Lemon Demon is a musical project and band created by American comedian and musician
Neil Cicierega
Neil Stephen Cicierega ( ; born August 23, 1986) is an American comedian, actor, filmmaker, singer, YouTuber, musician, songwriter, puppeteer, artist, and animator. He is known as the creator of a genre of Flash animation he termed " Animutatio ...
in 2003 in
Boston, Massachusetts. Most Lemon Demon music is performed solely by Cicierega, who is the project's sole official member, but a full band is usually assembled for live performances. Cicierega previously released instrumental music and several remixes of video game music under the monikers "Trapezoid" and "Deporitaz" in the late 90's and early 2000's whilst frequently active on
Adventure Game Studio
Adventure Game Studio (AGS) is an open source development tool primarily used to create graphic adventure games. It is aimed at intermediate-level game designers, and combines an integrated development environment (IDE) with a scripting language b ...
.
History
Neil Cicierega released three instrumental albums under the name "Trapezoid", which was changed retroactively to Deporitaz as an existing band called Trapezoid demanded that he change it. On the change to Lemon Demon, he said: "Eventually I started experimenting with singing, and once I felt ready to do that full time, I christened myself Lemon Demon and went into it head on."
Since 2003, Cicierega has released seven full-length albums as Lemon Demon.
In 2005, he and animator Shawn Vulliez released a Flash animated music video called "
The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
"The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny", often shortened to "The Ultimate Showdown", is a comical song and video released on December 22, 2005. The song was written and performed by Neil Cicierega under the pseudonym " Lemon Demon", with art ...
" on
Newgrounds. This had over 12 million views on Newgrounds as well as topping the "Funny Five" on ''The
Dr. Demento
Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), known professionally as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograp ...
Show'' for several weeks and becoming the No. 1 Request for 2006. The song was later included in the 2006 album ''Dinosaurchestra''. In April 2009, Cicierega released his first four albums as free downloads on his website.
An updated recording of "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" was released to the
Rock Band Network
The ''Rock Band'' Network (abbreviated RBN) was a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the ''Rock Band'' seri ...
in 2010.
In January 2016, Cicierega announced ''
Spirit Phone'', a full-length Lemon Demon album released on February 29, 2016.
The album was the No. 1 best-selling album on Bandcamp for the first week of its release.
On July 10, 2018, it was announced that copies of the album on CD, cassette, and vinyl would be sold through Needlejuice Records, who would later distribute remastered versions of Lemon Demon's EPs ''I Am Become Christmas'',
''Nature Tapes'',
along with the albums ''View-Monster''
and ''Dinosaurchestra''.
"Touch-Tone Telephone" became Lemon Demon's most played song, the first to surpass "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" and, as of December 2022, garnering over 50 million plays on
Spotify.
On June 19, 2020, Needlejuice Records released ''Needlejustice'', a charity compilation album featuring 22 songs from artists they represent (including Lemon Demon) for the benefit of the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Cicierega contributed a song to the album titled "Funkytown", which had originally been uploaded to his
Patreon page in 2017. It features homages to popular songs from the 1970s and 1980s, including the titular "
Funkytown
"Funkytown" is a song by the American disco/funk band Lipps Inc., released in 1980 as the second single from their 1979 debut album, '' Mouth to Mouth''. It was successful globally, reaching top spots in places such as the United States, West ...
" by
Lipps Inc.
Lipps Inc. ( , a pun on the phrase "lip sync") was an American disco and funk group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group is best known for the chart-topping 1980 worldwide hit single "Funkytown", which hit No. 1 in 28 countries and was certifi ...
Viral successes
"The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny"
On December 22, 2005, Lemon Demon and animator Shawn Vulliez released the Flash
music video "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" on
Newgrounds. The video features cartoon versions of dozens of real-life celebrities and fictional characters, largely from 1980s and 1990s
pop culture, in a large century-long brawl where "...only one will survive."
It gained a
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
among web enthusiasts.
and became the "user's choice" on December 28, 2005, on
Newgrounds where it has been viewed over 13.1 million times. It appeared on several other websites including
Albino Blacksheep
Albino Blacksheep (ABS) is an animation website made by Steven Lerner in Toronto, Ontario on January 4, 1999. It publishes member submitted digital media made with Adobe Flash. The website also features image galleries, audio files, and text fil ...
.
"Brodyquest"
On June 1, 2010, Cicierega released a video titled "Brodyquest" onto his main YouTube channel which pictured famous actor
Adrien Brody
Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring as Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's '' The Pianist'' (2002), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Act ...
going about his daily life in a comedic manner. The video became a famous meme and was released as a single and placed on the ''Nature Tapes'' EP. The video would be brought up by
Stephen Colbert during his interview with
Adrien Brody
Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring as Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's '' The Pianist'' (2002), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Act ...
in a 2016 episode of ''
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night news
News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic commun ...
''. It has since been viewed on YouTube over 11.7 million times.
Discography
Studio albums
*''Clown Circus'' (2003)
*''Live from the Haunted Candle Shop'' (2003)
*''Hip to the Javabean'' (2004)
*''Damn Skippy'' (2005)
*''Dinosaurchestra'' (2006)
*''View-Monster'' (2008)
*''
Spirit Phone'' (2016)
Live albums
* ''Live (Only Not)'' (2011)
Compilation albums
* Almanac 2009 (2009)
Extended plays
*''I Am Become Christmas'' (2012)
*''Nature Tapes'' (2014)
Members
Official members
*
Neil Cicierega
Neil Stephen Cicierega ( ; born August 23, 1986) is an American comedian, actor, filmmaker, singer, YouTuber, musician, songwriter, puppeteer, artist, and animator. He is known as the creator of a genre of Flash animation he termed " Animutatio ...
– vocals, keyboards, guitar, programming, percussion, songwriting, production
Live members
*Alora Lanzillotta – bass guitar, vocals
*Charles "Chooch" Sergio – guitar
*Anthony Wry – drums , guitar, vocals
*Dave Kitsberg – guitar, vocals
*Greg Lanzillotta – drums
Timeline
References
External links
*
Lemon Demon on BandcampLemon Demon on Needlejuice Records{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 2000
American pop rock music groups
American electronic rock musical groups
Musical groups from Massachusetts
American synth-pop groups