When
I arrived at the venue Last Exit Live, the opening band, Scorpion vs.
Tarantula, was breaking down. I floated around checking out the new
layout of what used to be The Ruby Room a few years back. Afterwards, I
headed outside to greet the cats from The Limit Club. Eventually,
Tucson’s The Mission Creeps went on. I checked them out a little between
talking with The Limit Club about their upcoming tour and recent stint
about the Southwest. They were rockin’. Next, The Limit Club performed a
marvelous set, especially considering the decent sound quality and
impressive lighting show. Nick Feratu did his usual kick-ass guitar
shredding alongside the boomtastic skills of Juan Carlos on drums. The
crowd could even feel NickDave on upright bass walk us through the set
and, as always, Monty O was tearin’ it up on rhythm guitar and sax. Finally, The
Haymarket Squares rained down their tuneful assault of punkgrass on the
crowd with a special appearance by NickDave, relieving Marc Oxborrow on
upright bass for a Pink Floyd cover. Eventually, they unplugged and
joined the crowd with a special guest on washboard to get the crowd
shakin’. Below, I had the fortunate ability of hitting up The Limit Club
with some questions:
I just realized that you cats have gone through almost as many members as years of existence. How has that impacted The Limit Club early on as you were developing?
Each
time a new member has joined the Limit Club, our sound has improved.
And currently, we have the most solid line-up we’ve ever had. For
example, Juan’s been in the band longer than George ever was and
NickDave has written more songs than Joel ever did.
Y’all play a rather intriguing conglomeration of musical styles. What or who have influenced you the most?
Our
influences are ever changing. It really depends on what we’re listening
to at the time. The writing process is only the beginning. Our songs
change quite a bit from the time they’re written to the time they are
recorded. One member could write a song inspired by Dion and the
Belmonts, and then another could put a Mano Negro twist on it, and it
turns out better than any of us intended or expected.
If y’all could take your pick of any musicians to jam with, dead or alive, who would they be?
We would love to jam with Gogol Bordello or Wesley Willis.
What’s your favorite band that you’ve played with?
We’ve
played with so many great bands. As far as bands that we admire and
grew up on, The Adicts, The Quakes, Nekromantix, Frenzy and Mad Sin.
Bands that we love dearly and are like brothers to us would be Furious,
Reckless Ones, The Henchmen, and the Koffin Kats.
If I gave you a time machine, who would you go terrorize?
How
much time you got, buddy? There’s Andrew Jackson, who was a jerk. It
would be nice to terrorize Colonel Parker before he ruined Elvis
Presley. And we would simply have to terrorize Malcolm McLaren. He
deserves it.
You
guys have been releasing your own material since you started. Has that
been an overly-exhausting process or something that you’ve gotten used
to and now find easy?
It’s
not easy, but it is fun, and very fulfilling. First, writing the songs,
then recording them, designing the album art, and opening a box of a
thousand new CD’s with your band’s logo on it. It’s a confirmation that
all your hard work means something, and you did what you wanted, with no
one else telling you what to do.
I
was rockin’ out on Youtube and discovered that a couple years ago, The
Limit Club made a Blank TV video for “Shake”. Were you shocked to do a
video through them?
We recorded that video independently, and Blank TV incorporated it into their collection. We don’t mind at all, it’s cool.
The
quality of the video is really nice but your new video (Condemned
Vessel) stands out to me musically. I know that y’all are hella proud of
it. Was that a pretty complicated process?
It
was somewhat of a complicated process. Brainstorming ideas was the most
complicated part, but once we came up with shooting locations, and a
central theme, it became easy for us. The director/videographers, Jeff
Neimoeller and Ryan Hale played the most pertinent role after that. They
have a great eye for cinematography and that made the video for us.
After touring and playing 23 states, what’s been your favorite place to play (don’t say PHX; that’s cheating)?
There
have been so many memorable towns that we’ve played in. We love playing
Pomona with our friends, Switchblade 77, Denver, Austin, and Chicago,
to name a few. Although, really, it just depends on the show. For
instance, being on the road with Furious, ever night is a night to
remember, whether it be in Lompoc, CA, for ten people, or L.A. to 300
ravenous psychos.
So,
after being around for almost a decade, y’all are about to tour Europe.
Is there any particular place that you’re ecstatic to play?
We really don't know what to expect, so we’re just looking forward to playing Europe!
~Garyn Klasek
