The Lemonheads are back, with another twist

When the Lemonheads play Avalon tomorrow night, it will be less a reunion of a band than a revival of a brand.

"I figured the Lemonheads was [frontman] Evan [Dando] and anyone who's worth their salt that he has surrounded himself with in order to make a good record," says Bill Stevenson , drummer on the first new Lemonheads album in 10 years.

Stevenson and bassist Karl Alvarez -- both of the veteran pop-punk band the Descendents -- certainly have the right sodium content. The reconfigured Lemonheads' self-titled effort, for which Stevenson also served as coproducer, is nearly as good as the band's watershed 1992 release , "It's a Shame About Ray," and it's the equal of the two albums that came after, 1993's "Come On Feel the Lemonheads" and 1996's "Car Button Cloth."

"Evan does well when he's got a lot of different people around to bounce ideas off of, whether it be me or any number of dozens of other musicians I could think of," says Stevenson on the phone from the Colorado recording studio where "The Lemonheads" was created over the last two years.

Dozens is the key word there. Almost from the trio's inception at Boston's Commonwealth School in the mid-'80s, the Lemonheads moniker rarely applied to the same group of musicians for more than a year or two at a time. Aside from original cofounder Ben Deily -- who appeared on the group's first three jittery, post-punk efforts -- most other participants have had bit parts or recurring roles in the band's live and recorded saga. That cast has included, but is not limited to, Juliana Hatfield and John Strohm of the Blake Babies , film and video director Jesse Peretz , Nic Dalton , and Murph of Dinosaur Jr.

And as Stevenson, who is producing other records, and Alvarez, who is touring with Gogol Bordello , couldn't make this tour, two more names -- drummer Devon Ashley and bassist Vess Ruhtenberg -- can be added to the dramatis personae.

It is Stevenson and Alvarez, however, who m Dando credits with spurring him to get the old band name back together.

"I always wanted to do another Lemonheads record, and mainly there's this festival in Brazil with all kinds of young bands doing Lemonheads songs, and I thought since that was happening I might as well put a Lemonheads record out. And also I found the perfect people to do one with in Bill and Karl," says Dando on the phone from a California tour stop.

The Bay State native -- who has consistently toured over the last six years but only released two records: a 2001 live album recorded at the Brattle Theatre and the autumnal "Baby I'm Bored" in 2003 -- calls the pair "the uber-Lemonheads. The musicianship is definitely better than anyone before."

Indeed, Stevenson wrote or co-wrote three of the album's best songs, including the affecting "Steve's Boy," about caring for his dying father. With its beguiling mix of squalling guitar -- courtesy of J Mascis -- and winsome melody, it is perhaps the most Lemonheads-y sounding song on a record that also includes keyboard contributions from the Band's Garth Hudson and a songwriting assist from longtime Dando co-writer Tom Morgan .

"I toyed with not putting it on the record because it's not from my perspective," says Dando of "Steve's Boy." "But I thought, forget about it, it's a great song, it's got to be done."

It is that magnanimous spirit that pleasantly surprised Stevenson, who had known and liked Dando for years but only been a "mild" fan of the band, he says. "He was really open to having it be a three-way thing and not just a one-way thing."

Although it's not strictly a reunion, Dando is aware that the Lemonheads reappearance follows on the heels of other high-profile returns by Massachusetts-spawned bands that formed around the same time, including the Pixies, Mission of Burma , and Dinosaur Jr.

"It's like every band that's ever been a band is still a band," says Dando with a laugh. "It's hard to get out of your system I think, and people just thought, 'Oh , I won't be doing that at that age,' and then they still want to do it."

Not only does Dando, 39, still want to do it, but he wants to do it again soon. He promises it won't be another decade before the next Lemonheads record sees the light of day.

"We didn't want to put out anything [half-baked]. That's why it's taken so long [for this record], but the next one will, at the most, come out in 2008," he says. "I feel like me and Bill are just getting started creatively as a team, so the sky's the limit there."