It's funny how things can happen. You've got an interview with Limblifter lined up, and before you realize what has happened, the interview is set to go on your birthday. On top of that, your business is undergoing a sudden boom, and at the last minute, you scramble around and come up with a few questions.
Add to that some odd phone difficulties between Canada, Los Angeles, and Louisiana, and you've got a pretty off-the-cuff interview with Kurt Dahle, Limblifter's drummer. Of course, there was actually more to this interview, but as interviews go, Oprah's done worse...
Consumable: What are you guys doing as far as touring?
Kurt: We haven't toured at all - in fact, we've never even played live together. I think we're going to do some dates right away. A couple of days ago, we got together for the first time in a year and went through the songs.
C: Where is the musical background of the band?
K: I dunno, we listen to everything. We listened to New Wave and Punk in the late seventies and in the eighties we listened to everything from Duran Duran to hard rock and metal.
C: Well, in junior high, I had the odd distinction of being the kid who listened to Duran Duran and Iron Maiden exclusively...
K: Yeah, that's us!
(Insert brief discussion of the current state of Iron Maiden, KISS in full makeup, Metallica headlining Lollapalooza, and bands that perpetually tour off of three year old albums here)
C: Where are you guys from?
K: We're from Saskatchewan originally, but we live in Vancouver now.
C: How is the Canadian music scene?
K: It's alright. There's a lot of shitty Canadian bands out there, and there are a few Canadian bands that I feel it's too bad the Americans have to miss out on.
C: Do you have any ideas on why the Canadian music scene is something we don't know a helluvalot about here in America?
K: I dunno. It just seems the Americans get all the shitty Canadian bands. The ones that seem to make it down there are the ones we don't really give a shit about here.
C: Is breaking through in America something that is really important to the band?
K: Not really, no. We've been independent for so long in Canada, with our other bands and such. We've turned down some major label offers, and I think because it was American labels, we thought "Nah, I don't wanna do this" because nobody really knows us in the States.
(Insert discussion on the up-and-down-side of living in New York, and weather differences between Canada and Louisiana)
C: Is there going to be another album?
K: Oh yeah. I hope, at least. Oh, I'm sure there will be, even if the label hates us or whatever, we'll still keep making records.
C: How different is the Canadian music scene from the American scene?
K: I guess we have just as many bands, per capita, that is. It's a pretty big scene, though - we have our own music awards and everything.
C: Does the Canadian scene get caught up in the trends and fads of American music as quickly as America seems to?
K: I think so. A lot of times, there are Canadian bands who are doing something before the America bands get a hold of it. I don't know why that is, though - maybe it's because we're closer to the British, I guess.
C: How long had this album been done before it was released? Did you get signed and the label get you into a studio, or was it done already when you were signed?
K: We recorded on a four-track. Actually, we started rehearsing, and one-and-a-half weeks later, we had the album done - I guess most of the songs were written already. We were doing it in the middle of the night because we were bored, and recorded it on our four-track. All our friends really liked it, so we gave one to our manager, and he really liked it - and a few months later we went into the studio around Christmas time. Our friend worked at a studio and nobody was there over Christmas, so we recorded the album, and when the label said "Are you guys ready to make an album?" We just handed it to them and said "We already have".
Limblifter's debut album Limblifter, was compared by this writer to the Cars and "so bubble gummy that it would make The Replacements stand up and take notice" and reviewed in the February 1, 1996 issue of Consumable.
