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INTERVIEW W/ Lime Garden: "We’ve just taken everything about Lime Garden and dialed it up"
Lime Garden are in a whirlwind when we catch them, half way between their last show and their next night out. They’re a self proclaimed “wonk pop” powerhouse who have recently erupted into the charts following ‘Maybe Not Tonight’, a synth-stained, coming-of-age rock album.
“Most of us actually hate going out” they joke “but weirdly, we accidentally wrote an album about it. We begin at the pres with stuff like ‘Cross My Heart’ which is just that, fuck this i'm going out, song. And then we eventually arrive at I really like ‘Always Talking About You’...a song for when you’re walking home from the night out. The walk home after the night out and is so dramatic and wallowing and alive; I think that’s fun sometimes”.
Powering through the crappy nights, the self doubt, the identity issues and coming out having had fun seems to be the entire point of this album. “We’ve just taken everything about Lime Garden and dialed it up” they smile “we’ve been doing this for long enough we’ve managed to get past the imposter syndrome and nerves. Now we're really making it and we’re having an amazing time”.
Despite these years of experimentation, their sound is still remarkably fluid. “We were listening to a lot of dance music when we were writing this, a lot of LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk and Gorillaz” they reminisce. “We have loads of inspirations though, Tippy (their bassist) saw Wednesday at The Roundhouse the other day, and Leila (their guitarist) saw Ninajirachi”.
This eclectic mix is what leads their very undefinable genre. “I think our place in the music scene is always changing” their vocalist Chloe Howard winces, “we got compared to The Last Dinner Party the other day, which is only because we’re both female bands. It’s sort of frustrating because what we listen to is always changing and therefore our place in the music scene is too. Being defined gets irritating”.
As well as an eclectic music taste, they have assorted lives, which tumble into niche parts of the country like a lost guitar pick. “I love the Brighton music scene” guitarist Leila Deeley grins “you can go and see a pop star or you can go and see someone banging a bin for an hour. I love that you can do both, one evening after another. There’s music everywhere in the city though, we spend a lot of our time Shazaming things, or hearing about bands through word of mouth”.
Lime Garden are, of course, currently touring this new album, having already completed a run of intimate album launch shows they’ll be arriving at Future Yard, Birkenhead and Gorilla, Manchester this October. “The live and signing shows are scary” Anabelle laughs “I can’t say we enjoy them as much as big shows, the pressures a lot more. The thing that’s nice is meeting fans, we met a little girl the other day who had driven an hour to come and see us. She’d listened to the first album in the car with her dad so this was the second car album if you will”.
Their fans seem to be a large part of the reason that they write the music that they do. “It’s for us initially of course, cheaper than therapy” jokes Chloe “but at the end of the day it's nice for younger people to listen and realise you don't have to be perfect - you can be a lovely person and do stupid things”.
They all nod at this, huddled around a sticky beer garden table, showing unwavering support for the comments and ideas that their bandmates throw out. But that is what their album is about, the cheap nights and the inexperience, and the relentless backing that they have as they whirl from one gig to the next recording session. Lime Garden are dialed up, and they’re only getting more brilliant.
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