Interviews

Limbeck

Interview with Band on Dec 15, 2006 by Archive Bot

It’s rare that you listen to a band and read their bio and just know that you’re gonna get along with them. Limbeck is and was one of those bands for me. When I saw they were coming around on the New Found Glory tour, I thought interviewing them would be a good chance to see how a “normal” band works and what they experience as the openers on such a big tour. Limbeck stuck out on the bill; they weren’t pop-punk or emo or anything like that. They play barroom rock in the vein of The Replacements and Big Star with a bit of punk thrown in. Needless to say, the guys lived up to my expectations and were some of nicest people I have met in the music industry, they even introduced me to their family members! We discussed their experiences with interviewers, their recently completed album, Scotland, and even had a few guests drop in on the drunkest and most fun interview I have ever conducted.
 
You guys wanna go ahead and introduce yourselves and what you do in the band?
 
John Phillip: I’m John. I play drums and percussion.
 
Justin Entsminger: I’m Justin. I play bass.
 
Rob MacLean: I’m Rob. I play guitar and sing.
 
Patrick Carrie: I’m Patrick. I do the same as Rob.
 
You guys are definitely a bit different from what this tour is all about, the overall sound; how’d you guys even get on the tour?
 
R: I think it was, uhh, we submitted for the tour when we found out it was goin’ on. At the same time, The Early November…hang on a second, don’t move.
 
What’s goin’ on?
 
R: Move your arm…did you get it?
 
P: A spider.
 
R: It was a spider crawling on your neck.
 
P: There it is! See it?! See it?! [stomps on spider]
 
R: Yeah, that spider was crawlin’ on your neck.
 
Jo: You just killed an innocent creature.
 
If you let go in Chicago, it’s gonna die anyway.
 
R: From what NFG was sayin’, that they were requesting a list of bands for the tour, and we were one of them and our booking agent was like, “are you kidding?” And when we submitted for the tour, their booking agent called us and was like, “are you kidding?” So it was just like, all the odds were against us but we got to the first day on the tour and we loved each other. Good dudes, good dudes all around. That’s what it is.
 
How’s the crowd response been to you guys so far?
 
Jo: On a scale of 1 to 10…4.
 
[everyone shouts in agreement]
 
P: I wouldn’t say that. I mean, tonight was a little bit harder than most shows.
 
Jo: Toronto was just like tonight.
 
P: Really? I thought tonight was below Toronto, but just sayin’.
 
Jo: I had fun playin’ and I don’t give a fuck, you know.
 
P: It depends on where you are on the stage, to say how your perception of the show goes. Rob was really happy about our show tonight.
 
R: Yeah, I didn’t hear any comments except that someone was like, [inaudible].
 
P: Yeah, from my side of the stage, I heard, “when are you gonna be done?” And I was like, alright, now we gotta tear some shit up.
 
R: Now we gotta make our outro double long…let’s play some rock ‘n roll music that these kids won’t like.
 
At this point, I dropped my recorder and pieces went everywhere, but the dudes helped me put it back together and no damage was done. I also let Justin hold the recorder so I could focus more on drinking and asking questions. The recorder came back on mid-conversation.
 
Jo: Yeah, fuck Toronto.
 
Ju: Is this rollin’?
 
Yeah, it’s rollin’. All right, we did the crowd reaction…not so good, 4 outta 10.
 
P: No, but it’s all good, we know that there’s a given on this tour and that we’re gonna be the underdogs a little bit because…
 
R: We’re kind of a little bit of a sore thumb.
 
P: But it’s all good.
 
Jo: Our video is all over M2, so I don’t…
 
R: I don’t know why people don’t like us man.
 
P: It’s all good, we know what we’re getting into. I mean, if we could convert 5% of the people that are at this 1200 person…
 
Are you out to convert them or are you out to play?
 
P: You can fucking convert and play.
 
