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Hi, Everything's Great, and you're listening to Wastoids with Limbeck.
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Led by Patrick Carey and Rob McLean, Limbeck has been mixing Orange County Skater vibes with rustic, country-tinged indie rock since 1999.
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2003's Hi, Everything's Great earned them a cult of devoted fans.
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And while they have operated in a somewhat limited capacity over the years since, the band has recently been back at it, hitting the road, which is where Mike Berenz caught up with them for this Waste Oids chat.
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Patrick and Rob decamped to their minivan to record this talk, outside of the Majestic Theater in Madison, Wisconsin, to discuss the group's origin story, the inspiration behind their sound, and tease a brand new album in the works.
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We even got an album title out of them.
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All that and more this week on Waste Oids with Limback.
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Let's head into the conversation.
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Okay, here we are.
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Um Limbeck, Patrick Carey, Rob McLean.
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I appreciate you guys taking some time today and letting me hang out inside of your touring minivan for this interview.
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Um I have been um listening to you guys for like 18 years.
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That's amazing.
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Which is yeah, which is less time than you've been a band.
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Um you've been a band for longer than that.
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And I uh I think I mentioned earlier I've had Julia stuck in my head for for probably 17, 18 years.
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You're welcome, though.
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Yeah, it's one of those ones that it's one of those ones that's it's hard to get out once it's up there.
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Um but I kind of want to I want to start at the beginning and know how Limbeck came together, how it like your origin story a little bit.
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We can't answer that.
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You're the wrong members.
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Uh literally though, Mike, we we are both under uh not original.
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Should we should we swap real quick with Justin?
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This sounds like this sounds like a joke, but uh both Rob and I were not in the original lineup of Limbeck.
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And uh Rob joined first.
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I do it, yeah.
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Okay, so Justin's the only original member.
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Um but when the band started, uh it was Justin, Matt, our original drummer, and a guy named Cy.
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And they were friends with Willie Ames's son in high school.
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Who plays Buddy Limbeck on or played Buddy Limbeck on the show Charles in Charge.
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Yeah, he was like the comic relief to Scott Bao.
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Yeah.
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Charles in Charge.
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And uh because they had that friendship with that kid, they named their band Limbeck after Buddy Limbeck.
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But we changed I don't think they they knew how they were gonna spell it until I joined the band.
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Because I remember being in a conversation about I think it was when we were getting our first stickers made, which is when you become a band.
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Okay.
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It's official.
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First stickers and one-inch pins.
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Yeah, so we were doing that, and uh, and that's when when someone was like, Well, how do we spell it?
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How do we spell our band name?
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And we're like, do we do it like like Buddy Limbeck?
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Like proper, like L.
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Load full transcript
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M.
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And we smartly changed it because it ended up being a really Googleable band name in the end.
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And that's what world, that's what you want.
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That's why we achieved such great success as a band.
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So uh you usurped the original men verse and were able to take over the band.
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Yes, yes, we did fully push them out a whole takeover.
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Was it a hostile takeover, or was it just kind of like, oh, things are going on, we're gonna move this in a different direction?
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Yeah, it was not us.
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It was not us.
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Okay, it didn't have anything to do with us.
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What, the takeover?
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We were just the only ones left.
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You mean as as where we are now?
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Yeah.
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Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah.
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No, I'm just saying it wasn't a hostile takeover.
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Oh, for sure.
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Right.
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We're pretty friendly.
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Rob joined, and then Rob and I were playing uh together in high school, like just a uh fun high school band that let us get out of class.
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Yeah.
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Um and we uh Rob That's how I like knew that's how I knew Patrick had some chops.
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Yeah, and we we like did harmonies and played guitar with each other in the last band, so he's like, Oh, I'll add it'd be fun if Patrick was in this band.
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Yeah.
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So then I joined Limbeck.
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Oh, because because the original the original songwriter left, and that left me as the new songwriter, and we were looking to fill the fourth, because I was the fourth spot when I joined, and then we still wanted to have four people, so yeah, when well there was another guy named Tom that was in the band for a while, and then and then and that we had none none and nothing to do with any of this, but then uh when he left or was kicked out or whatever happened, um, which we didn't do, is when we needed to fill the fourth spot and we got.
