FEATURE: Spotlight: Lime Garden — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Lime Garden

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MARBLES is the recent single…

from the wonderful Lime Garden. I found the band a few months back - I have been helplessly hooked on their music since. I have bit of an affinity for them, as they started their musical life in Guildford, my hometown. Now based in Brighton – which has a more active music scene and more venues -, they are definite ones to watch for 2022. I am not sure whether there is an E.P. coming from the group soon. In terms of gigs, they have a busy year ahead. They have a headline show in London in April, as part of a So Young Magazine showcase. They had a headline show in Brighton (at The Hope & Ruin) recently. One suspects they will have plenty of requests this summer when it comes to venues and stages. Having made a name for themselves in Guildford and Brighton, London is calling for Chloe Howard (vocals/guitar), Leila Deeley (guitar), Tippi Morgan (bass) and Annabel Whittle (drums). I think Lime Garden will be nationwide very soon; a band who can go international and compel audiences around the world. With a sound that is very much theirs, yet there is also a touch of the familiar, they are accessible, extraordinary and refreshing. A tightknit group who clearly have a lot of love for one another!

To give you a better impression of who Lime Garden are, how they have grown and where they are heading, there are interviews where we get some good information and background. The band chatted with The Line of Best Fit last year. The fact they had to change their name (originally LIME), the quartet have exploded fast and found a hungry and dedicated fanbase! Even though lockdown has interrupted their gig plans, it has not been that restrictive in terms of exposure and recognition:

“Name changes can be complicated, even stressful sometimes, but for Brighton based band Lime Garden, it was a sign of success. “It’s the name of another more famous band who still use it and that’s why we had to change it,” explains drummer Annabel Whittle. “We never thought it would be an issue or that we would get big enough to become an issue so we were happy with changing it,” adds guitarist Leila Deeley. Speaking from their Brighton house, the duo join singer, synth and guitar player Chloe Howard as well as bassist Tippi Morgan. The latter was easily enlisted into the band after becoming Whittle and Deeley’s housemate. Now all living in Brighton, Lime Garden are on track to becoming the next genre-bending band.

Forming in 2017, it took two years of jamming and Arctic Monkeys covers for the foursome to hit their stride. “The first couple jamming sessions were…quite bad. We were musically confused. At that point, we all had our own genres,” says Whittle. “We were covering Arabella by Arctic Monkeys - and no shade, great tune - but it didn’t sound good. We all come from quite different musical backgrounds that it took so long to find a sound that really resonated with all of us. For the first two years, it was trial and error and a hodgepodge of everything,” recounts Deeley.

Previously studying music in Guildford, the musical confusion seeped into their gigs in the early days (“We’d play a set with an ‘80s synthpop song then a Cuban sad song and then a rock/heavy track”). The then-named Lime sneaked onto the local scene which gave them the rose tinted glasses of rockstar life long before their now emerging success: “ [Our first gig] was actually really fun because we somehow wrangled our way into [playing with] one of our college friends. They had a more established band at the time and we asked if we could play. They actually let us and it was sold out. We thought ‘that’s it, we’re rockstars. Everyone loves us.’ We literally rehearsed for three months and said ‘I think we’re ready for a gig now.’ I guess we learned on the job and thankfully had our more embarrassing phase in a different city.”

Grimy back rooms in Guildford and London rooms gave the band a real taste of early band life, but after the first two years, things began to fall into place. The experience of gigging combined with experimenting with electronica opened up a common ground of sound between the girls. Then came the first UK Covid-19 lockdown where each Lime Garden member found themselves shut up at home. “Luckily, I think that really helped because we all changed the way that we wrote. We started sending each other different stems and doing it electronically. I think it made it more modern and thought-out because we could spend as much time in our personal dens,” says Deeley. “Rather than jamming something and rushing it and feeling like you have to get it done to gig it,” adds Whittle”.

Riding the final waves of college life, parallels can be drawn between Lime Garden and the iconic new wave scene of the ‘70s but the influences behind the band’s sound are much more varied than that: “Individually we all come from different stuff. Chloe is really into hair metal and pop. Tippi loves psych stuff. I grew up listening to a mix of stuff. I was an emo for a while so I loved my emo music. I like electronic and indie stuff. It’s coming from all these different backgrounds. It adds to the hodgepodge,” explains Whittle. Deeley brings “a lot of indie and ‘70s psych” to the table as well as “the Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, and dad rock bands”.

I am glad Lime Garden are based in Brighton. It is a friendly and bustling area for music! There are fabulous bands new and old from that area. Blood Red Shoes and other groups who are based there still talk about the importance of Brighton and the support of the people. BN1 Magazine interviewed Lime Garden last year, around the time of the release of their third single, Sick n Tired. The band’s sound is a big reason why they are rising and getting a lot of love. It is hard to categorise and label:

“On first listen, it feels impossible to distil Lime Garden’s sound into one distinct category – it is truly their own. Vocalist Chloe Howard’s confident and sardonic spirit meets Annabel Whittle’s thumping and buoyant percussion. The combination of Leila Deely’s jangly, psychedelic guitars meeting Tippi Morgan’s floor-filling bass lines, creates something of a melting disco-groove. Listeners can also be equally struck by the well-layered production of their tracks, sprinkled with subtle ear-worms from electronic synths to jazzy saxophones.