Well, but…
 
P: No no no, listen to this, listen to this success story. We played this one show with All-American Rejects in Oklahoma City. We played our set and we played really well and we were really happy about it. Went back to the merch and this girl who was kinda younger came over, and she’s like, “wow, I really liked your set.” And we’re like, “cool.” And we didn’t have our record yet, but we had the vinyl and she’s like, “I need to buy your record.” We told her, “all we have is vinyl.” She said, “I’ll buy it, it’s totally cool.” So, she bought the vinyl and we’re all just hangin’ out talking about music and there’s a lot of people that come to certain shows that don’t know about more indie venues. Like a person that might be coming here tonight might not know about Bottom Lounge or Double Door or Schuba’s
 
The Empty Bottle…
 
P: They might not know about any of those venues. They might just be like, “ohh, I just go to shows at the Metro and House of Blues and that’s all I know about.” She was that kind of person and I was like, “there are so many bands that you could be seeing.” And then I was like, “well, All-American Rejects are goin’ on, you prolly wanna go in.” And she was like, “no, I totally wanna hang out and talk about music.” And I was like, “hell yeah!” And now she has like more uptight musical tastes than even I do, she’s into like the Mountain Goats and Band of Horses and stuff like that, which is totally cool but, you know what I’m sayin’? She came to see All-American Rejects, saw our band, bought our record and it’s fucking cool. And, yeah, we’re out to play, but if we convert anybody to see like, there’s other bands.
 
R: And it’s not like we’re converting people to Limbeck, it’s just like, hey, there’s a lot of stuff out there, open your mind. Look at what’s goin’ on now and look at what has happened already in the past and there’s so much good stuff out there that you can listen to.
 
You guys recorded in Minneapolis, right? And you worked with Louris from the Jayhawks, right? How as that?
 
At this point, there is a lot of heated discussion about The Replacements and whether John or I is the bigger Replacements fan. It ends with Rob suggesting we duke it out for bragging rights. This also marks the one and only question Justin asks, which is what follows.
 
Ju: So, how do you guys feel about chocolate cake?
 
P: Love it!
 
Ju: Good, cause I hear we’re gettin’ extras.
 
R: I like it, but not if there’s chocolate ice cream on it, it’s too much chocolate.
 
Ju: We should see how we go with vanilla.
 
Do you guys all write the lyrics?
 
Jo: It’s mainly Rob.
 
R: No, it’s like, I’ll be like, “I have this song idea and here’s the chords, but…” It’s a game with us. It’s like, okay, let’s write this song, each one of us has to write one word in a row. So we all go around the table…
 
Ju: It’s like playin’ telephone…
 
R: You make the 1st word, I’ll make the 2nd word, you make the 3rd word, and you make the 4th word and keep goin’ around till we got a song and that’s why the lyrics are so coherent.
 
Ju: And it’s crazy, cause we also co-wrote Fat-Bottom Girls off of that…umm, I’m just kidding.
 
R: No. No.
 
That fell so flat…
 
R: No, we’re kidding right now…I’m basically the band…
 
Does that ever bother the rest of you?
 
R: These guys are cool too, but it’s just like, I have the contract, it’s just for me really. The band should be called Rob…and the other guys. But, uhh, I give them a little bit of credit and I’m just like, “let’s just become Limbeck.”
 
How’d you come up with Limbeck?
 
R: Well, here’s the thing. It’s from my family heritage, we are from Limbeck, Scotland…the city.
 
So it really is all about you.
 
[band members all grumble a bit, jokingly]
 
R: No, I also invented Scotland.
 
[everyone laughs]
 
R: No! There was this big, medieval fight and I was like, “guys! Be cool! You guys be England, we’ll be Scotland, alright…and I’m gonna take this town, Limbeck.
 
Ju: It’s actually the capitol.
 
R: I’m sorry, I’m making a mockery of this interview.
 
That’s totally fine.
 
R: You wanna know how it goes? Umm, I write about a verse and a chorus – as of late, this is how it goes lately.
 
