophie from Lemon Drink

Glasgow-based indie rock quartet Lemon Drink brought out their single ‘Demon Child’ last week, offering us their signature pairing of overdriven indie rock instrumentation and rebellious, sassy vocals.

The quartet comprises Sophie Bartholomew (vocals and rhythm guitar), Kirstie ‘KC’ Cunningham (lead guitar), Lauren Peters (bass) and Harry Smith (drums).

Here, Sophie gives The Bucket Playlist the lowdown on their recent songs.

How do you all know each other?

Sophie: KC and I started out playing music for fun together as a pre- night out ritual before trying some acoustic performances at open mic nights. People seemed to like our stuff and we realised our songs would sound better louder, so we drafted in number one smashy boy Harry and a session bassist before we found Lauren.

How would you describe ‘Demon Child’?

‘Demon Child’ is about a woman who would absolutely destroy you with the power and strength of her femininity. Perhaps a dream alter ego, who knows! It’s unashamedly feisty, a bit raw and has quite the pace so we recommend playing this one loud…

‘Demon Child’ was always planned to be a stand alone single as we think she needs the room to breathe. We’re still working out what’s next but hopefully another EP in the not too distant future!

I love ‘Manic’, from last year’s EP, Better Run. What inspired it?

‘Manic’ was written to call out the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ pop-culture cliché and about how women are individuals and do not exist to save men – looking at you self described ‘sad bois’. We wanted the track to have a really fun but slightly brash feeling about it and we think what’s transpired is an unapologetic yet playful anthem for women to take control of their own destinies.

Better Run is a collection of songs very much written from a specific time in my and KC’s life; being mid-twenties, going out a lot and having funny stories to tell about various romantic trysts. So the EP content is pretty sassy, unapologetic and playful and we think the instrumentation fits the lyrical content in that same way.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

At the moment, we’re really excited about Lizzie Reid, The Ninth Wave, Codist & Fauna. We’re also big fans of Carla J Easton & Honeyblood, so that was a cool collab on Weirdo!

As a band, we have a quite a diverse music taste between the four of us, so I think each of us brings something a bit different to our overall sound. For example, KC and I love bands like The Big Moon, Alvvays and The Beths whereas Lauren gets a lot of inspiration from the likes of Joy division and FUZZ, and Harry loves Foo Fighters and Green Day, plus KC’s not secret love of ‘00s girl bands of course!

We can’t wait to go on our first tour! If we’re dreaming big, anyone who seems like they’d be a lot of fun and put on a good show you’d get to watch every night, so some top picks would be the likes of Phoenix, Dream Wife, Manchester Orchestra or King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.