My Ugly Clementine


Territory: CH

This supergroup from Vienna is damn serious about one thing for sure: Having fun! MY UGLY CLEMENTINE brush off the dust from those 90s guitars you liked so much back then.
Their post-punk approach is one of blending pop catchiness, mischievous guitar interplays and cheerful hooks, creating a remarkably fresh and elegant strain of indie rock.

Their message is strong and serious – yet it always comes with a smile and a hook ready to be sung along to.
Their first year was pretty remarkable. When My Ugly Clementine posted the very first picture of themselves on social media on Valentine’s Day (sic!) 2019, the first „damage“ was done already. All that happened was Sophie Lindinger (of highly acclaimed and multi award-winning Leyya) bringing one of her biggest dreams to life. She asked some musicians she admired to join her new band and play on some songs she wrote.

Those other musicians happened to be figures well-known in the local scene, too: Mira Lu Kovacs (another multi award-winning musician, highly recognized for her solo work and with avantgarde-pop group 5K HD) on guitars, Kathrin Kolleritsch (currently making waves with her queer-feminist german rap project Kerosin95) and Nastasja Ronck (the hypertalented, probably currently most requested band musician in town). Sophie set up the rule that there wasn’t gonna be a „frontperson“, as they share the lead (vocals) however they just feel.
Before they even released a single note, their first show in their hometown Vienna (May 2019) was sold out in less than 24 hours. That following first offering, „Never Be Yours“, then managed to not only fulfill, but excel expectations: The song hit #1 on the influential Radio FM4 Charts; it helped getting invitations to open for much bigger acts in huge venues; it got them a ton of festival offers to pick from – amongst which there were also immediate offers from the likes of Reeperbahn Festival and Eurosonic.

Over summer more songs followed that proved the extraordinary talent – and that they weren’t just here for a one-hit-fling. „The Good The Bad The Ugly“ and „Playground“ earned several thousand (!) plays on radio stations across Europe. The logical consequence is „Vitamin C“, the bands debut album that is now up for release on March 20th.

On the albums (intentionally familiarly looking) cover mankind gets offered some vitamins from high above – which perfectly symbolizes one of the boiling topics of our time: Empowerment.
While there’s always a light note in My Ugly Clementines‘ songs, their real talk negotiates the current status quo of equal rights („Playground“); it goes deep down the road of complicated relationships with oneself („Try Me“) and one another, it also talks about self-confidence („Peptalk“).

While all these are very serious matters, you might recognize a certain humour with Sophie Lindingers choice of the bands name – an elegantly twisted reference into pop culture. Clementines, however, are hybrids of sweet mandarins and bitter oranges. Seems the name fits quite well, after all, and tells you a lot about what My Ugly Clementine is: Incredibly refreshing!