Well, you guys are in the studio right now, right?
 
R: We just got finished.
 
So the record’s done?
 
R: So basically, what happens, with this band, this lineup right now – this is not how it used to happen – but how it happened for this record, I will have a verse and a chorus that I think is pretty all right and we’ll jam it out with each other and be like, “ohh! This song is cool.” And then it’s like okay, we gotta finish it now. So after we jam it out, it gives me like a little bit of a new direction and basically all I do is I gotta fill up other parts of the song with lyrics but the band jamming on the song is very inspirational. Cause, I’ll be like this is cool and if it’s not cool then I’ll be like, well I don’t like those lyrics, I don’t really wanna do anything.
 
It really comes down to you, doesn’t it?
 
R: Well…at the end of the day, yeah. I’m just like, “ugh, John! Remember when you kicked your kick drum in that one part? Don’t do it! And Justin, remember when you played the bass and how bout you do it like this [makes weird bass noises].”
 
P: Crack the whip basically…crack the whip.
 
R: No, uhh, bottom line, we’re a real band, like a really cool band.
 
[lots of laughing]
 
R: That doesn’t sound…like, I’m not tryin’ to sound conceited, I’m tryin’ to sound thankful for the fact that these guys here, in this conversation, I get along with them really well and it’s great to be playing with them and everyone in this band inspires everyone else.
 
Everyone: Cheers!
 
R: So yeah, we’re a real band, like…I write the lyrics, but nobody calls the shots. We just play music together and we really feed off of each other and things go really good.
 
Well, it seems like with the last record, When We Come Home, there is a fascination with travel and especially the Midwest…
 
R: Well, all of our records have that, it’s just kinda this thing…
 
Is that something you guys kept up on the new record as well?
 
R: Umm, there’s a couple songs, but with writing lyrics, even on the last record, and even on our first record, which we consider our first record…it’s not the first record we ever recorded, but Hi, Everything’s Great, was kinda themed by reviewers and everything as a road record, which is cool and it’s great but I didn’t wanna be pigeonholed. I didn’t want people to be like, “ohh, Limbeck’s that band that only writes about traveling.” And there were still a lot of traveling songs.
 
P: Then you went and name-dropped a lot of cities on our second record.
 
Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean you name drop venues too, right? The Triple Rock’s in there…
 
R: Yeah, we’re a hard working band and we tour a lot, so a lot of times I write songs on the road, so…I’m sorry. Anyway, this next record has got a couple things like that, but it’s not as much.
 
P: I don’t consider it a road record.
 
R: Definitely not a road record. If you wanna call it that, that’s fine, but, I mean, listen man…
 
[everyone laughs]
 
R: I’m just trying to make a decent living.
 
P: I’m just a squirrel tryin’ to get a nut.
 
R: I don’t care about music! …no, I love music…that’s the truth.
 
This interview is gonna be a nightmare to transcribe.
 
R: There’s enough talking in this that if there’s something we do to piss you off later, you’re gonna be like, “man, I fuckin’ hate those dudes…I’m gonna take all those bad quotes and make it a really bad interview that makes us seem terrible.”
 
I was here last time to interview a band and it was like a ten minute interview, very clean-cut and dry…
 
Jo: Straight-edge pussies.
 
That’s goin’ down.
 
R: No! Seriously, for the record, we like straight-edge pussies. I was a straight-edge pussy till I was 24.
 
I was straight-edge too…
 
P: Straight-edge has turned into such thug-life.
 
Well, you’re in the town Victory was built in…
 
P: Ohh totally, totally…I’m over it.
 
Do you guys write, generally, in the studio, or was the new record done when you went to the studio?
 
R: The record was half done. We had a handful of songs we were feelin’ really good about and just jammin’ on that were really good. And there were other songs to that we also kinda worked out a little bit but weren’t complete. And, this time for us, the studio was a really great environment to just play with each other and learn songs and learn a lot of things we hadn’t learned already. Umm…the reason I’m sayin’ that is because Ed Rose, the most cool dude ever…
 
He produced the new record?
 
