The Limit Club

It has to be said: the AZ music scene suffers from a severe lack of spookiness. Perhaps it’s the overabundance of sunshine or scarcity of graveyards, but in the greater Phoenix metro area, it’s hard to get rocked in that “this music could very well be sucking the blood from your major arteries” sort of way. Thankfully, The Limit Club is more than willing to carry the Phoenix gothabilly torch through zombie-infested catacombs and into your wildest dreams -- er, nightmares. Guitarist/vocalist Nick Feratu and upright bassist Cadaverous Joel have been crafting eerily danceable tunes since 2005, citing a broad spectrum of influences from The Damned to Ricky Nelson to Nick Cave. Since their first full-length album, God Damn The Limit Club (2007), Feratu and Joel have recruited a new, too-rock-n-roll-to-sit-down drummer, Juan Carlos, enabling the boys to tour relentlessly. Thus far, The Limit Club has spent 2008 storming the local scene with explosive live performances. Having completed recording for its second full-length studio album, this terrifying trio is taking it to the limit…and beyond. Show Creeps, EDVIS, Metal Elvis, Rhythm Dragons, and Creepsville 666 are also scheduled to perform.
Sat., April 5, 2008 - Phoenix New Times

It has to be said: the AZ music scene suffers from a severe lack of spookiness. Perhaps it’s the overabundance of sunshine or scarcity of graveyards, but in the greater Phoenix metro area, it’s hard to get rocked in that “this music could very well be sucking the blood from your major arteries” sort of way. Thankfully, The Limit Club is more than willing to carry the Phoenix gothabilly torch through zombie-infested catacombs and into your wildest dreams -- er, nightmares. Guitarist/vocalist Nick Feratu and upright bassist Cadaverous Joel have been crafting eerily danceable tunes since 2005, citing a broad spectrum of influences from The Damned to Ricky Nelson to Nick Cave. Since their first full-length album, God Damn The Limit Club (2007), Feratu and Joel have recruited a new, too-rock-n-roll-to-sit-down drummer, Juan Carlos, enabling the boys to tour relentlessly. Thus far, The Limit Club has spent 2008 storming the local scene with explosive live performances. Having completed recording for its second full-length studio album, this terrifying trio is taking it to the limit…and beyond. Show Creeps, EDVIS, Metal Elvis, Rhythm Dragons, and Creepsville 666 are also scheduled to perform.
Sat., April 5, 2008 - Phoenix New Times

Interview by Hanna Yando

Band Q&A: "I just kick it and everything falls into place. Or aliens. The Limit Club is here because of aliens." Arising from the desert of Phoenix, AZ comes the Limit Club; a psychobilly-deathrock band that's been bringing fresh sound and energy to the music scene since 2005.

Lead vocalist and guitarist Nick Feratu, upright bassist NickDave, drummer Juan Carlos and, most recent addition, guitarist Monty O'Blivion create a unique chemistry; you can experience their wild alchemy for yourself on their most recent album, "This Is Cutthroat Business". Touring local Arizona and California dates on a regular basis, the band put on live shows bursting with energy and chaos; entertaining and appealing to a wide crowd. You just don't want to miss them. But what's their limit?

Official band website: www.limitclub.com

Official band Facebook: www.facebook.com/thelimitclub

Q: It hasn't always been an easy road for the band - did you ever expect the Limit Club to be this successful (and growing)?

NickDave: Before I joined the band I knew that The Limit Club was unique in its own right, so it's not a terrible surprise that we have fans that recognize that uniqueness and understand it. Success is subjective and it's clear that we have a long way to go before this endeavor pays off in a way that allows us to use it to make a living.

Juan Carlos: My perception of "success" is pretty jaded, I think. It is probably because I have met people or artists that I thought were very successful and many of them still have day jobs. Some of them barely get by and some of them are loaded. I don't know how to measure success, I guess, but I really think the Limit Club is headed in a good direction. If we keep on going, I could see us doing some major gigs over seas, and I can't wait for that.

