Limber Limbs

To begin with how's the last year been for you guys?

Derek Moore: The last year's been exciting at times and a little awkward at others. We've pretty much just been playing shows around Oklahoma to increase our reach in the state while we've been working on new material. The exciting times have been some particularly fun shows, as well as our recent time in the studio working on the new EP.

The awkward times have been the result of adjusting to a recent split in locations between the three of us. The band originally formed in Stillwater, but in June both Ben and Robert (Bowlware and Riggs, respectively) moved to Oklahoma City. It took a while for them to find a house, jobs, and to settle in and whatnot, and I decided to stay in Stillwater for another year. Getting our rehearsals and material together was a bit more challenging for a while, but we're figuring out a system now that should work well.

Obviously, you guys would probably like to move past the name change and just get to where people know you as Limber Limbs, but what brought on the name change and how did you guys finally settle on Limber Limbs?

Derek Moore: The name change was a result of a few factors. First off is Google-abilit. While there are some bands that purposely choose to forego the possibility of being found on the Internet for the sake of intrigue or mystery, we just didn't realize that our old name would face such a difficulty. By searching People,People, you'd actually be searching for the word "people"; twice, rather than searching for the whole phrase "People,People," thus making it impossible for us to be found. We even had a fan come up to us after a show and tell us he'd been looking for us for three months but to no avail. While we appreciated his dedication, we figured we should eliminate that hurdle. Secondly, our new material heads in a slightly different direction from our old songs, so we figured now would be the time to go ahead and change the name.

I was talking to Mack Hawkins at the Blue Note one night and he had mentioned he was working with you guys on this upcoming release. Are you guys still working with him and if so, in what capacity?

Derek Moore: Mack has been engineering our new EP from the get-go. We actually just finished tracking (basically the recording portion) with him yesterday night, so his work on the project is pretty much done at this point.

Where did you guys track the EP?

Derek Moore: We did the tracking for this EP in a few locations: we recorded bass and drums at ACM during a few overnight sessions, piano at Ben's church in Edmond, and everything else at Pink Floor Studios in Wayne's backyard. We hit a few obstacles along the way- our original bass/drum tracks were all randomly deleted in some ACM overnight purge pretty early on in the process, so we had to re-record those before moving on. Also, if you're not a student at ACM, the times you can use the studio are pretty strange. But now that the tracking's done, we can confidently say that we're really proud of the results thus far. And what's a good record without a good backstory, right?

I read online where you guys are moving into the mixing and mastering sessions for the EP. Have you guys chosen who will do that?

Derek Moore: We're talking to Michael Trepagnier about mixing the EP for us, and Kevin Lively's been our top candidate for mastering. Oddly enough, Ben and I's old high school band (if anyone ever heard of/remembers The VanOsdols) recorded with Kevin about eight years ago, so it should be fun to show him where we ended up. Hint: We took an incredibly different path from where we started.

Now, you guys released your self titled LP back in June of 2010 as People, People. Since then I'm sure the band has grown a lot musically. What do you think people could take away from this new release that they didn't with the self titled outing?

Derek Moore: I think there are two big noticeable differences between this EP and the old record. We aimed to make this EP more accessible and not so heady, and we tamed the accompaniment WAY down. Rather than scoring out near full orchestral accompaniment for every song, we decided to try not to record more than what we can pull off live between the three of us. That said, the EP still sounds pretty huge- we just did it with far less instruments.

To piggy back the previous question, was there a specific direction the band knew they wanted to go in with the new EP? Or were the writing sessions pretty much off the cuff?

Derek Moore: When it comes to writing, we're pretty prolific. We've never had a shortage of material, and there are several tracks that we've played live that didn't make it onto the EP. We pretty much just chose four tracks that we thought would come off strongest in the studio and that sounded the most relevant to each other.

When ca - Auxilarate

To begin with how's the last year been for you guys?

Derek Moore: The last year's been exciting at times and a little awkward at others. We've pretty much just been playing shows around Oklahoma to increase our reach in the state while we've been working on new material. The exciting times have been some particularly fun shows, as well as our recent time in the studio working on the new EP.

The awkward times have been the result of adjusting to a recent split in locations between the three of us. The band originally formed in Stillwater, but in June both Ben and Robert (Bowlware and Riggs, respectively) moved to Oklahoma City. It took a while for them to find a house, jobs, and to settle in and whatnot, and I decided to stay in Stillwater for another year. Getting our rehearsals and material together was a bit more challenging for a while, but we're figuring out a system now that should work well.