R: Yeah, he’s done a lot of stuff, like Coalesce and The Get Up Kids and he did the first Motion City Soundtrack record. And we’ve gotten to know him so well over the years that they actually gave us a key to the studio so that whenever we wanted to, we could go downstairs and just jam with each other and work stuff out and even record stuff. Some of the stuff that came out of those late night recording sessions is making it on the record. So it was just a really great environment. So, to answer your question, half the songs were already worked out and half of the songs we kinda worked on in the studio. But, part of the reason that it was so good for us was because we could go down any time in the night, anytime we wanted to, and just work on stuff and start recording. So it was really cool.
 
Is there any way I can bum a cigarette from you?
 
Ju: Yeah, cool.
 
God, I feel like the worst interviewer ever…you guys give me cigarettes and beer…
 
R: It’s a give and take.
 
I called John [Cheese, road manager for Limbeck] in the afternoon cause Doghouse took forever to get back to me and I had no clue what the fuck was going on and I was like, “John, what’s the deal for tonight, I have no idea what’s going on.” And he’s like, “Ohh, you’re on the list with a photo pass and all that shit. Just come back to the merch table after their set.” And I told him I kinda wanted to watch Cartel and he gave me shit for wanting to watch Cartel.
 
R: No no no no, can we give you a background on this. See, now we know you’re cool. See, for some of these bigger tours that we do and we’re opening, a lot of people want to just get on our list because we’re an easy underdog and they’ll just come and do whatever…cause we had this one interview a long time ago where someone pretended they were videotaping us but it was really just a still camera.
 
Ju: And they asked us like three questions… “what’s your band?”
 
R: “Alright, thanks…any last words?” And we’re like, “That’s the fucking interview?” This was on the All-American Rejects tour and it like obviously you used us to get into the show. So ever since then, we’ve been kinda sensitive to that. Like, earlier today, we decided, and no offense to the band Cartel, that we are gonna tell people that if they wanna interview us, they have to do it during Cartel’s set.
 
See, no, I really like Limbeck!
 
R: No, seriously we appreciate you, you have great questions and we know you’re a cool dude. No offence, but…
 
I’d like to note that at that point my arm was squeezed multiple times…there’s a whole lot of love goin’ on.
 
R: See, here’s the thing, cause I’m really glad we’re doin’ this interview now that we’ve gotten to know you, cause…
 
No, and that’s the point, cause, like I said, the last one I did was ten minutes and that’s it, whatever. For me, an interview is much more interesting if I can actually talk to you guys. And this is the first interview I’ve done where all the band members are present and everyone had a say and that’s what the point is…
 
Ju: It’s about the scoop.
 
Exactly. It’s about finding out how big of a jackass each one of you is…and I’m learning very quickly.
 
Ju: Tonight’s my off night, luckily.
 
I appreciate the explanation cause he sounded pissed.
 
R: Right before the call, we’re like “alright, who’s this guy?” Cause after a couple of interviews where we know they only did the interview with us so they could get in to see another band, we’re like man, we should start getting interviewers to start answering questions when they first call or we call them and be like, “okay, umm, who do you want to interview in the band? What person do you wanna interview?” And if they don’t know the names of the people…then it’s kinda silly. I mean, we’ll do an interview with anybody, but when you’re on tour like this, you never know who’s just tryin’ to get in to see another band and obviously you’re not, which is great. The proof is in the pudding, you know what I’m sayin’? Actually, you’re teaching us a lesson because…
 
Have faith. Some of us absolutely love music and are here for this kind of conversation. I mean our site is a smaller site, but it’s there for interviews with bands like you, not the headliners, they don’t need the publicity.
 
R: All I’m sayin’ is you proved us wrong, which is good.
 
That’s what I’m here for…shit, I gotta go home and type this.
 