Nick Feratu: We have a lot of work to do. We've learned everything through trial and error over the course of the band's career... mostly error. I think we're just particularly driven and resourceful so we've lucked out thus far. We've gotten a lot of help along the way, and I always try to show gratitude where it's due. We've taken a lot of cues from other bands that seem to know what they're doing. Bands like the Henchmen, Koffin Kats and the Quakes.
Q: You've recently added a new member to the band - Monty O'Blivion, on guitar. How did he come to join the band? Monty, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Monty O'Blivion: I've been a close friend of The Limit Club for several years now, always believed highly in this band's potential. We got to know each other when I played guitar for a self-destructive little greaser punk band called the Video Nasties. We stuck together, as both our bands were breaking from the monotony of the various dying music scenes of Phoenix. The difference was, Limit Club were pure talent, and the Nasties were pure chaos. As history shows, chaos doesn't last forever, and the Nasties self-destructed leaving me to focus on recording, producing and composing music for my life's work, Manual Sex Drive. At some point, Nick Feratu and I ended up living together, while The Limit Club were writing songs for "This is Cutthroat Business." We developed a strong musical kinship as we have nearly identical taste, and we helped each other out with our respective projects. When they were ready to record the new tracks, Nick asked me to be a part of the album as "producer." I'm not sure if what I did could actually be considered producing, I was more of a mad scientist really, I just took the recorded tracks into my home studio and experimented. I threw in some brass, keyboards, sound fx, and electronics and basically just had a blast with the tunes. We were all really amped up about the album when it was finished, and Feratu and I had developed a lot of chemistry as dual guitarists after he joined Manual Sex Drive as lead guitarist, and when they returned from their most recent U.S. tour, The Limit Club asked me to join the ranks. I had a good portion of my parts written already due to the work I put in for "Cutthroat Business" so it worked out quite well, and now I'm having a great time jamming with some of my best friends in one of my favorite bands, AWWW gush!

Juan Carlos: Monty has been a friend of ours for a long time. He is pretty talented musically, and he adds a lot to the band. He is also our main character in the music video for "Shake". His band, Manual Sex Drive (which Nick Feratu plays lead guitar for) has become what is probably my favorite local band. They are super good and I could see them going far if they play their cards right.

NickDave: I've known Monty for a few years and the other guys have known him longer. As we were making the new album all of the post production material was done by Monty. I mean ALL of it. We had some ideas of what we wanted to hear but it was limited compared to everything Monty was hearing and applying. It just makes sense having Mo - Mooky Chick

Interview by Hanna Yando

Band Q&A: "I just kick it and everything falls into place. Or aliens. The Limit Club is here because of aliens." Arising from the desert of Phoenix, AZ comes the Limit Club; a psychobilly-deathrock band that's been bringing fresh sound and energy to the music scene since 2005.

Lead vocalist and guitarist Nick Feratu, upright bassist NickDave, drummer Juan Carlos and, most recent addition, guitarist Monty O'Blivion create a unique chemistry; you can experience their wild alchemy for yourself on their most recent album, "This Is Cutthroat Business". Touring local Arizona and California dates on a regular basis, the band put on live shows bursting with energy and chaos; entertaining and appealing to a wide crowd. You just don't want to miss them. But what's their limit?

Official band website: www.limitclub.com

Official band Facebook: www.facebook.com/thelimitclub

Q: It hasn't always been an easy road for the band - did you ever expect the Limit Club to be this successful (and growing)?

NickDave: Before I joined the band I knew that The Limit Club was unique in its own right, so it's not a terrible surprise that we have fans that recognize that uniqueness and understand it. Success is subjective and it's clear that we have a long way to go before this endeavor pays off in a way that allows us to use it to make a living.

Juan Carlos: My perception of "success" is pretty jaded, I think. It is probably because I have met people or artists that I thought were very successful and many of them still have day jobs. Some of them barely get by and some of them are loaded. I don't know how to measure success, I guess, but I really think the Limit Club is headed in a good direction. If we keep on going, I could see us doing some major gigs over seas, and I can't wait for that.