Obviously, you guys would probably like to move past the name change and just get to where people know you as Limber Limbs, but what brought on the name change and how did you guys finally settle on Limber Limbs?

Derek Moore: The name change was a result of a few factors. First off is Google-abilit. While there are some bands that purposely choose to forego the possibility of being found on the Internet for the sake of intrigue or mystery, we just didn't realize that our old name would face such a difficulty. By searching People,People, you'd actually be searching for the word "people"; twice, rather than searching for the whole phrase "People,People," thus making it impossible for us to be found. We even had a fan come up to us after a show and tell us he'd been looking for us for three months but to no avail. While we appreciated his dedication, we figured we should eliminate that hurdle. Secondly, our new material heads in a slightly different direction from our old songs, so we figured now would be the time to go ahead and change the name.

I was talking to Mack Hawkins at the Blue Note one night and he had mentioned he was working with you guys on this upcoming release. Are you guys still working with him and if so, in what capacity?

Derek Moore: Mack has been engineering our new EP from the get-go. We actually just finished tracking (basically the recording portion) with him yesterday night, so his work on the project is pretty much done at this point.

Where did you guys track the EP?

Derek Moore: We did the tracking for this EP in a few locations: we recorded bass and drums at ACM during a few overnight sessions, piano at Ben's church in Edmond, and everything else at Pink Floor Studios in Wayne's backyard. We hit a few obstacles along the way- our original bass/drum tracks were all randomly deleted in some ACM overnight purge pretty early on in the process, so we had to re-record those before moving on. Also, if you're not a student at ACM, the times you can use the studio are pretty strange. But now that the tracking's done, we can confidently say that we're really proud of the results thus far. And what's a good record without a good backstory, right?

I read online where you guys are moving into the mixing and mastering sessions for the EP. Have you guys chosen who will do that?

Derek Moore: We're talking to Michael Trepagnier about mixing the EP for us, and Kevin Lively's been our top candidate for mastering. Oddly enough, Ben and I's old high school band (if anyone ever heard of/remembers The VanOsdols) recorded with Kevin about eight years ago, so it should be fun to show him where we ended up. Hint: We took an incredibly different path from where we started.

Now, you guys released your self titled LP back in June of 2010 as People, People. Since then I'm sure the band has grown a lot musically. What do you think people could take away from this new release that they didn't with the self titled outing?

Derek Moore: I think there are two big noticeable differences between this EP and the old record. We aimed to make this EP more accessible and not so heady, and we tamed the accompaniment WAY down. Rather than scoring out near full orchestral accompaniment for every song, we decided to try not to record more than what we can pull off live between the three of us. That said, the EP still sounds pretty huge- we just did it with far less instruments.

To piggy back the previous question, was there a specific direction the band knew they wanted to go in with the new EP? Or were the writing sessions pretty much off the cuff?

Derek Moore: When it comes to writing, we're pretty prolific. We've never had a shortage of material, and there are several tracks that we've played live that didn't make it onto the EP. We pretty much just chose four tracks that we thought would come off strongest in the studio and that sounded the most relevant to each other.

When ca - Auxilarate

A new name can be indicative of far more sweeping changes. Such is the case of Limber Limbs.

The Oklahoma City indie-rock trio of Ben Bowlware, Derek Moore and Robert Riggs went by People, People back in 2010 when it released a full-length album of heady, orchestrated material.

Although still texturally rich and sonically complex, this self-titled, four-track EP aims at your heart as much as it does your cranium. “Golden Rust” — aided by guest vocals from Horse Thief front man Cameron Beckham Neal — is the sort of big, romantic ballad that Band of Horses and Bon Iver have built careers on.

“I’m Coming Back” ebbs and flows with alternating folk-rock fury and acoustic orchestra sonatas, and the closing pair of “Mexico” and “As You Lay Down Your Head” meets at the lightly traveled intersection of Neutral Milk Hotel and Brand New, each rocketing from a quaint lullaby to full-blown rock anthem.

If there’s anything to take away from Limber Limbs, it’s that, often, change is a good thing. —Joshua Boydston - Oklahoma Gazette

A new name can be indicative of far more sweeping changes. Such is the case of Limber Limbs.

The Oklahoma City indie-rock trio of Ben Bowlware, Derek Moore and Robert Riggs went by People, People back in 2010 when it released a full-length album of heady, orchestrated material.