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I'm so glad we met when we were kids.
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And I'm so glad you never moved away.
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You can always stay.
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Never be away.
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You guys have very in a non-hostile way taken over the band Limbeck, and now you're forming new members around it, um, around you two, Patrick and Rob.
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Um, I'm curious, knowing your peers um and the different bands that you've toured with
and different bands that you've played with, I'm wondering how what I view as a pretty distinctive limbec sound originated.
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Like, how much of a decision was that that we're not going to go in a in kind of the the punkier, like emo-y realm that it seems like a lot of your friends' bands were playing in, and instead roll up with some very like almost for lack of a better word off the top of my head, like some indie American twang to a certain degree.
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Like, how much of a decision was that?
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Like, let's let's do this, let's pivot to this when everyone else is doing that.
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First, I have to disclaim that we are totally there in both of those places.
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Our first demo tape sounded like Green Day, and our second demo tape sounded like we didn't release it because of how it sounded, I think.
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No, maybe maybe we didn't think we might have recorded it with high-speed dubbing, but I don't think we officially right in that pocket of emo.
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Emo, but not very good.
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Yeah, really terrible.
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And then our first record was was still sort of emo pop punk emo-ish.
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Yeah.
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And um, but then uh I I always say that it's because I lost my CD book and I started buying records from the thrift store, which is true.
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I don't know if that's really the reason that the sound changed.
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I feel like the thing that really happened was um I wrote the song Brand New Orange, and I was like, this sounds like country music to me.
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Should I be embarrassed about this?
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Yeah, and I sort of uh decided to try not being embarrassed about it, and I showed it to everybody else, and they were okay with it.
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So we sort of tested the water.
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That's how I sort of remember it.
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Well, I and then we and then we did that little EP that was the uh with Ray, our friend Rachel, who ended up singing on a bunch of our records.
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Uh Rob and her split a little EP that wasn't under Limbeck, it was just like Robb.
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She's me and Rachel and Rachel and then Patrick was on it.
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Yeah, and I played guitar on it, and it sounded much more focused on the other.
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That was like Ohio and Brand New Orange, yeah, and something else.
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Kind of the where those songs came out, and then I guess we were like, well, shit, let's make these Limbeck songs, and start there started that direction for us, you know.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And I would say, I would say also just as another little point in there in the shift was uh going out to Lawrence or Eudora, Kansas.
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Yeah.
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We we made that that like weird middle space gray area record with Ed Rose um at what was then Red House uh studio.
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Learned about a lot of cool music during that record.
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Yeah.
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I wished that we were making stuff like that.
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Yeah, like midwest, kind of more Midwestern kind of guitar Americana stuff.
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And he and I think he just kind of put that in our ear.
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And then next thing you know, I think maybe it was a year or so later that we came back to do demos to kind of like, I mean, that you know, it was a different time of music, but we were making demos to try to get a record deal.
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Yeah.
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Uh so we went out there and did an EP with him.
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We still hadn't really changed our sound though.
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Those demos were still.
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But it but it was we were on the way, yeah.
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We're on the we're on the way, and and we made a little five-song uh demo EP, and and and uh got a max copy of Maxim Rock'n'Roll and a copy of um I don't know what like more indie zine we would have had.
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When?
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Like we know we were we were sending we were sending CDs to record labels.
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That's how you did that's how you did our.
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We sent them all over the place.
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Jade.
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We even sent one to Victory.
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Yeah, we didn't have the wrong label to send it to.
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Totally.
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And we got a we got a lot of uh got a lot of non-answers, and we got some uh some turned down letters and then doghouse records, uh really because we we we put kind of a thing with our band through the whole through our history and our current days, just kind of attention to detail, making sure that our our our aesthetic decisions like you know hit and make sense.
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Yeah, we we did a little screen print uh packaging and made this cool package because that's how you got music out in that day, you know.
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So uh to have our thing kind of pop amongst the noise um visually and odd audi odd oddly secondary auditorily where's the word um sonically, sonically, sonically, yep.