Nick Feratu: We have a lot of work to do. We've learned everything through trial and error over the course of the band's career... mostly error. I think we're just particularly driven and resourceful so we've lucked out thus far. We've gotten a lot of help along the way, and I always try to show gratitude where it's due. We've taken a lot of cues from other bands that seem to know what they're doing. Bands like the Henchmen, Koffin Kats and the Quakes.
Q: You've recently added a new member to the band - Monty O'Blivion, on guitar. How did he come to join the band? Monty, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Monty O'Blivion: I've been a close friend of The Limit Club for several years now, always believed highly in this band's potential. We got to know each other when I played guitar for a self-destructive little greaser punk band called the Video Nasties. We stuck together, as both our bands were breaking from the monotony of the various dying music scenes of Phoenix. The difference was, Limit Club were pure talent, and the Nasties were pure chaos. As history shows, chaos doesn't last forever, and the Nasties self-destructed leaving me to focus on recording, producing and composing music for my life's work, Manual Sex Drive. At some point, Nick Feratu and I ended up living together, while The Limit Club were writing songs for "This is Cutthroat Business." We developed a strong musical kinship as we have nearly identical taste, and we helped each other out with our respective projects. When they were ready to record the new tracks, Nick asked me to be a part of the album as "producer." I'm not sure if what I did could actually be considered producing, I was more of a mad scientist really, I just took the recorded tracks into my home studio and experimented. I threw in some brass, keyboards, sound fx, and electronics and basically just had a blast with the tunes. We were all really amped up about the album when it was finished, and Feratu and I had developed a lot of chemistry as dual guitarists after he joined Manual Sex Drive as lead guitarist, and when they returned from their most recent U.S. tour, The Limit Club asked me to join the ranks. I had a good portion of my parts written already due to the work I put in for "Cutthroat Business" so it worked out quite well, and now I'm having a great time jamming with some of my best friends in one of my favorite bands, AWWW gush!

Juan Carlos: Monty has been a friend of ours for a long time. He is pretty talented musically, and he adds a lot to the band. He is also our main character in the music video for "Shake". His band, Manual Sex Drive (which Nick Feratu plays lead guitar for) has become what is probably my favorite local band. They are super good and I could see them going far if they play their cards right.

NickDave: I've known Monty for a few years and the other guys have known him longer. As we were making the new album all of the post production material was done by Monty. I mean ALL of it. We had some ideas of what we wanted to hear but it was limited compared to everything Monty was hearing and applying. It just makes sense having Mo - Mooky Chick

Valley rockabilly trio The Limit Club knows how to throw a party. For evidence, look no further than the band's brand new video, for their song "Shake."
"Shake" is from The Limit Club's latest album, This Is Cutthroat Business, and the video features the band -- vocalist and guitarist Nick Feratu, upright bassist Nicholas David, and drummer Juan Carlos (who also plays with The Quakes) -- playing their slick swing on the rooftop of the Clarendon Hotel, interspersed with scenes of beautiful women holding martinis, black-and-white "morning after" snippets, and blurry shots of someone running drunk through the streets. The party comes full circle to the roof by the end of the video.

Check out the video for "Swing" [sic](directed by Elijah Bustos at UCB Productions) after the jump, and see The Limit Club live on Friday, July 8, at Ghost Lounge at Hotel San Carlos. - Phoenix New Times

Valley rockabilly trio The Limit Club knows how to throw a party. For evidence, look no further than the band's brand new video, for their song "Shake."
"Shake" is from The Limit Club's latest album, This Is Cutthroat Business, and the video features the band -- vocalist and guitarist Nick Feratu, upright bassist Nicholas David, and drummer Juan Carlos (who also plays with The Quakes) -- playing their slick swing on the rooftop of the Clarendon Hotel, interspersed with scenes of beautiful women holding martinis, black-and-white "morning after" snippets, and blurry shots of someone running drunk through the streets. The party comes full circle to the roof by the end of the video.

Check out the video for "Swing" [sic](directed by Elijah Bustos at UCB Productions) after the jump, and see The Limit Club live on Friday, July 8, at Ghost Lounge at Hotel San Carlos. - Phoenix New Times

They say that the Cramps were the precursor to the psychobilly movement, so it only seems right that the fifth annual Pyschobilly Luau music festival is held in the New York City punks' former territory. This year's weekend-long festivities brought out bands from around the world, including old-school punks The Klingonz from Ireland, who dressed in whacky clown drag, and UK teddy boy rockers, Furious. Other acts included Boston's Tex Railers Doomtown, as well as local favorites the Memphis Morticians and The Arkhams. Brooklyn's newest band on the scene, The Screaming Rebel Angels, fronted by lovely event producer Laura Rebel Angel, was a refreshing new highlight. And a thumb's up to the young gentlemen in Phoenix-based gothabilly band The Limit Club, who performed a fun version of Bauhaus' "Kick in the Eye." German dj's Spy and Fussl kept the crowds entertained, spinning incredible sets which included classic pyschobilly bands like The Meteors and Batmobile. Check out my photos above from all of the pyscho fun. - Paper Mag

Certain things have to be present for a punk show to work. There is the music, of course, and there is the venue, preferably a sticky concrete cave. But there also has to be an instigator.

