Touring on the Other Side of the World - an Interview with Lime Cordiale.

Interview by Sarah Evangelista

The Music Enthusiast: I saw you guys live at bar la Ritz a few years ago, and you’re at Studio TD tonight. I'm very excited!

Olivier Leimbach: That one that you saw us was a kind of little packed, sweaty venue, right? That was a fun one.

It was incredibly packed. So I'm very happy that they upgraded the venue a bit.

How has the weather been?

OL: Well, this is the coldest weather we've ever been in, right? We flew into Texas and it was -12 degrees celsius by the time we got to Nashville - that's how the coldest any of us had ever been in. And we were like, “oh my god, this is so cold”… Then we got up here, and it's like -20, with a crazy wind. It's novelty for us, and everyone else is just used to it.

The last time you were here was in the summer. It must be a change for sure…

OL: Yeah! We were surfing in board shorts, and it was 27 degrees Celsius, but we're doing it all for you guys. We're extremely grateful.

Did you guys pack for the winter weather?

OL: Most people didn't. Most people have been buying things along the way. I think it just doesn't get this cold anywhere in Australia, right? So you just have these theories like, “oh, you know, nothing's gonna get through denim jeans”.

It's kind of crazy how you guys have just such a contrast between seasons… that just amazes me as well. This city looks completely different to the last time we were here.

Have you explored Montreal from the times you’ve been here? Do you have any favourite spots?

OL: Yeah! We went to this incredible noodle spot last night where we ordered a medium bowl of noodles, and by the size of it was like they were feeding a pack of dogs or something… huge bowl of noodles. It was crazy.

Have you guys tried poutine yet?

OL: No, what's that?

It's a Quebec delicacy… Fries gravy and cheese on top.

OL: Oh! We haven’t. Maybe we'll have to try that as a late night snack tonight.

Amazing! Do you guys get stage fright?

OL: No, not really. I mean… I don't. Louis gets a bit nervous sometimes, but I don't know if it's stage fright. It's like an excitement and then, like, maybe anxiety that everything's going to fall apart and go wrong for some strange reason. But when you're on a tour like this, doing 28 shows in over six weeks, you sort of really get into the flow of everything. The only thing to possibly get worried about is losing your voice or like hurting yourself.

If anything, we tend to get a little stage fright when we haven't done a show for a month or something, and then suddenly you're back on … I think that's more of an excitement, like this sort of giddy excitement.

I think excitement and nervousness come from the same place, so that totally makes sense.

What was the first album that spoke to your soul?

OL: Oh, interesting. Louis and I as brothers, we grew up on the same music. I think the first album that our parents got us as a present was an Elvis CD.We just knew every lyric. I think it was like the essential Elvis collection.

There's a band, I don't know if you know them in Canada… The wiggles?

Of course I know the Wiggles! I think I've seen them live too.

OL: Okay, awesome. Every Australian grew up on the wiggles and got a lot of musical inspiration from them. We've kind of got to know a couple of the original members since our band's grown and then they covered one of our songs for an adult/kids album they did.

But in terms of a band that we listen to now… Occasionally something comes along and you really go, ‘whoa’. I think there's been a few that have done that for us. We grew up being The Strokes and Kings of Leon fans. There's the discovery of Amy Winehouse - who we didn't really discover until after she passed. Louis really got obsessed with Nathaniel Rateliff and we see him every time he comes to Australia.

I feel like there's so much good music right now… Lola Young, when “Messy” blew up, it was just like discovering that whole album. It’s so good. There's so much incredible music. It's kind of sometimes overwhelming - It's overwhelming in the way that you like, I know it's all out there, I just need to discover it somehow.

I totally agree. I've come to the point where I have a spreadsheet of albums I need to listen to instead of, like, screenshots.

I want to get back to the Wiggles… That must have been a full circle moment for you guys.

OL: Yeah, totally.

So how did that happen? Did they reach out to you to cover your song?

OL: So we were at an award show, and we were out on the balcony, taking a break. We saw them trying to get out the door onto the balcony. They were trying to get out into the venue, and they're trying to find the exit button for the sliding door... They're quite wiggly humans. It's like they've been doing kids shows so much that their whole personality has been taken over by it. We helped them out, a bit nervous. They were actually coming out to say hi to us!