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So uh my bad.
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Um so yeah, uh they they were like, oh, this is this sounds interesting uh for where they were at, and they had a kind of a history of you know, Chamberlain.
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I think Chamberlain was maybe on the record label before us putting out records, and they had some some projects that were kind of more in that space, I don't know, and saw something in us.
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So then they came out and um we I'd say though, I think that High Everything's Great was a surprise to them.
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Like because the the demos that we shopped to them had a much different I mean we were starting starting maybe but this whole process was slow, and also High Everything's Great is not a country record at all.
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I'm not saying that's a good thing.
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I'm not saying it is I think maybe they just uh saw something, you know, a weird, somewhat unique take on it, take on, you know, indie slash yeah, totally, yeah.
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Yeah, it's like um here I'm about to tell you guys what what I think that record is, but I mean it's sound it's because you're right, it's not country, but there's there was like for at that point in time a very almost like refreshingly country sound to it to when um when I first heard the record, it was played for me, I believe it was mutual friend Huxh who played it for me.
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Um and I just assumed that this was a band from Lawrence, Kansas, from that scene that was happening there, or a band from Iowa or Nebraska, and I was blown away that um it was probably my space at that point or something, where it was just like these guys are from Southern California.
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I did not see that coming.
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Um so that that was very fascinating to me.
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Um pivoting to um the fact that you guys have been a band for so long.
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Um who twenty twenty years as a band, nineteen years as a band, um is a very long time to be a band, but it's it's an even longer time to be a human being in a sense, you know, and thinking of all of the different life things that happen in 20 years of existing on this planet, who were you guys then um at that point in time?
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It was probably your early 20s?
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Like what what person were you then?
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I think about that a lot and um and I feel like I was I'm not that's not me.
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Like I'm so different in many ways.
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I'm probably mostly the same, but but I just really like also I don't want to go back there.
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Like I I feel like I just don't even know if I'd recognize myself.
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Yeah if if we could meet up.
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Yeah, I I can't help but but just feeling like a like jaded but not I don't know like you're jaded now.
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Yeah, like I'm jaded.
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I was so much more
um wild-eyed and like thinking things the thinking things were a possibility.
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True.
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And yeah, like also, but the on the on the f I mean the same token I guess, but um if my answer sounded pessimistic, the other thing, the flip side of that is that at at that age, you didn't you hadn't tried enough stuff to know not to try them.
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Right.
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And uh uh and and that was like a real that that being naive is such a beautiful thing.
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Yeah.
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Like some like like I like to record music and some of the first recordings I ever did when I didn't know anything were way better than everything I did for the next 10 years until I finally got sort of a clue.
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Yeah.
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I guess that's where I I like now I'm jealous of that naive naivety that I had.
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I was gonna try to say that word, but I was like, I I can't get that out of my mouth right now for some reason.
00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:02.000
Yeah, totally.
00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:04.000
Yeah, I think that was charming.
00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:11.759
Uh and probably a good thing for us being uh young dudes playing music and traveling around.
00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:28.240
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00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:06.079
Yeah, there's a like a level of earnestness to it, like blind earnestness, where it's like, hell yeah, we're gonna shop all these labels and we're gonna send a demo to Sub Pop.
00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:07.759
Of course, Sub Pop's gonna love our shit.
00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:08.240
Right.
00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:21.920
Um But like it's I think it's kind of that that sort of like young, wild-eyed, um I don't know, the way that we operate when we're younger that allows bands to kind of thrive in that moment.
00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:45.839
I mean, obviously lots of bands don't get record deals and make fantastic records, but there's a drive there when you're younger that like you said, or I forget one which one of you said it, but um, but you get older, you get a little bit a little less jaded, a little bit less of a chip on your shoulder, and um and maybe
wouldn't go so headfirst into like full-time music.
00:17:46.160 --> 00:18:04.880
Yeah, I I I sort of feel it coming full circle though, because I I spent 10 years, I think, about or maybe a little bit more learning what I don't want to do because I was embarrassed by something that is said in the lyrics, or or like I just didn't like a song or the way that I that we recorded it or whatever.