[laughing]
 
Ju: It’s alright, I think the recorder is broken anyway.
 
Do you guys have a name for the new record?
 
R: Prolly The Bear…it could change.
 
[more beers are brought out]
 
You guys are the best. So, did you have any conscious decisions of things you wanted to stay away from as compared to the last record?
 
P: Not really. We just have such a good thing goin’ on since John joined our band in November last year and since he joined, the songwriting process…wait, what am I saying…it’s cause The Early November is playing.
 
R: There are basically two assholes in our band and one of them is Patrick. It’s gone to his head a little bit.
 
He’s the guitar player with mystique.
 
R: Mystique whatever.
 
P: Okay, hey!! Alright, John joined our band in September of last year and ever sine then our songwriting has been better and he’s been such a big part of it and we were just like, “we need to get a record out ASAP cause our band kicks ass now, more than ever.”
 
[others try and answer the questions]
 
P: No, I’m just answering this question by myself cause you guys are assholes.
 
R: Keep goin’ douchebag.
 
P: I’m going to. Umm, yeah, but we’ve always had this dream of having our band be called “The Bears,” and since John joined the band…
 
R: We’ve considered ourselves “The Bears.”
 
P: Yeah, we consider ourselves “The Bears,” so we wanted to call this record The Bear.
 
Okay, well here’s a tough question…considering your guys sound…
 
P: We do 50 pull-ups a day.
 
R: Alright alright alright, continue.
 
Well, I mean, where do you guys see yourselves fitting in. Independent music, right now, is the hot thing…
 
R: We like a lot of bands from the past and the present and we’re not considering what it takes to be big or anything, we just wanna play music that we like a lot and we have no worries of like…
 
At this point, Jordan Pundik from New Found Glory yells up the stairs we’re standing on.
 
Jordan Pundik: Shut up!!
 
R: No, you shut up.
 
Jor: No! Jerk!
 
[Jordan comes bounding up the steps]
 
R: No, be cool!
 
Jor: No, you shut up!
 
R: Hey, be cool! Take it down three notches and be cool for cryin’ out loud.
 
Jor: How you livin’?
 
Security also comes bounding up the stairs, thinking that a fight has broken out between the bands, but everyone’s cool and Jordan joins the interview.
 
R: This is our friend Jordan, he’s basically the fifth member of our band.
 
Ju: New keyboard player.
 
Jor: Too many beers with whiskey on top…you mix it together.
 
R: That’s called a red eye.
 
P: No, that’s called a workingman.
 
What do you think of Limbeck?
 
Jor: They’re one of my favorite bands.
 
No no no, you have to trash them. These guys fucking suck!
 
Jor: Umm…they’re all a bunch of queers.
 
R: Yeah! That’s the problem with our band, we’re just too queer. We try to get stuff done and we just start kissin’. I’m like, “listen guys, we have a record we have to get done. Okay here’s the thing, here’s this part, okay Patrick, can you play, can you play uhh, can you play this chord right now? Wait, what did you say?”
 
Jor: Wake up! I have to play I think.
 
P: Right now?
 
R: Man, they’re still stuck with us for so many days.
 
Yeah, I feel bad for…uhh…them.
 
Jordan heads back downstairs to play and then yells again from the bottom of the stairs.
 
Jor: Ahhhhhhh! Everybody say “fuck!”
 
Everyone: Fuck!
 
Jor: Yeah!
 
Okay, I got two more questions…nah, I give up.
 
R: You can’t be too professional.
 
This is the most professional band I’ve ever met. All they care about is record sales and bitches.
 
R: Speaking of, I gotta go, we got bitches waitin’ for us, can we wrap this up?
 
Don’t even pretend…you guys care about bitches.
 
R: Awwww, come on man, bitches are cool man! What are you tryin’ to say about bitches? What, you don’t like bitches?
 
P: Hey, sluts rock man. Dude, I love sluts.
 
