A Dirty Dozen with LUKE DAVIES from OF LIMBO – November 2022

According to a recent press release: “Brothers Jake and Luke Davies were raised in Melbourne, Australia. Growing up on Rock N’ Roll, they developed a passion for the music. With the release of new track & video “Let’s Go,” the band is continuing down the road of no-holds-barred Rock N’ Roll. The Davies brothers loved their native Australia, but were drawn to the U.S. when Luke was accepted to the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Jake relocated to Long Beach, California and started playing in bands on the local scene. After a couple of semesters @ Berklee in 2015, Jake invited Luke to come spend a school break with him in Southern California. Bassist Rob Graveley is a native of Denver, Colorado. After graduating Long Beach State University with a degree in Theater Arts, he cut his teeth in the LA, Orange County and regional California music circuits for 10 years with his high energy band Bearwulf. In the Long Beach music scene Rob encountered Of Limbo, and they shared a penchant for beer and good times. In 2020 he brought his gregarious personality into Of Limbo as a writer, bassist and vocalist, and the current lineup of the band was formed.” We get Luke to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

I’ve always been fascinated by classical music, and especially the role of the conductor. His/her job is essentially to direct time for the orchestra. With a wave of one hand the strings section starts, just as a wave of the other causes the horns to stop. It occurred to me; why not use this in rock music? This was the inspiration for the “STOP/GO” element of the song (which really was the song’s foundation) – to use Jake as the conductor orchestrating the instruments during a live performance to start and stop at his bidding. From there, we wrote the riff and the song took on its own life as just a fun, driving rock song. “Let’s Go” just felt like the perfect sentiment to capture the energy of the riff, and it seamlessly incorporated the conducting element. Everything fell into place. I’m not sure if there are any hidden nuggets per say, but to those who haven’t seen the “Let’s Go” video, watch for the jump scene at the end of the solo. We shot it by puppeteering a toy model version of our car over a miniature green screen we jury-rigged.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

My brother Jake originally got me into music. When I was 10 he put a nylon string guitar in my hands and showed me the intro to “Unforgiven” by Metallica. I’ve been an obsessive guitar player ever since.  It was probably a few years later when I was in a high school jazz band that I started to realize I wanted a life as a musician. The rush of performing is really what sucked me in.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

The answer to that question varies incredibly between everyone in the band. Metallica, Alice in Chains, Faith No More, Guns N’ Roses, Van Halen are at the top. But there are so many more. Probably the best way to answer that question is this collage of our favorite albums we made a few years back for our followers.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Damn, that’s a tough question. I’d love to get the chance to work with Josh Homme or Trent Reznor. I think both have extremely good ears and could apply their musical style to just about anything with success. Justin Hawkins from The Darkness would be another.  We’re actually hoping to do a collaboration with Hyro the Hero for one of our upcoming singles.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

My brother and I are avid basketball fans; we hit the courts pretty often and even play in a rec league down in Seal Beach.  I love having a sip at the bar and playing pool.  We are extremely competitive (and petty) in that regard, enough so that we keep very serious records of the tally in a designated ledger. It requires the losing party to put their signature next to every loss. He’s currently up 29 sets to 24 (each set is best of 3 games) since we’ve been keeping score.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

We are kind of like Alice in Chains… if you took away the heroin and poured a lot more booze in, and then made each show a non-stop, on-the-verge of out of control party. Alice Unchained!  Someone once wrote a review saying we were like Rage Against the Machine – which I thought was pretty laughable and off base.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Ha ha!  I’d say I’m usually the one cooking from the band, although full tour cookouts are few and far between. More often we are lucky enough to have lovely fans like Nikki Probert that’ll cook for us. Jake is definitely the first to hit a bottle, although that’s reasonably well distributed, and Bear (Rob Gravely) hits the acoustic often, both solo and with friends. He’s had some great sing-alongs, most notably one from last tour with the McDaniel family from Arkansas.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Last year we got to tour with Candlebox – meeting Kevin Martin for the first time definitely gave me some minor jitters. At the end of our run with them, he jumped on stage after we played and said “That’s the last dangerous rock and roll band you fuckers will ever see.” Kevin is a Super cool guy that we’re now glad to call our friend.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

Best part being a musician: For us we understand that our job is literally to make people have a good time when they come out. To party with people… And we love partying. If I had to do something else it would still be something in the industry. Producer would be cool. Venue owner perhaps? No matter what, I’d still want music to be the foundation of my occupation. I asked my brother Jake and he says: “I’d probably say if I could do anything it would be write movies – but not actually write the scripts. Just write out the basic premise of what happens in the movie, then have writers and directors do all the hard work. I would then complain about how they didn’t do it right when it comes out!”

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

What question am I tired of answering – “What does your name mean?” I mean, why does a band name have to have a literal meaning? Flea, Chad Smith, Frusciante and Kiedis aren’t actually a group of extremely spicy vegetables. It’s just a way to identify them and their music.  Jake and I were wasted one night after the bars closed and he asked me “how you feeling Lukey?” I told him I was feeling a little left “of limbo”, and that was that – We thought it was cool, so that’s what we called the band. As far as what question do I want an interviewer to ask…I dunno. It’s always cool when people are familiar with our music and can ask about specific lyrics. It’s something that Jake and I spend a lot of time on with every song to ensure every word is adding / fits into the idea. I would love to be able to answer questions about say “Nicotine” or “The Devil You Know”; songs that have abstract imagery that aren’t necessarily clear in meaning off the bat.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

In 2018 we got into a pretty gnarly car crash on tour. The back tire of our van popped and we spun out and rolled off the Oklahoma highway. My brother and our drummer at the time were very seriously injured, thankfully no one died. If I had do that tour all over again, I would have definitely gotten a trailer for our gear. We had everything piled into the back of the van. With the weight of the equipment, our bodies, and a custom bed we made in the back, the old van simply couldn’t handle it. We will never will make that mistake again – we are always rocking a trailer now whenever we tour.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Good question, that’s a tough one. After seeing the documentary, being there for the making of Metallica’s Black album would have been pretty surreal. I think Bob Rock is one of the most genius producers the industry has ever seen, and the pairing of him and Metallica for that record was simply perfection. It took hard rock music to a whole new platform of catchiness and accessibility. A lesser known band / record that I personally wish I would have been a fly on the wall for is Karnivool – Sound Awake.  We grew up in Australia, and as a fellow Australian band, Karnivool have a knack for seamlessly incorporating incredibly complex melodies and tempos into very catchy and easy to understand musical phrases. Not to mention they have some of the best tones I’ve ever heard – they are definitely a band and album worth checking out.

OF LIMBO LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

Category: Interviews