00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:11.200
And so it kind of like kept knocking me down until there was a point where I felt like I couldn't write any songs because I didn't want to put anything out there.
00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:11.599
Yeah.
00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:19.039
But then the more time has gone by and the older I get, like you just the reason old people are so grouchy is because they don't care what anyone thinks about them.
00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:21.839
And so I'm sort of getting I'm not gonna be one of those people.
00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:33.680
I'm gonna try really hard not to, but I well no, I think that's a good point, is that it it and then now you get to where we are now, where actually I feel like we've done more in the last couple years than we have in a decade, maybe.
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I feel like the floodgates have opened now because I there's nothing on the line, and there's there's no reason for me to like be embarrassed about anything anymore.
00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:44.079
Almost, almost no reason.
00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:50.480
But then, and then also I feel like the appreciation of all like the young work that we did, yeah.
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We can't just drop that.
00:18:53.839 --> 00:19:00.559
Like now we have this excuse to travel and still do that in some form, albeit a different form than it was.
00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:04.400
Yeah, but it's it's it's beautiful, yeah, it's really cool.
00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:23.920
Yeah, it allowed you to come full circle because I was gonna ask if um Rob, you're talking about I'd if you ever got to meet who you were then, and does that lead to any I guess um we're not always proud of the songs we write when we're in our early 20s.
00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:28.400
Um so how do you contend with still singing those songs today?
00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:38.880
I like it a lot more because I I feel like what I'm sort of realizing like with the the more time between writing those songs is like at the time I wrote them I loved them.
00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:39.200
Yeah.
00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:44.000
Which is the it's nice that you record the record with the songs right away because you love them when you make the record.
00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:48.000
Then you play them for a while, you actually get better at playing them, and that's when you should have made the record.
00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:48.240
Yeah.
00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:59.759
But then you start to get bored of them, or you've had more it depends on who you play with, but sometimes we played with so many different types of bands that some nights I would love our songs and some nights I'd hate them.
00:19:59.839 --> 00:19:59.920
Right.
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:00.160
Yeah.
00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:05.519
Because I'd be like just sort of not wanting to be an oddball on the bill.
00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:05.920
Yeah.
00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:07.039
Like, why didn't we do it like that?
00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:13.839
Yeah, so I would have there's phases of our band where I did not like the music we were doing so much.
00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:18.400
But now that I look back and I'm like, I want to be that band again sometimes.
00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:21.359
Like the ha the earlier uh Limbeck.
00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:25.920
But like I I wanna it just it's just it it changes every day for me.
00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:31.839
Yeah, but so now in hindsight I'm I'm learning to appreciate the songs that I used to sort of like dread playing.
00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:34.079
Yeah, that's awesome.
00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:35.599
Full circle.
00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:36.559
Full circle.
00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:41.359
You got through that dark period of just hating the music that you wrote at one point.
00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:47.680
It's not hatred, it's just like you know, like like everyone would always want to hear Ohio, and I'd be like, Do we have to play that song?
00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:49.359
I just don't like the way we're doing it right now.
00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:50.079
Oh yeah, yeah.
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:56.319
And and so we try not to put it on the list, and then there was a time where everyone always did an encore, even for the bands that weren't headlining.
00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:57.200
Yeah, oh that's fine.
00:20:57.279 --> 00:21:03.279
And it was like, oh my god, we just have to put these songs on because we don't want an encore because we don't deserve it.
00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:05.359
We're playing second or whatever.
00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:13.279
But um, but yeah, so now I'm but now I'm like I'm like, I don't care, like why wouldn't I make someone who wants to hear that song happy?
00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:22.240
Like that's that's that's bet I mean that's if whatever they connected to is meaningful you can have it.
00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:24.319
Yeah, and I'm and I'll give it to you gladly.
00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:33.279
And I guess I was I was starting to feel like maybe instead of me being sort of like bored or or embarrassed about playing the song, I could I could just be happy that someone else is happy.
00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:33.599
Yeah.
00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:34.480
If that makes sense.
00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:39.680
But that in turn makes me like the song again, and now I'm like, that's actually a pretty good song.
00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:41.759
Does it take you?