The band’s energetic debut, Surf n Turf, managed to evoke the spirit of both 60’s garage rock and the playful, laidback tones of lo-fi rockers Connan Mockasin and Courtney Barnett. Their follow up, Fever Dream, is reminiscent of 80’s New York – from the sounds of the Talking Heads to Nile Rodgers.

Their music videos are as memorable as their music, embodying their eccentric sounds and playing an important part in the band’s identity. The humour and avant-garde imagery which prevail can be credited to their collaborations with director Jay Barlett. “Our ideas are usually quite out there. It’s hard to translate for other people what’s in our brains, but he just gets us!” Leila explains.

The group are also enriched by Brighton’s thriving independent music scene. The four originally met while studying at Guildford’s Academy of Contemporary Music, but for them, the scene in Surrey was one they quickly outgrew. “With only one main venue, Guilford eventually became pretty dry, so we had to switch things up for the seaside,” Annabel explains. Based in Brighton since 2019, the four enjoy the energy of gigs at The Hope & Ruin, and take inspiration from their equally eclectic peers from the likes of Our Family Dog, Porridge Radio and Penelope Isles.

When lockdown struck in March of last year, it cast a wave of uncertainty for all rising bands across the UK. Yet in true zestful fashion, the Limes saw the opportunity to flip the situation on its head. “Believe it nor not, lockdown did us good,” recalls Annabel. “We wrote some of the best stuff we’ve ever written during lockdown, hands down.” While initially being in different parts of the country, the pandemic allowed each member of the group to write separately and build their tracks bit by bit. “At first, we had to deal with the reality of sending different files back and forth to each other. But that’s also when we noticed it’s a method that works best when it comes to song writing. As weird as it sounds, not forcing ideas when you’re all in the same room with other people seemed to work really well for us. It felt more productive to be able to just do it by ourselves, and each provide our separate input”.

There are a couple of other interviews that I want to include here before I wrap it up. DORK spoke with the band in August. Tipping them for success, they also pick up on their unique sound. This, alongside a clear sense of intent from Lime Garden has resulted in radio play, big support and a bright future. Since the interview was conducted, Lime Garden have got even more confident, loved and accomplished. They are going to enjoy a very busy year!

“By harnessing nonchalant vocal ambiguity and casting it amongst meticulously crafted incisive melodies, Lime Garden are drawing on their respective music consumption in order to create a sonic landscape that is unique to them. “We’ve always been very into keeping things a bit ambiguous and also letting people decide on their own versions of the song because it’s fun to hear,” Chloe elaborates. “It’s fun to think that when people listen to your music that they’re making a scenario in their head because that’s what I do when I listen to songs.” This open, yet ambiguous, approach is unsurprising with the knowledge that one of her earliest musical memories, and one of the reasons that she picked up a guitar, was because of a girl in her school who would always play ‘Yellow Submarine’ by The Beatles – a band who are well known for their eclectic and often undefinable catalogue.

Lime Garden’s effortless foray into the world of music hasn’t gone unnoticed. The release of their latest single ‘Sick & Tired’ saw them sign with So Young Records, and they’ve already picked up a whole host of radio plays, a sold-out headline tour, and a support slot with Katy J Pearson; it’s undeniable that the band have flourished throughout what has been a confusing time for many. With their upcoming single ‘Pulp’ serving a slice of avant-funk and dizzying post-punk, it’s impossible to say what will come next from the band, but it’s safe to say that they’re going to be completely fine. The future’s bright, the future’s… lime?”.

I am finishing off with NME’s interview from back in June. Already picking up a wave of support then, Lime Garden have accrued a flourishing foundation of fans. They seemingly get stronger and more astonishing with every song they release:

“It’s no secret that the past year hasn’t been great for most bands. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown left many struggling to find ways to carry on; live gigs, often their only real source of income, suddenly went off the table completely. Despite a set of circumstances that would lead most to despair, when NME catches up with Brighton’s Lime Garden via Zoom, they’re looking on the bright side.

“I think the biggest plus for us is that we can actually fill a venue now,” beams lead vocalist and guitarist Chloe Howard, referencing a sold-out London show they played late last year. “London shows used to be so terrifying, because you just didn’t know if anyone would come,” adds guitarist Leila. “We’d play these weird backrooms of pubs and like two people would turn up – and one of them would be your dad. Spending ages telling him how packed out your gigs are and the one that he comes to is just him and one other guy.”

A creative boom appeared unlikely a few months back, with venues crowdfunding to stay afloat and bands postponing already delayed tours, but a flurry of announcements in recent weeks provides a glimmer of hope; perhaps Lime Garden’s optimism isn’t misplaced. The band were just as busy during the pandemic as before it, taking the DIY spirit of their early releases and applying it to the online world, engaging fans on social media and building the kind of community usually only seen in more established acts”.

One of the U.K.’s most original and promising young bands, go and follow the sensational Lime Garden. They are playing The Great Escape in Brighton in May. There are some big gigs before then. I wonder whether they will play Guildford’s Boileroom as a sort of homecoming very soon? Having transcended from smaller venues, I think Lime Garden will be an arena act in years to come. They have a stage presence that is extraordinary. With some immense and hugely memorable songs under their belt, keep your eyes out for future announcements regarding E.P.s and touring. Lime Garden’s brilliant and bounteous roots, fruits and shoots are…