At the Deus Temple of Enthusiasm, music is an important part of our philosophy, and we pride ourselves on being able to find great bands and musicians from far and wide, especially for events, such as our Deus 9ft & Single Art, Music, Film & Surf Festival. For us, good music is a must. In fact, at our events, we have one night dedicated to it. Friday night, sandwiched between Film on Thursday and an Art Gallery opening on Saturday is the slot we set out to fill, and we reckon we aced it this year when we managed to persuade Australian band Lime Cordiale to shoehorn another gig, in their already super busy touring schedule. Everyone at the Temple were super stoked. What we didn’t know it at the time but the band were also more than ecstatic to jet over to Bali for the weekend, and boy oh boy, did it go off!
Once the dust had settled from the 9ft weekend, hangovers abated and a normal speed of life slid back into place, I had the opportunity to chat with brothers, Oli & Louis Leimbach, who are the quintessence of Lime Cordiale, delving a little deeper into their charismatic tunes and creative life, both in and out of music. Here’s what they have to say…
// Growing up in the Northern Beaches of Sydney, how did the creative culture surrounding your hometown influence your work?
We started writing songs on acoustic guitars, but our first few gigs were at bars that we’d pack out with everyone we knew. We inevitably moved to electric guitars, cranked up the volume and subconsciously changed the groove to get people dancing. It’s hard to win over a drunk crowd and you can’t be subtle. As the venues changed, our style evolved. But we’ve always written music that we’d want to listen to ourselves… and hopefully our friends too.
// The official music video for the track ‘Temper Temper’ which was released late last year is beautifully kooky & seriously enthralling to watch. What were some of the highlights involved in the production?
In order to achieve that slight stop-motion effect, we filmed everything at 25% and then sped it up x4. It meant that on set we were moving and singing along to a super slow song. And 25% is really really slow. The song was unrecognisable even to us, so even with all the rehearsals we’d get lost and have to do the whole damn slow thing all over again.
// Living, working & gigging around the globe with your bro is pretty special. Have you guys been close since kids?
Like any young brothers, we weren’t too crazy about each other. But we’d go on holiday as a family and be forced to hang out together. It’s meant that we know how to deal with each other. We definitely piss each other off at times but we tend to get over it in a matter of minutes. The major bummer is that we’re always the ones having to share the double bed if we’re touring on a budget… and we are on a budget most of the time. Even though we were pretty different as kids, we’ve ended up liking the same things and sharing the same hobbies, so we have a lot of fun on tour.
// How do you express yourselves creatively outside of music?
Louis is a great visual artist. His recent work with lino-cut has made up a lot of our album covers, merchandise and tour posters. It’s pretty crazy shit and I think he’s the only one that truly knows what his artworks are about. I’ve always enjoyed filmmaking and making the music videos is my outlet. All forms of art-making are time-consuming pursuits so a lot of the time we prefer to rest our minds and go for a surf or a beer instead.
// Louis the linocuts you’ve whipped up for the previous album artworks are stunning. Does Bruce Goold happen to be an influence on your work?
The two of us made a documentary about Bruce with our Dad recently. That’s where we really absorbed ourselves with his work. It was the conversation at every family dinner for over a year. Bruce is an undiscovered genius. He has the ability to tell a detailed story through one artwork and that’s something that is also a big influence on our songwriting too.
// Will we see Lime Cordiale hit the vinyl? I feel like it’s your kind of vibe.
It already has and they’ve sold out! More on their way. They take a while. We must be waiting for candles to burn in the Czech Republic before they can print to wax.
// Grungiest live music bar you’ve had the pleasure of playing at?
We’ve played a set in downtown Las Vegas a few times. We were scheduled to go on at 2am but the whole night was running behind. When a couple of Aussies are expected to stay sober until 3am for their only night in Vegas… it’s not gonna happen. Playing in Canggu for you guys was pretty grungy in its own way. You often get some pretty moody sound engineers at venues but that was never going to happen with a crew of Balinese lads!
This interview was curated for Deus Ex Machina, Temple of Enthusiasm