00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:45.759
That song doesn't feel like it you were making up a scenario.
00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:47.920
I'm bad at making up scenarios.
00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:53.200
I've tried to like use current events and stuff to
make music, and I just suck at it.
00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:58.400
I've tried to sometimes I've tried to dip my toe into like being political, and I just can't do it.
00:21:58.559 --> 00:21:59.759
All I can do is tell you something that.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.119
It just happened.
00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:03.039
Where you're driving?
00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:05.039
Jeremiah Jeremiah went to work.
00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:13.759
Has Limbeck ever stopped being a band?
00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:26.079
I know that there have been times where you weren't active or or weren't, you know, there was a little gap between releases or something, but was there a time where like we are not a band anymore?
00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:30.000
We have no I'd say we haven't even gone on a hiatus.
00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:33.519
We just sort of like that was that was purposeful too.
00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:34.880
Well we went accidentally.
00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:39.359
We did go on a hiatus, you might say, but we didn't ever say Bye for a while, guys.
00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:40.319
We're going on a hiatus.
00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:50.480
Yeah, I we don't need we don't need any hoopla, like no, this is our last like we just thought that was a cheese cheese ball move to be like this is our last tour.
00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:58.480
Right, you know, boo hoo, like come and see us, and it's just like, no, like we kind of slowed down to a crawl, I think.
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:28.240
That's we we there was a couple tours, and then maybe one that was a little shorter, and then we did a little week-long thing, and yeah, and then it was just like things would pop up as as our lives changed and we got jobs, and you know, there's a while where to real life, but there was a while where I felt like I thought we should have like we should have called something our last show and and sort of like given people a chance to to see us before we stopped playing.
00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:34.480
Um but in in the long run it worked out better because now we could play all the time without calling it a reunion show.
00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:34.880
Yeah.
00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:36.720
That's probably better.
00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:38.480
That makes me feel better about myself.
00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:47.359
I think like I think maybe that might be a different choice for other bands, but I think it's the right choice for just our approach.
00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:50.799
Just because it's just it's it's just like we're no drama band.
00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:52.720
We're no drama, yeah.
00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:55.440
Leave the drama at home, man.
00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:07.440
Um, you mentioned you mentioned getting jobs, which was something that I wanted to talk about because when Limbeck around Hi, Everything's Great, and which is that's gotta be one of the best titles for a record.
00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:08.559
Just I love it.
00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:12.079
Um, but then um the following record was uh Let Me Come Home.
00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:15.839
So were you you were full-time band at that point, full-time music.
00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:18.400
I think it was yeah, full-time gig.
00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:22.000
Because you guys, yeah, I remember you guys just touring constantly.
00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:30.240
Um but then things slowed because you do have jobs, but like Patrick, you mentioned your work at Volcom um as a creative director.
00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:30.960
Art director.
00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:35.359
Art director, and then uh Rob, what occupies your time?
00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:37.039
I'm a software developer now.
00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:37.839
Is that true?
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:38.720
Yeah, wow.
00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:42.400
I got there via uh being a clerk at the record store, which is really cool.
00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:53.279
Because I I started working at the record store, and then they asked I I knew I knew a little bit about computers, and they asked me to figure out something with the the point of sale system, which is like a database.
00:24:53.440 --> 00:25:06.079
And so I started and I was like, you mean instead of filing records and standing behind the counter and answering questions about bands that I have to pretend I know about, you mean I can go sit in the closet and like dork around on the computer?
00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:07.599
Yeah, and so that's what I did.
00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:20.000
I sat in the storage closet with like products falling on me as I worked and learned how to do the database, and then I was able to like take that education and turn it into a nice like talking point on an interview for a for a software job.
00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:21.599
That's amazing.
00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:36.640
Um the reason why I ask is because your songs on your first two records and even the third, because you know, um, because you guys write how you do, you're in so many different locations.
00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:38.559
It sounds like a band on the road.
00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:45.759
You're in Arizona, you're in you're waking up in downtown Minneapolis, you're over the Colorado River, you're in Ohio on some steps.
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:52.799
How does now having full-time jobs, software developer or an in-house art director?