Wednesday night (Aug. 3) at the Mill, that instigator was Joel Candelaria, lead vocalist for Battle Scarred Saints. Opening for two out-of-town bands, the Saints won the crowd's hearts with working-class hardcore tunes that hearkened back to a time when punk was scary and anything but commercially viable. Playing no instrument save for a sandpaper throat, Candelaria was at once a feral and charismatic presence, flexing like a tough guy and accepting hugs from tipsy patrons during interludes. And when bandmate J.R. Tindal had finished his last furious bass run, and the room had ceased to echo with the band's crass anthems, Candelaria stuck around to stir things up.

Phoenix-based outfit the Limit Club took to the floor next, playing a young 'n' hungry take on psychobilly, complete with upright bass and greased-back hairdos. And while the music could stand on its own merits, the crowd might not have danced so hard if not for the skanking, wrecking whirlwind that was Candelaria, whipping the moshers into a frenzy like some punk rock cheerleader.

The band ate it all up and played with mounting ferocity. Drummer Juan Carlos Larios bounced on his feet for the entire set as guitarist Nick Feratu and bassist NickDave cranked out vocals that shifted from goth-rock baritone to screamo screech at the drop of a hat. The scrappy-looking NickDave (who would not give his last name) straddled the bass and thrummed it like a maniac when Feratu took to the microphone to spit out a Gatling-gun lyrical burst.

The crowd started to thin around midnight, partway into the final act, Los Angeles-based trio Henchmen. Their muscular, left-coast punk sound was rounded out by upright bassist Steve Rejon's rumbling fretboard runs and vocalist-guitarist Eric Razo's precise, needling solos. The group's strongest moments were their extended instrumental onslaughts, including a warp-speed interpretation of classic surf-rock riffs that earned grinning nods of approval. Unfortunately, the crowd had lost its critical mass by that point, and the band showed signs of road fatigue for the first half of its set. The mood was salvaged, though, with a faithful unearthing of Motörhead's "Ace of Spades" that brought Razo to a fighting stance and rewarded the barflies who'd stuck around with a flashback to the glory days. - Charleston City Paper

Certain things have to be present for a punk show to work. There is the music, of course, and there is the venue, preferably a sticky concrete cave. But there also has to be an instigator.

Wednesday night (Aug. 3) at the Mill, that instigator was Joel Candelaria, lead vocalist for Battle Scarred Saints. Opening for two out-of-town bands, the Saints won the crowd's hearts with working-class hardcore tunes that hearkened back to a time when punk was scary and anything but commercially viable. Playing no instrument save for a sandpaper throat, Candelaria was at once a feral and charismatic presence, flexing like a tough guy and accepting hugs from tipsy patrons during interludes. And when bandmate J.R. Tindal had finished his last furious bass run, and the room had ceased to echo with the band's crass anthems, Candelaria stuck around to stir things up.

Phoenix-based outfit the Limit Club took to the floor next, playing a young 'n' hungry take on psychobilly, complete with upright bass and greased-back hairdos. And while the music could stand on its own merits, the crowd might not have danced so hard if not for the skanking, wrecking whirlwind that was Candelaria, whipping the moshers into a frenzy like some punk rock cheerleader.

The band ate it all up and played with mounting ferocity. Drummer Juan Carlos Larios bounced on his feet for the entire set as guitarist Nick Feratu and bassist NickDave cranked out vocals that shifted from goth-rock baritone to screamo screech at the drop of a hat. The scrappy-looking NickDave (who would not give his last name) straddled the bass and thrummed it like a maniac when Feratu took to the microphone to spit out a Gatling-gun lyrical burst.

The crowd started to thin around midnight, partway into the final act, Los Angeles-based trio Henchmen. Their muscular, left-coast punk sound was rounded out by upright bassist Steve Rejon's rumbling fretboard runs and vocalist-guitarist Eric Razo's precise, needling solos. The group's strongest moments were their extended instrumental onslaughts, including a warp-speed interpretation of classic surf-rock riffs that earned grinning nods of approval. Unfortunately, the crowd had lost its critical mass by that point, and the band showed signs of road fatigue for the first half of its set. The mood was salvaged, though, with a faithful unearthing of Motörhead's "Ace of Spades" that brought Razo to a fighting stance and rewarded the barflies who'd stuck around with a flashback to the glory days. - Charleston City Paper