Whilst everyone has been bunkered at home adapting to the new norms of life in 2020, one band seems to have embraced the change and pivoting better than a Centre position in netball into the new age of the music industry. Sydney brothers Louis and Oli Leimbach, along with now permanent band members Felix Bornholdt, James Jennings and Nick Polovineo, have been popping up left, right and centre taking the Covid crisis on the chin.
They tore through a Facebook live set for Mercury Cider with the Mercury Rising Series, they cracked some cold ones for their Corona Sessions #covered19 trend, covering ‘Dazed and Confused’ by heartthrob Ruel and taking on Approachable Members of Your Local Community. Further, the lads were also accepted into the YouTube Music Foundry Program to develop more YouTube based video content, introducing us to the world of Lime Live, and also premiering the music video for ‘On My Own’ on the platform.
“It’s pretty good with YouTube and social media that you can be in a pandemic and still stay sociable and present, whereas 20 years ago you couldn’t do that. You had to be touring, you had to be there and be in everyone’s faces. It’s not the worst time as a band to exist,” Louis Leimbach says.
“We’re just trying to be optimistic and malleable to whatever and adapt to that all. That’s the way of looking at it than getting pissed off. We were on the edge of being burnt out because we had been touring for seven years non-stop so it’s nice to have a break and I don’t know, make a veggie garden and be domesticated people for once in our lives.”
It’s no surprise the boys were selected to participate in the program. Pre-covid the Limes hit massive industry milestones as three of their singles cocooned into shiny golden butterflies, ‘Naturally’, ‘Temper Temper’ and ‘Waking Up Easy’ all becoming certified gold singles.
“It’s pretty insane. It still feels a bit fake, I reckon maybe our manager was like ‘just put them together for us’ like ‘you guys were working hard, have these’, little fake ones to keep us motivated. But it’s psycho! I do have a little stare off in our corridor with it every now and then,” Leimbach laughs.
Powering through the pandemic and hoping to back it up, Lime Cordiale are yet again going for gold as they drop their sophomore album, 14 Steps To A Better You. With singles, “Robbery”, “Money”, “Inappropriate Behaviour”, “On Our Own” and the most recent “Addicted to the Sunshine” leading the charge 14 Steps To A Better You shows off Lime Cordiale’s ability to manoeuvre through a deep palette of sound.
“I think we get slightly sick of writing the same sort of sound and using the same tones. I guess that’s what makes a band a band, when you hear a song you’re like ‘oh that’s such and such’ that’s the sound of that band but I think it’s annoying as a writer. I don’t want to write the same genre and the same tone for every song, I like to change it up a bit!”
Trying to avoid Groundhog Day, the boys also explore a vast array of topics. ‘Dear London’ is an apology to the city, ‘No Plans To Make Plans’ discusses the one track-minded career ladder climb that doesn’t encompass the greater good, and the cheery ‘Addicted to the Sunshine’ explores our fake concern and lack of action for maintaining our beautiful environmental landscape.
14 Steps To A Better You is out this Friday 10 July 2020. You can pre-order the album here.
Written by Tammy Walters