Although still texturally rich and sonically complex, this self-titled, four-track EP aims at your heart as much as it does your cranium. “Golden Rust” — aided by guest vocals from Horse Thief front man Cameron Beckham Neal — is the sort of big, romantic ballad that Band of Horses and Bon Iver have built careers on.

“I’m Coming Back” ebbs and flows with alternating folk-rock fury and acoustic orchestra sonatas, and the closing pair of “Mexico” and “As You Lay Down Your Head” meets at the lightly traveled intersection of Neutral Milk Hotel and Brand New, each rocketing from a quaint lullaby to full-blown rock anthem.

If there’s anything to take away from Limber Limbs, it’s that, often, change is a good thing. —Joshua Boydston - Oklahoma Gazette

Indie-rock trio Limber Limbs was having a bit of a Googleability problem before it switched its name from People, People.
“We realized that people couldn’t find us on the Internet,” singer and guitarist Ben Bowlware said. “There’s a million results with people in it.”

Added bassist Derek Moore, “It’s the comma that killed us.”

“There was this one guy who looked for our Facebook page for three months,” Bowlware said. “Three whole months.”

Moore said, “It was nice of him to keep looking. He’s a committed guy.”

Settling on a new name proved to be a tall task for the Oklahoma City band (by way of Stillwater), especially given the problems the first one brought.

“We’d brainstormed for two months. Everything sounded horrible,” Bowlware said. “[Limber Limbs] was the first where we thought, ‘That’s not completely terrible.’” Added Moore, “We just love alliteration so much.”

No one is more excited about the moniker modification than Moore, who also performs with another Stillwater indie-rock act: “Having to say I was in both Deerpeople and People, People was getting very annoying.”

The switch is good timing, as more than the name is changing. Limber Limbs’ songs started off each as a magnum opus of a ballad, with challenging and complex instrumentation that recalled the headier Beatles material or Fleet Foxes. Moving forward, the sound won’t feel all that different, albeit more stripped-down and easier to perform live.

“It was these huge, complex string arrangements, none of which we could really re-create live. When we started performing, we had this giant setup with quick tracks and loops so we could pull it off,” Moore said. “It was a huge hassle and would never come across the way we wanted it to.”

Said Bowlware, “We were more like a studio band. We approached this [new material] to make sure we could re-create with three people and have that be representative of our sound.”

Joined by drummer Robert Riggs, Limber Limbs are in the final stages of a new EP to help introduce fans to the new name and sound, currently recording with Mack Hawkins of The Non. “He’s making us sound pretty good so far,” Moore said.

Bowlware said the EP should be out in two months … if only they can figure out what to title it.

“Coming up with band names is hard enough,” Moore said. “Now it’s album names.”

Added Bowlware, “Maybe we can call it People, People and confuse everyone.” - Oklahoma Gazette

Indie-rock trio Limber Limbs was having a bit of a Googleability problem before it switched its name from People, People.
“We realized that people couldn’t find us on the Internet,” singer and guitarist Ben Bowlware said. “There’s a million results with people in it.”

Added bassist Derek Moore, “It’s the comma that killed us.”

“There was this one guy who looked for our Facebook page for three months,” Bowlware said. “Three whole months.”

Moore said, “It was nice of him to keep looking. He’s a committed guy.”

Settling on a new name proved to be a tall task for the Oklahoma City band (by way of Stillwater), especially given the problems the first one brought.

“We’d brainstormed for two months. Everything sounded horrible,” Bowlware said. “[Limber Limbs] was the first where we thought, ‘That’s not completely terrible.’” Added Moore, “We just love alliteration so much.”

No one is more excited about the moniker modification than Moore, who also performs with another Stillwater indie-rock act: “Having to say I was in both Deerpeople and People, People was getting very annoying.”

The switch is good timing, as more than the name is changing. Limber Limbs’ songs started off each as a magnum opus of a ballad, with challenging and complex instrumentation that recalled the headier Beatles material or Fleet Foxes. Moving forward, the sound won’t feel all that different, albeit more stripped-down and easier to perform live.

“It was these huge, complex string arrangements, none of which we could really re-create live. When we started performing, we had this giant setup with quick tracks and loops so we could pull it off,” Moore said. “It was a huge hassle and would never come across the way we wanted it to.”

Said Bowlware, “We were more like a studio band. We approached this [new material] to make sure we could re-create with three people and have that be representative of our sound.”

Joined by drummer Robert Riggs, Limber Limbs are in the final stages of a new EP to help introduce fans to the new name and sound, currently recording with Mack Hawkins of The Non. “He’s making us sound pretty good so far,” Moore said.