00:25:53.039 --> 00:26:05.599
Um, how does that influence your songwriting when you're not on the move all the time, knowing that Limbeck songs are very, you know, all all around the world where like a or not the world but all around the country, you're on the move.
00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:07.839
For a while it made me just not want to write any songs.
00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:10.559
I'm like, I don't actually want to tell people what just happened right now.
00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:11.519
Yeah, yeah.
00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:12.799
So not very exciting.
00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:20.720
So do you feel so then is there this pressure to go into a previous headspace when you were kind of more itinerant?
00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:23.599
I've done that occasionally, but that's not really where I go.
00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:26.799
I feel like I've started using more metaphors.
00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:31.039
Um and I for a while I would just talk about my cat.
00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:36.079
I wrote a lot of songs about my cat when I was getting back in like past my writer's block.
00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:42.240
And then um Patrick bought me uh how to write one song, the book by Jeff Tweedy.
00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:46.240
And he talks a lot about free writing, and I was like, brilliant.
00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:48.880
So I just I I started free writing.
00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:59.839
If I had a song that was starting but wasn't really going anywhere, I would just take whatever like ring or verse that I had and I would write that down and then I would just keep going, and it would it would bring me somewhere else.
00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:09.359
And then I was just sort of like I I don't I don't know if what I what what I it it uh you never know where it's gonna go and you pick some really good stuff out of that free writing.
00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:15.680
How often how often are you involved in the the music part of it?
00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:19.920
Um or not the music part of it, but you know, you're you're sitting down, you're writing, you obviously have a guitar.
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:25.599
Do you ever roll up with a song or a a situation that you want to have him then put lyrics over?
00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:26.799
Not usually.
00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:32.400
It's more like Rob will have some structures or some loose ideas.
00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:38.160
Either uh either a s pretty close to final idea idea or some parts of an idea.
00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:42.799
We do talk about ideas sometimes before or anything.
00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:46.240
One one time you actually we haven't done this song yet, but it's really good.
00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:52.480
Patrick sent me an idea of a guitar riff that was really awesome, and I came up with some stuff on it that we like.
00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:59.759
But I'd say the where Patrick comes in is like like I can't I I'm not gonna do something by myself.
00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:00.079
Right.
00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:03.599
Like I I just feel like I'm not I don't know.
00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:07.920
It's I I I I don't want to be a a one-man show.
00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:17.440
And I feel like Patrick is the one that like makes sort of like an okay melody turn into a really interesting song.
00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:18.079
Okay.
00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:28.079
How is the current music landscape uh different now from when you guys were starting out as Limbag?
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:29.279
Oh, it's fucked, Mike.
00:28:29.440 --> 00:29:12.240
I no, I well I I it's I fe I feel fortunate that we had the path that we did because our path going from sending out CDs to record labels, which is not a thing anymore, yeah, uh, to to selling CDs and cassette demo cassette samplers into uh you know vinyl starting to be a thing for us, and then and then it went uh to Napster Land, where that was I think it was it was I was on the fence about being very frustrated with it at times because we play shows and not sell any records, and that that was really hard.
00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:12.720
Yeah.
00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:24.880
But also like in a kind of flip that to being like uh you know, fuck Lars Ulrich, and like that's how people hear about stuff is passing it on.
00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:35.039
Maybe this is a blessing for us to have music travel a little bit more freely because obviously this was pre-streaming, so having our music out there, maybe this will get us more fans.
00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:35.279
Right.
00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:38.079
So I I feel like I flip-flopped in my head all the time.
00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:44.640
I constantly start conversations like a question like you just ask, and be like, man, it just like totally devalues music.
00:29:44.720 --> 00:30:03.200
And it's like like sometimes I feel like music isn't that big of a deal because like we're writing it, but then I think about all the times where I'm like incredibly bummed out, and the only thing that can like get me back to where I need to be is like a record that I really like, and I'm like, actually, music suit is super valuable, even though it's free to everybody now.
00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:09.759
So I start getting in that headspace and like so annoyed that somebody is collecting money on this and it's not the bands, yeah.
