Interview by Ebony Weston
Photo by Tim Swallow
When the regional valleys call, Lime Cordiale responds: so when Wine Machine dialled 1800 CORDIALE, Oli and Louis didn’t hesitate to experience that fresh country air and a vino for lunch.
The Wine Machine has been hosting big Aussie names like Spacey Jane, Fisher, Flight Facilities, Benee, San Cisco, and many more since 2017 and didn’t disappoint when they announced their 2023 east coast line-up consisting of huge names like Bliss N Eso, Vera Blue, Northeast Party House and Lime Cordiale.
“I kind of most look forward to the rural stops,” Oli Leimbach from Lime Cordiale explains.
“You just get to hang out… I feel like it’s always a bit more interesting.”
After over 70 shows all around the globe in 2022 alone, Lime Cordiale are planning to spice things up a bit in 2023 with a new set list expected for the east coast Wine Machine commencing on the 18th of March in the Hunter Valley.
Yet, with Lime Cordiale doing some of their biggest shows to date, Oli says that the smaller gigs are usually the most nerve wracking.
“The scariest crowds to play to [are] like 30 people because, you know, people clap in between songs and then there’s silence and then like someone yells something and you can hear them, you have to react to that person and it’s honestly really really fun,” Oli says.
“Things happen that are just a bit more unexpected. Like [in a larger crowd] with heaps of crowd noise and a big barrier, you can’t really see the crowd or have time to react.
“We crave the smaller venues when we go overseas or somewhere that we don’t know.”
The unexpected is what Lime Cordiale tend to enjoy the most, with Oli recalling one festival in Dublin that blew the band away.
“We got onto this [Dublin] festival line-up kind of last minute and we were playing first on one of the stages. We just had very low expectations for it,” Oli recalls.
“We were just thinking that not many people know us in Ireland so we should go and play this festival for a bit of exposure. We were expecting, you know maybe 50-100 people to be watching if that.”
“But as we walked on, I think it was as the festival gates had just opened, people were running in, and the tent ended up completely full. It was just one of those seriously stoked moments where it wasn’t our biggest crowd but there were like 1000 people or something like that there and that was crazy.”
“We just haven’t played over in Ireland that much. So that’s just one of those moments when it’s like holy shit that was sick. Just people singing the lyrics when you don’t think people really know you over there.”
Lime Cordiale really do know how to make an entrance, though, with the boys arriving in style as they sky dived into WA’s Swan Valley Wine Machine at the end of 2022 and have entered 2023 with the announcement of their Fantastical Country Club Experience, UK/Ireland tour and a USA tour.
And with all these shows being announced, we asked Oli whether he could give the gang at Ramona a sneak peek of the set list for Wine Machine and instead we got a little more than that…
“We had a show worked out and we were just going to change it a little bit but like after 110 shows we got sick of it we need to completely change it up,” Oli explains.
“I haven’t worked out quite yet which is exciting but [the Wine Machine in Hunter Valley] is going to be one of the first shows of a completely new set list.
“And who knows, we might even have a new single out by then as well.”
Yes, you heard that right. NEW MUSIC FROM LIME CORDIALE IS IN THE WORKS! So, make sure to keep an ear out and remember, you heard it here first.
—
Tickets to Wine Machine can be purchased online.