It should have been the other way around, but we're pretending that it's us the more important humans.

Three albums in, have you mastered the art of creating an album yet?

OL: It's quite difficult, you know. I feel like when the songs are finished, they feel as if they've been the easiest things to put together…We freak out whether some of the lyrics or one of the sections in the songs is right or not, then tend to go down this big spiral of wigging out about it, and worrying about the production sounding right.

Enough of the Sweet Talk, especially… It just felt like the one before did quite well for us and we had a fan base that was expecting something better, and so the pressure's on.

We have a song called “Imposter Syndrome”, but the imposter syndrome in the actual writing and recording process is definitely alive. I feel like we know what we want. It takes us a while to realize what it is, or to get it out.

Speaking of “Imposter Syndrome”, my favourite lyrics are ‘you think you're perfect, nobody's perfect’, and especially ‘you think your shit don't stink. Think again’.

OL: I love those lyrics.

Where did that lyric come from?

OL: I almost think that some of our best songs are made when we're really taking the piss of society. I feel like we do it quite a lot. You know, songs like, “No Plans to Make Plans”, or “Country Club”. I feel like everyone gets it when they're looking at the news or seeing Trump and Zelensky having a big argument. There's more important things than money and power. On a lighter level, sometimes it's just like, all your popularity on Instagram. I think it’s like trying to hit heavy topics in a very light way.

Do you feel as if you make the best music when you don’t take yourself serious?

OL: I think so. I think we embody different characters, even in that little lyric. It sort of feels like we're putting on a voice in some way. Maybe that’s Beatles inspired- you know, they're always putting on voices and playing characters in Magical Mystery Tour. But then, you know, you've got to have your heartbreak song in there, and sometimes we've written it when we're feeling sad. So that might be when we’re taking ourselves a bit more serious.

Where did the name of the album come from?

OL: It came from a lyric in that song.

The whole album spans the course of a relationship. We've put these songs in order of what could be the chronological order of a relationship from not knowing someone and idolizing them, getting to know them, and then getting into a relationship. You turn into lovers, and then, you know, something goes wrong and you turn into enemies, then you're back to strangers again. Full circle.

We figured out that, as brothers, we share a lot of the same life together. We have the same job, and we hang out when we're not on tour with all the same friends. Our lives are pretty similar. But not all of the songs are shared experiences, we still have our own experiences. These shared experiences are from the two of us. We wanted to try and figure out a way of making it feel like one relatable experience.

Yeah, for sure. What's different about this album is you guys have little interludes to separate the moments, whether it's like meeting someone or like becoming strangers as in the last song, I think it's a good way to encapsulate the whole project.

OL: It sounds like a sample, but that's a friend of ours. We just love her French accent. There's a lot of French influence throughout our music, and so we sort of just got her drunk and put a microphone in front of her and just recorded her for about an hour and a half, and then picked up these snippets. Then the music that's behind that is just in green rooms around, I think we're in Europe.

You are going to be on the road a ton. What are your favourite activities to do while doing so?

OL I think if you're trying to do a healthier tour, going to restaurants instead of pubs is often a good idea. So Montreal's got a really great food scene. So that's why, yesterday, we based the day around food. And so we find that great noodle place. Maybe when we were a bit younger, we would just go straight to some bar or or a pub, and end up drinking. So it's just becomes not as sustainable, or you become an alcoholic. Touring in the winter is new for us because we normally love being outdoors, and we normally love finding somewhere we can swim. Australians live on the coast, so last time we were in Canada, we were swimming, even though it was cold. Now we're kind of bunkering down and like playing poker and dice and things.

Who are you listening to right now when it comes to music?

I love keeping up with what is seriously popping off at the moment, you know… like the whole Doechii train everyone's on. It's hard not to get swept up by that. There's some great Australian acts like Mallrat released a new song called “Pavement”, which I really love.

There's an artist called Forest Claudette just released a song called “Violence”, which is awesome. I Just saw Olivia Dean before coming over here. We went to a festival and saw Clairo, Olivia Dean and charli xcx. It was pretty awesome. We saw Nathaniel Rateliff support City and Colour in Sydney… Lola Young… Royel Otis, who are another Australian band that are starting to really pop off over here, they’re mates of ours. The Moving Stills are other mates of ours, and they just released a song called “Telephone”