00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:15.119
But then I'm like, but that's only really bothering really large bands.
00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:21.440
Like for the rest of us, it's probably way better to get faster exposure and get people to come see you play and buy a shirt.
00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:21.759
Right.
00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:24.319
Because you actually get that money, yeah, yeah, for sure.
00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:35.759
And also, you it seems like your following is so loyal that there's not enough vinyl copies of High Everything's Great out there to satisfy your fan base.
00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:43.359
Yeah, like like I I just looked an hour and a half ago just to see, and like they're on eBay for$99.
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:44.160
Yeah.
00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:47.279
Um, which is wild,$70 on like discolor.
00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:48.319
That's pretty cool, totally.
00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:50.079
Um what was the username?
00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:54.880
John John underscore G Magic is rad at eBay.
00:30:55.279 --> 00:31:06.480
But I think the the other the other I to you know further that I think I've been more excited, and Rob and I have talked about a lot of these ideas about how how we move forward in in the future on music.
00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:14.880
And we we have this this thing that we did for our like somewhat ongoing side project that we call the Young Dudes.
00:31:14.960 --> 00:31:16.079
Uh oh yeah, I remember that.
00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:17.519
It's kind of whatever.
00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:19.359
I I don't know, uh whatever.
00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:43.039
But we did this thing where big guys bad man we did uh uh screen prints of like a LP cut, like a 12 inch by 12 inch uh art piece, yeah, and had that be kind of like the the the physical the physical existence of the song or the yeah of this EP that we did, and then you know you get the download code when you buy the art.
00:31:43.200 --> 00:32:04.880
Yeah, so I I feel like that's exciting where we could go just because where my head's at, like in like uh being aware of certain artists and stuff, and I think like having Jesse Ledou do our last record cover and stuff, like what could we do with art that gives a physical uh existence to music in a different way, right?
00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:16.240
That Spotify can still exist and be its own thing, but then you know, owning I guess I guess that means I mean, because we can't always press vinyl, like it would be awesome to press vinyl all the time.
00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:19.200
Well, and also like not everybody wants the vinyl.
00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:21.119
I mean, a lot of people do well.
00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:27.759
It would be fun I mean it'd be fun to do uh short pressing, but that's always that's expensive and it's it's time consuming and blah blah blah.
00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:40.799
So I think like I think there's an excitement for me and you you too, like on what we can do to make make releasing music exciting and a little different than yeah than just throwing stuff on Spotify and saying, Oh, it's here, here's our single, you know.
00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:41.680
Yep, yeah.
00:32:41.759 --> 00:33:09.119
And to that point, um you had mentioned that you've you've been more active now, like in the last little bit than you have in the last 10 years, which brings me to kind of a a a wrap-up question of um what is next for Limbeck, as it sounds like you're kind of brainstorming on how to how to how to cleverly get people to continue to pay for your music so that it can benefit you guys.
00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:10.960
We're just saying how should we have done it?
00:33:11.359 --> 00:33:11.920
Oh, right.
00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:13.599
But that tonight is our last show.
00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:14.799
Okay, oh, okay.
00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:15.759
I'm just kidding.
00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:16.400
I'm just kidding.
00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:25.920
No, what I because you at the beginning of the year you teased you teased some new music and new dates, and that's why you're here in Madison, Wisconsin, um, inside of this minivan.
00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:29.119
So what's what is what's on the horizon in the next week?
00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:37.119
We're working on a record, um, but slowly, slowly, but I want to say surely, but we're actually not really working on it.
00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:40.559
But we did start, we did start, and we just need to get going again.
00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:47.279
Um, I had sort of like some stuff come up that is that stopped me from working on it, so it's kind of falls in my court right now.
00:33:47.359 --> 00:33:48.559
We record a lot of drums for it.
00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:49.279
Yeah, too much.
00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:50.880
I think we'll work on a record.
00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:59.519
No, I mean I think I think it's tricky to figure out the dynamic because like half of you wants to do what we used to do and go to a studio and be able to spend a couple days.
00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:16.559
Yeah, I think there's like the reality of time being not so plentiful, so the ability to that we have to do stuff at our own houses and on the fly, uh that that may not be the most uh the best sonically or you know, whatever.
