Exclusive: The Limbs share new EP Dive In in the midst of a WA tour

A couple of months ago, we got a quick glimpse at The Limbs' new EP with Caught Me At A Bad Time, a high-energy 90s-esque blast of guitar that fresh off a consecutive run of brilliant releases, showed that the WA band are definitely onto something good. Now, with their full EP Dive In out on Friday, we're stoked to confirm this. Streaming on Pilerats a couple of days early, Dive In is a charging release that strengths their modern, DIY twist on 90s rock, bringing together the softness of dreamy shoe-gaze with the gritty rawness of old school punk and alt-rock for a release that sits somewhere between Blur, The Pixies and The Strokes. They're big comparisons to make, but they totally work, especially evident when you catch them live, in what's becoming a show notorious among Perth for its care-free powerfulness that has seen them become one of our local scene's most exciting.

With a full WA tour currently going down (full dates at the end of this article), take a dive in (this wasn't on purpose, I swear) their latest EP below with a track-by-track walkthrough from the band themselves.

Caught Me At A Bad Time

This is was the second single released off the EP Dive In which we recorded with Andy Lawson at Debaser studios. The song was written about a year after a breakup and functioned as a kind of reflection of what had happened and why it happened. It felt therapeutic to write it down and release myself of whatever baggage it had on me. The line ‘I don’t need you anymore’ has two meanings. In one instance I am saying it finally having this incredible epiphany that I’ve moved on, but on the other side, she’s saying it. And when you hear something like that it can really break your heart and so I think there’s a lot of pain and feeling in that lyric.

We Can Doubt

This song grew out of several different ideas I had been playing with. When I started The Limbs back in 2014, I was really into fast visceral punk-pop bands, The Saints were a big one for me. So that song came from that need to just rip someone’s head off with fast punky angry riffs. It’s vitriolic, downright pessimistic lyrics were a reflection of everything I had been feeling through working at a pub, and watching Donald Trump on TV, politics, and entertainment - everything seemed so toxic. It’s an angry song with little hope, and I would never want to write anything like it again to be honest, but I’m glad I did.

Bodies

Bodies is a weird one for me. I never really knew what it was about. The lyrics seemed a little abstract. I think I was picturing some kind of debaucherous party where you have an out-of-body experience and see everything differently. At the time I was reading a lot of Nietzsche and was obsessed with this idea of the Superman/Ubermensch. The lyrics ‘be everything/satisfy your sense of pride’ was a direct relation to that. This idea where sometimes we feel like it’s shameful to be confident and to want to succeed. It also has mentions of manic-depressive personality and transcendence. I don’t know. It’s a big mess that one! Good guitar solo though!

Dive In

When I was younger I was pretty scared of things. I was kind of governed by fear and didn’t really leave my room that much. I don’t remember when it was but at some point, I started repeating this mantra over and over again whenever I was scared; ‘dive in, dive in.’ And it really helped. This song isn’t really about that but it gives some context of the phrase. The song is written in two parts; the first part is an egotistic guy talking, thinking he’s cool and suave I guess. The second part is this attempt to break away from that ego, to ‘don’t think, just feel’. At the time I was reading a lot of philosophy, meditating, and seeing a therapist. I started to see thoughts as these things that weren’t us but just these constructs that floated around in our heads that we create. To feel seemed to be the greatest escape from those thoughts. Especially the oppressive ones.

Don’t Sell Me Out

This was the first single earlier in the year off Dive In. It’s about consumerism. It’s about commercial radio, advertisements, billboards, magazines, social media. These things are so pervasive they can really have a powerful impact on who we are and how we conduct ourselves. So this was me trying to oppose that and just be an individual with my own thoughts and ideas about the world. I think it came from growing up in a household that had the Kardashians playing twenty-four-seven. Pop culture seemed like such a toilet. Still does. It may be even worse now.

Drop The Act

Drop The Act is about as close we get to a love song on this EP. But its more about wanting to know the true nature of someone. Wanting intimacy on a really deep level without some artifice that’s a product of insecurity. There’s a yearning to this song that I like. It’s very emotional and ties very much with my whole philosophical bent at the time about not thinking, just feeling. The search for the true self…that kind of thing. The ending to this song is some of my favourite music I’ve ever played. In the studio, we must have done thirty takes to get this end-section of the guitar solo right, and it sounded okay, but then Andy suggested we give an E-Bow a try. It gave that part this soaring effect that ties the bow at the end of the EP.

Tour Dates (more deets HERE):

Follow The Limbs: FACEBOOK