Green Lemon Returns to Oklahoma City Show

Green Lemon is preparing to come home for a show at Bricktown Ballroom in Oklahoma City. The band of Oklahoma natives has been touring the country since January, earning road warrior status while playing 111 shows so far this year. This year’s tour is building on recent successes which include being named the 2007 Band of the Year by the Oklahoma Music Awards.

The band has been named the “New Home Grown Band of the Year” by Leeway’s Home Grown Music Network and listed as a “Top Band to See Live in 2005” by Jambase.com. They were also named “Independent Artist of the Year” by Hapi Skratch Entertainment and “New Groove of the Month” by Jambands.com. Green Lemon won Relix Magazine’s Jam-Off Contest and was nominated for a prestigious Jammy Award. The Jammy Awards are the jamband world’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards. There are eight Jammy Awards handed out annually at a star-studded ceremony in Madison Square Gardens and Green Lemon was one of six nominees for the 2006 New Groove Jammy. In March, they were named the 2007 Band of the Year by the Oklahoma Music Awards program.

The 2007 festival season found Green Lemon gracing the stages of some of the nation’s most prestigious festivals as well as a few up-and-coming festivals. The band kicked off their 2007 festival line up at Tucson’s Gem and Jam Festival in early February with former Particle guitarist, Charlie Hitchcock, and current String Cheese Incident drummer, Michael Travis, sitting in. The band celebrated Earth Day in April by participating in the Green Apple Festival. Hosted by Relix Magazine, the Green Apple Festival took place simultaneously in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco with Green Lemon performing in Chicago. They also signed on to perform at Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival in Lawrence, Kansas; DogFest, benefiting the Akita Rescue Unit in Melvern, Kansas; Buffalo Creek Music Festival hosted by Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia; 10,000 Lakes Festival in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota and Ashefest in Asheville, North Carolina. They hit the West Coast festival scene performing at the Mateel Summer Arts Festival in Humboldt, California; Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, California and the Oregon Country Fair near Eugene. The band also secured a headliner spot at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s DFest along with the Flaming Lips and Leon Russell.

Green Lemon blends progressive rock, reggae, electronica and on-the-spot jam improvisation to create the unique sound that is attracting an exploding fan base across the nation. The band members draw inspiration from a wide variety of musical genres. While guitarist Steve Schaben studied jazz in college, his fellow guitarist, Wayne Allen, prefers the sound of Irish rockers U2. Keyboardist Jon Cordero and bassist Jesse Fioravanti listen to indie rock, but drummer Chris Cox enjoys reggae and Maroon 5. Add four songwriters within the group to this diversity of musical tastes and you’ve got a recipe for auditory bliss. By merging pumping electronica beats with smooth reggae melodies, soaring vocals and some shredding guitar solos, Green Lemon inspired Relix Magazine to declare that they “could very well lead the next generation of jambands.”

All of the band members graduated from Edmond high schools and the band got its start in Oklahoma City. They built their initial fan base in the metro area playing dive bars to a mostly underage crowd. But as their sound matured and the word spread, they packed the local venues to capacity and decided to move to Colorado where a vibrant jam band music scene flourished. After building a reputation in Fort Collins, CO and surrounding areas, they began to tour regionally and nationally. They’ve been winning over fans and critics across the country for more than four years, playing over 150 shows annually.

On Saturday, September 22, the band will perform at Bricktown Ballroom in Oklahoma City. Bricktown Ballroom is located at 103 Flaming Lips Alley. Doors open at 8:00pm and this early show will start at 9:00pm. Edmond band, So Far Good, will open the show with their CD Release Party. Catch Green Lemon’s show on Saturday night and see what Hittin’ The Note Magazine says “happens when five guys from Oklahoma are pinned down in a collision of futuristic electronic music and the historic roots of dub reggae.”

For more information about the Green Lemon band, visit www.greenlemonband.com where you’ll find the full tour schedule, fan forums and audio samples, or visit www.myspace.com/greenlemon.