00:34:18.239 --> 00:34:22.400
But but maybe that's how we have to get there, and I I feel like we're still figuring that out.
00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:23.760
Like, yeah.
00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:29.920
Yeah, right now we're calling what we're doing, we're not calling them anything because they might be demos or we might be working on the record.
00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:32.719
It's the stuff is I thought you were gonna drop the album name.
00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:33.599
Do we have one?
00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:34.480
Oh yeah, yeah.
00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:35.199
Should we drop it?
00:34:35.360 --> 00:34:36.000
Yeah, we should.
00:34:36.159 --> 00:34:38.320
Okay, it's called the old stuff.
00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:43.360
It's because everyone always says, like, oh, do you like Limbeck?
00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:45.440
And everyone's like, Oh yeah, I like the old stuff.
00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:53.119
I don't know if people do that as much as they used to, but in a while ago, I just remember that's always the answer you'd get because the new stuff was never cool.
00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:54.559
It wasn't cool to like the new stuff.
00:34:54.800 --> 00:34:58.079
It was cool to be the one that listened to it when the old stuff came in.
00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:02.000
And then the the album after the old stuff is called the first record.
00:35:04.639 --> 00:35:17.760
I want everybody who is listening to this to know that um that Limbex manager John Cheese is sitting next to us in this van and was shocked that Rob just told the title of the newcomer record.
00:35:18.079 --> 00:35:19.519
That's been that's been in the work.
00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:22.239
I mean, we've we've been holding on to that title for a while now.
00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:29.840
The format told us the name of their record before it came out, and then we we named a song the dog problems.
00:35:29.920 --> 00:35:34.480
We say we named a song Bird Problems, and we tried to get that out before the record did.
00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:35.599
It's a power play.
00:35:35.679 --> 00:35:39.199
But it but our our producer shelved it on Let Me Come Home.
00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:43.360
So it didn't come out until the the third record.
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:44.159
That's amazing.
00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:45.440
Third fourth.
00:35:46.239 --> 00:35:47.360
Um awesome.
00:35:47.519 --> 00:35:49.920
Well, uh, I appreciate you guys taking the time.
00:35:50.400 --> 00:35:50.880
This was fun.
00:35:51.039 --> 00:35:52.239
I know that this was very fun.
00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:56.719
I think it's more fun than if we were in that bar inside of the kids.
00:35:57.119 --> 00:35:58.400
Getting yelled at yelled at.
00:35:59.039 --> 00:35:59.440
Yeah, yeah.
00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:00.239
Um awesome.
00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:01.199
Thanks for thanks for doing this.
00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:02.000
Yeah, thanks, Mike.
00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:03.119
All right, cool.
00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:06.000
Leaving ow.
00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:11.119
And it's so nice.
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:12.000
Ow.
00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:20.320
I think that I could blind myself.
00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:23.760
Watching the sun go down.
00:36:26.559 --> 00:36:28.320
Thanks for listening to Waste Oids with.
00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:29.519
I'm Jason Woodbury.
00:36:29.599 --> 00:36:30.480
I produce the show.
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:40.239
This week's episode features original music by Sam Means and selections from the High Everything's Great B-Sides collection, which you can get from Limbeck over on Bandcamp.
00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:43.599
We want to thank Mike for hosting this talk.
00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:46.880
Find him online at MikeBorenz.com.
00:36:47.119 --> 00:36:55.920
That's M-I-K-E, B-E-H-R-E-N-D-S.com, and you can follow him online at BanjoTe.
00:36:57.360 --> 00:37:07.760
We've got lots for you to check out over at wasteoids.com, including a great pop punk themed episode of our show Click Vortex, an incredible live set from Texas Shugay's band Blushing.
00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:13.599
Head over, and if you like what you see, be sure to follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:17.280
Want to share your favorite Limbeck song or anything else?
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All you have to do is call us to get in touch.
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One-eight seven seven Waste Oids.
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Give us a ring, and we will play your message on an upcoming show.
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All right, take it easy until next week.
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Thanks for tuning in to Waste Oids.