R: I like sluts too because they’re cool. They don’t care about anything, they don’t have like any condescending words to say. They’re just like, “c’mon, can we fuck?” And you’re just like, “alright…thank you for not judging me.” But off the record, I really don’t like sluts. On the record, John is a douchebag. He spit all of his douch spit all over me!
 
Jo: You can wipe it off on my shirt.
 
Alright, last question. What do you think about where you are today, signed to a large independent, and where older bands, like The Replacements and Big Star were, back in the 70s and 80s, when bands were signed to majors, but didn’t really have the popular push that independent music has now…do you think one way is/was better than the other?
 
R: I think it matters how your band works.
 
Ju: I think as long as you’re playing good music, it doesn’t matter how…
 
R: There’s a lot of bands who want things to be set up for them and handed to them…
 
Which is, today, basically what happens.
 
Ju: Yeah.
 
R: Exactly. And we’re a hard working band and…
 
P: Go look at the three buses and trailers next to our van without a trailer.
 
R: And these other bands are cool; we’re really good friends with them and got no problems with it, but we just do things a different way. Bottom line is that we are a hard working band and we don’t understand people having all these people working for them because there are so many things they could do for themselves.
 
John Cheese, the band’s road manager, walks in on the interview at this point.
 
R: John has to answer questions.
 
John has his own t-shirts.
 
R: Did you know that John is a fifth of our band? Ask John Cheese a question.
 
John Cheese, why are you wearing an Explosion t-shirt?
 
JC: Umm, this shirt, my friend Sheffield gave to me, who used to be the label manager of Doghouse, the label that Limbeck is on.
 
Wow, you’re the most professional sounding person here.
 
JC: Well, I have to be.
 
R: He’s not he’s not.
 
JC: I’m not.
 
This interview has been a train wreck.
 
JC: Really?
 
It’s great though. It’s fantastic.
 
JC: Ohh, and I used to live in Boston and see them…
 
You lived in Boston? When?
 
JC: Yup…uhh, 1999-2001.
 
Did you ever hear of a band called “The Year is One?”
 
JC: Hmm, nope.
 
Ju: Ever hear of a band called “Boston?”
 
R: Fuck, who are they?
 
Jo: It’s a band so good, they named a city after them.
 
What about “Chicago?”
 
R: Every trip my family took as a kid, Chicago was playing…Chicago’s 21…it’s a really mild record. But I heard, when they were “Chicago Transit,” back in the day…
 
That’s right, “CTA!”
 
R: Yeah, they were doin’ some really good shit. They were usin’ like ribbon mics in the snare and were like, “I know this mic might break but it sounds so good on the snare…” Hey, no, listen, I learned this stuff!
 
Did you go to school?
 
R: No I took one…
 
P: He’s a dropout.
 
R: I took one…no listen, I’m talkin’ about…I went to class for recording…never mind! Let’s keep talking about Chicago. I was takin’ this class man, and this teacher was like, “man, Chicago used ribbon mics on the snare.” And ribbon mics are very fragile, it’s like, “ohh, we could use other mics, but this mic sounds so good,” but it’s fragile and they broke like three mics on the record, man…Chicago!!
 
[Everyone cheers]
 
JC: Just so you guys know, there are two kids who watched you band play and have not left the merch table the entire night.
 
Ju: Are they two dudes?
 
JC: Yeah.
 
Ju: Did I sign one of their boobs?
 
JC: Yeah.
 
Ju: That’s the dude that hugged you.
 
Ohhh, that guy.
 
JC: Yeah, it’s cool you bought tickets and then hung out at the merch booth…the entire night!!
 
Ohh, we should stop.
 
R: Do you have any other questions. Last question!
 
Okay…why do you rock so hard?
 
R: Cause we love to rock.
 
www.myspace.com/limbeck
www.limbeck.net
 
Thanks to Jeremy at Doghouse and John Cheese for helping to set this interview up. And thanks to Limbeck for some cold beers and some great times.