MISFiT | LIME the band. Power suits, Brighton & song writing.
“...there's less of a box that we feel like we have to be in to keep people happy.”
This week, I had the pleasure of catching up with the band LIME. We spoke about finding your feet in the industry, creative processes of working as a band in Brighton, and their bloody brilliant clothing choices on stage.
Enjoy and see you next week,
Images courtesy of Julia Nala. Feature spread courtesy of IQ Magazine.
WHO…
After bagging a spot on BBC Radio 6’s playlist in June and being featured in publications such as IQ Magazine, LIME are disrupting all musical radars in the vicinity. They give off some of the best collective vibes and their bonkers content always gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. Just watch the video for their latest single Surf N Turf and you’ll get my gist.
They also had a productive lockdown, creating a limited edition zine with proceeds going to Compassion in Farming.
WHAT…
Their sound is reminiscent of Beatles 70s psychedelic with added layers of contemporary Billie Eilish soft grunge and chatty vocals that pack a punch even if they don’t make complete sense (but sound great regardless). Like with their track Toad Men; I’m not entirely sure what’s going on but I’m sure I love it. And their gigs always make me feel like I’m living on The Boat That Rocked.
Basically, they’re pretty cool and you should get to know them if you like all things musically funky and fresh, and you enjoy a good dose of laughter when so many musicians sport a too-cool-to-smile front.
So read on and meet the gang. And make sure to go catch a gig of theirs once Miss Rona allows for it, you won’t be sorry.
D: So, I’ve been to a few of your gigs now and I’m always pleasantly surprised by your ability to constantly change it up. Your music is evocative of so many different genres and moods - you clearly don't adhere to just one aesthetic or musical genre. What/who are your main influences, and why do you enjoy keeping your audience on their feet by always changing up your style?
L: We’ve each grown up listening to different music styles so we’ve always just merged our favourite sounds together. Baby Lime was slightly chaotic as there wasn’t much consistency in what we would make. However, now, we’ve figured out what works and what doesn’t, and we’d now say that that process has definitely come to our advantage.
Our influences are changing all the time but some inspirations right now are bands like ‘FEET’, ‘Goat Girl’, ‘Sorry’ and ‘Crack Cloud’.
We never really plan too much about changing our musical style; we all enjoy listening to and playing new sounds, so luckily it usually happens pretty naturally.
D: I have to address your fashion and style - it's one of my favourite parts of coming to watch you guys live. You manage to mix funky patterns with boho alongside boxy masculine blazers and grungey makeup, paired with mini skirts and ankle boots.
Can you each give me a musical style icon of yours?
L: Ooo, thank you!
(Leila) I personally love Mick Jagger's style. He’s too cool and the confidence that he brings to his outfits allow him to wear and pull off anything! (not fair and quite rude really). I love the contrast of stuff like scruffy suits and dressing down stupidly fussy blouses into a casual outfit.
(Annabel) Honestly, I’m a big, big fan of people like Christine & The Queens, Patti Smith, people of that ilk; super androgynous and powerful, that’s the vibe I’m aiming for. Also, David Byrne.
(Tippi) I love the style of The Babe Rainbow, Stonefield and The Beatles (obvious choice). They always look so flamboyant and colourful but also really put together!
(Chloe) I would have to say similar to Annabel’s I love Christine & The Queens and David Byrne; a power suit is all a girl needs to rule the world. Also, Pat Butcher because leopard print and polka dots CAN WORK!
We all just tend to wear what we fancy and that changes often anyway as we all like experimenting with our style. However, every now and then, we’ll do a “let’s all wear blazers to this gig”. We also love a cheeky cowboy theme.
D: When I think of Lime, I definitely think ‘blazers’. And ‘stupidly fussy blouse’ is a phrase I will be reusing, with your permission.
Now, being an all-girl band in a male-dominated industry must have its challenges - tell me about your favourite parts of being an all-female band, and the difficulties you've come across.
L: Brighton’s a lot more progressive so people have been super supportive of us here and it’s really helped us evolve into the band that we are.
We’ve definitely had some interesting gigs, especially at the beginning. People have said all sorts; luckily, a lot of the time it’s stupid and hilarious so we can laugh away the pAiN.
D: I’m glad to hear it. And tell me about your writing process; your lyrics can be weird, wacky & wonderful. Do you throw something down on paper when inspiration hits or is it a much more arduous and collective process?
L: Usually, our process is; one of us will write something by themselves and then send the demo to the group chat. If someone fancies it, they will build on the demo and add their own flavour and so on (like pass the parcel haha). Then when we rehearse it, it often sounds pretty different too and that’s usually the final(ish) version of the song.
D: I’m really intrigued by that, it sounds like everyone’s able to inject their own musical voice into your songs.
And tell me about the upcoming music scene around you in Brighton. How do you come across creatives to collaborate with?
L: In terms of writing, we definitely keep that part to ourselves (we are control freaks).
However, we love working with different photographers and producers, and we usually find them through word of mouth or them being pals of ours. Often, it can just be through Instagram too. We have had lots of people just get in contact with us through that to collab for remixes or photoshoots.
D: So, would you say meeting all those various creatives is your favourite part about being a band in Brighton?
L: People are a lot more accepting in Brighton so it's easier to have artistic (as well as personal) freedom as there's less of a box that we feel like have to be in to keep people happy.
We've noticed that some areas have a competition thing going on between bands and we’re definitely glad that's not the case here as everyone seems to learn from each other and get on well; it's a really great community to be a part of.
D: Yeah, it seems like most creative networking is done on Instagram nowadays! Are you working on anything new right now, or waiting for the COVID chaos to die down?
L: Yeah, whilst we’re missing live shows a lot, we’ve been spending our quarantine writing loads of new tunes and can’t wait for our next show to play them live!
Our next gigs in the diary are all in 2021, but our big shows are Fur at The Prince Albert, Brighton (11th March), Happyness at Scala, London (21st April) + Junodream at Omera, London (22nd April).
We’ve also been in the studio so keep your eyes and ears out for a cheeky release in the upcoming months…
D: Finally, can you give us some recommendations of which young musicians to watch out for right now?
L: We’re loving Biig Piig’s new song “Don’t Turn Around” at the moment, such a great pop tune. We’re also big fans of The Orielles, Drug Store Romeos and Do Nothing.
Follow LIME @thebandlime and check out more of their work here.
LIME RECOMMENDS
Biig Piig “Don’t Turn Around”
The Orielles
Drug Store Romeos
Do Nothing
Pssst… You may have noticed MISFiT is looking a little different this week. I’ve made it more simple by cutting our Watch and Read sections. Please tell me what you think - d’ya prefer it? or did you like the old format? Let me know;