We had great pleasure to speak with Jake Davies, vocalist/rhythm guitar player and co-founder of Of Limbo, a versatile and refreshingly modern rock band from Long Beach California. Check out what he he told us and make sure you listen to Of Limbo’s new single „Get On It”!
Hi Jake! Nice to meet you and congrats on your new single „Get On It”, it’s a real dynamite! You formed Of Limbo together with your brother, Luke, in 2013. But you guys are not typical Californian rockers and come actually from Melbourne, Australia. So I’m curious, how did two Aussies ended up in California playing rock?
Our first show was in April 2015. But me and Luke had been playing music our whole lives together. When Luke graduated high school he was accepted to Berkelee school of music in Boston. After doing a couple semesters there he came to stay with me in Long Beach.. every night turned into us partying and writing music. We couldn’t record it on our phones fast enough. It was just pouring out of us. We knew he needed to drop out and move in with me permanently in Long Beach to do this together for the rest of our lives
Can you please tell us more about the other two band members? Who’s on drums and bass?
On bass and backup vocals we have Robert Graveley. He hails from Denver, Colorado, but we met him here in Long Beach where he had a band Bearwulf that we used to play shows with constantly. But right as his band broke up, we also had to part ways with our old drummer and bass guitarist. It was the natural and obvious choice to have rob join the band.
Christopher “Bug” Bristol is a corn fed boy from Iowa. When we had to say goodbye to our old drummer, our good friend Nick Reese (singer of joyous wolf) said “I’ve got your guy”. About a month later Bug was driving across the country from Iowa to join the band! Before we had ever even met him in person! It was obviously a huge leap of faith for all of us to basically add the backbone of the band without having ever played with him. But it all worked out the way the universe intended it.. and we were opening for Filter at the biggest stage we had ever played in Los Angeles within 2 weeks of him joining the band
You’ve probably been asked this a hundred times… Why Of Limbo? Where this band name is coming from? What’s the secret meaning of it?
One night after heavy drinking at the bar, Luke was struggling. I asked him, how you doing over there Luke? He goes. “I don’t know man.. I’m a little left of limbo” I said. That’s the band name. So we went with “Left of Limbo” as the working title of the band for a while, but it sounded too much like a metal bands name. Verbing the noun style names. Pierce the veil. All that remains. You get it… so we dropped the left. OF LiMBO has a mystery to it. It’s a bit weird and we definitely have to say the name twice when people ask.. but hey.. what’s Pearl Jam? Eventually the name just becomes the band identity of the band not the definition of the words. Like wtf kind of band name is Red Hot Chili Peppers? The answer is it’s not.. Red Hot Chili Peppers is Anthony, Flea, Frusciante and Chad, not the words
What 3 words would you use to describe your music?
IN. YOUR. FACE
It’s difficult to clearly define your music style because every song is different, which is great. For me you sound close to hard rock bands from the 90’s. What shaped your music style? Who are the the biggest music influences for Of Limbo?
We absolutely strive to not repeat ourselves. Create as many different colors as possible. As far as influences. Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Rage Against The Machine.. but also a hell of a lot of 80s stuff. As far as how diverse the sound is, Faith No More is a band who I really respect for their ability to do this too.
You’re the vocalist and rhythm guitar player of Of Limbo, your brother Luke plays the lead guitar. How did it all started? Did you have other music projects in the past? What inspired you to pick up a guitar in the first place?
I first put a guitar in Luke’s hands when he was 10. I taught him the nylon string acoustic intro to Unforgiven by Metallica, from there he was hooked.
We both played in a lot of school bands, but Of Limbo is our first professional run at it. I used to front a rap metal band in high school that Luke teases me about all the time.
If you were about to be stuck on a lonely island and were able to bring only 3 music albums with you to keep you company, what albums would that be?
„Dirt” Alice In Chains. „Black Album” Metallica. „Thriller” Michael Jackson.
Throughout month June you will tour US with Buckkcherry. Tell us a bit more about this tour! What cities will you visit?
Doing a loop through the middle of America. All tour dates list available at oflimbo.com/tour
You already shared stage with Blue Oyster Cult, Wolfmother, Hinder and Joyous Wolf. What other bands would you like to tour with?
The Lonely Ones. Chavelle. Faith No More. Queens of the Stone Age. Tyler Bryant. Frank Carter. …. and Joyous Wolf.. again.. and again.
For now your focus lies on US. Once possible, are you planing to tour Europe as well? What Europeans bands would you like to play with?
We would love to play across the entire world. Gojira, Soilwork, The Struts… anyone who rocks. We aren’t fussy.
Let’s talk about your new single, ”Get On It”. What is this song about? How this energetic piece of music was born?
Get On It was born on St Patrick’s day 2018. My buddy turned to me while at the bar and said “livvvvin every minute of it” I just naturally responded “loooovin every minute of it” and then clap clap clap clap. After we finished drinking I brought it home to Luke who said he had the perfect riff for it.. within literally 20
Minutes the song was written from there. It’s just a fun cock rock song about partying and not giving a fuck. The crowd loves it because they get involved with the claps. It’s one of the funnest songs of our live set.
Now you have to tell us who’s behind this groovy music and catchy lyrics. Is it one person’s work or team effort? How the writing process in your band looks like?
Usually it all starts with a riff. Luke writes riffs and I writes riffs. Then the vocal melody takes shape from both of us. After that we usually have a rough outline of what we want with bass and drums but the boys always add their own flare and pizzazz to their parts. Rob has a lot of original music of his own that we hope to integrate more over the coming years. Right now we are playing catch up trying to record the many songs we love that we haven’t gotten to yet. Recording isn’t cheap. We find ourselves picking which songs to record based on what we think is right for us right now.
In 2015 you released Of Limbo’s debut, self-produced EP, in 2017 „Nicotine” came out and last year „Nothing But Now” was released. What’s next? Are you currently working on a new music?
Next on the agenda is a set of covers we put together during the lock downs. We are calling it “covered 19” hahah. Fight For Your Right To Party will be the first to come out on that. But as I said.. we have 3 albums at least of original songs we are itching to record. Many of them written as much as five years ago up until the present day.. we are always writing.
Where your European fans can buy your music?
In the official store on our website: http://www.oflimbo.com/store
Is there anything else you would like to say to your European fans out there?
Open wide.. we’re coming.
Thank you for your time, enjoy your tour with Buckkcherry and we hope to see you soon in Europe!
Interview: Katarzyna Kozioł