Bowlware said the EP should be out in two months … if only they can figure out what to title it.

“Coming up with band names is hard enough,” Moore said. “Now it’s album names.”

Added Bowlware, “Maybe we can call it People, People and confuse everyone.” - Oklahoma Gazette

Walking by the Opolis in Downtown Norman one night, I heard an unfamiliar band. Even though I couldn’t listen long, I did peek into the “micro venue” to find out who was playing. Genuinely, I was surprised to find out it was Limber Limbs. I know Derek Moore because of his work with DEERPEOPLE, but by that point I still hadn’t given Limber Limbs a good listen.
Limber Limbs is a reinvented band in some regards. Although they are still comprised of the original trio: Ben Bowlware, Robert Riggs, and Derek Moore, their previous name “People, People” was too hard to find on the Internet. They were essentially invisible to Google because a comma between the words “people” and “people” makes the search relevant only to the word “people.” Since they weren’t aiming to be intentionally obscure, the old name had to go.

Other signs of evolution? This is a band originally formed in Stillwater. And while Bowlware and Riggs are primarily based out of Oklahoma City now, Moore still resides in Stillwater. But that won’t be for much longer. Moore says he has plans to join the rest of the band in OKC by this summer. Being closer as band means the OKC metro will be hearing Limber Limbs perform more often, a prospect I find encouraging, because they do sound good live.

I liked their eponymous EP as a whole. Knowing that they’d snagged my attention once before, even if it was by chance, I shouldn’t have been surprised that I’d come to like the music so much. As it turns out Cameron Beckham Neal and Zack Zeller are listed as contributors on the EP. Both musicians are in another OKC-based band called Horse Thief, which I like as well. Neal played cello and sang backing vocals on Golden Rust, while Zeller also sang backing vocals on the same song. Other contributors include: Jason Daugherty on violin and John Hildebrand on cello. I’ve listened to the EP probably six or seven times over the course of three weeks, starting when I assembled my Norman Music Festival wishlist and again on the way back from Austin Psych Fest as I played it for my co-Editor. Limber Limbs has a good thing going on. If I had more time, I could see doodling while listening to it.

The EP, released this past April, clocks in at four songs. The band’s material is cohesive in scope, but you’ll hear distinctive instrumentation between each of the songs. Take “Golden Rust” for instance; you’ve got a strong upbeat indie percussive element, although with not a lot of cymbals, that is layered with reverb-y vocals and string elements. There are also a few tempo shifts that pair well with the narrative. If you’re like me and like to examine lyrical content, then you’ll likely appreciate the literary allusions. “Sounds of “Sleep, perchance to dream.”

This Shakespearean reference is well-placed when you take into account the variety of themes presented throughout the EP. There are plenty of references to the feeling of near claustrophobic pressure in coming of age as one takes up the mantle of adulthood. This can be heard in a song like “I’m Coming Back.” On the sonic end these sentiments are echoed when the band shifts from more sparse instrumental arrangements into a wall of sound that envelops you before slowly releasing the tension once more. These motifs not only appear in songs about troubled love, but more broadly throughout the EP. There are weighty choices to be made and the consequence of each carries its own burden. The reference to Hamlet’s mental fatigue in taking charge of his life and righting past wrongs seems rather fitting for a band fond of alliteration.

I found the majority of the songs to have engaging song structures. The melody of “Mexico” is longing in all the right ways, and when compared to the other songs seems the most at ease. The walls aren’t closing in on this one, which makes sense since the narrative shifts and there is a reprieve from the pressure when roaming alone in a desolate land. It’s a song about escapism and finding time to think. Whereas the last song “As You Lay Down Your Head” brings that soaring sonic wall of tension back, but the bass and piano ground it as the last lyrics ask “Is your life laid out like the pictures you’ve seen?”

Speaking of seeing things, you can watch Limber Limbs and Chelsey Cope play The Blue Note this Friday. Doors open at 9 p.m. and there is a $5 cover. Check out their body of work via Bandcamp or follow them on Facebook. If you have to miss them, then take heart: we’ll likely have an interview with the trio up next week.

Helen Grant
Managing Editor
OKC.NET - OKC.NET

Walking by the Opolis in Downtown Norman one night, I heard an unfamiliar band. Even though I couldn’t listen long, I did peek into the “micro venue” to find out who was playing. Genuinely, I was surprised to find out it was Limber Limbs. I know Derek Moore because of his work with DEERPEOPLE, but by that point I still hadn’t given Limber Limbs a good listen.
Limber Limbs is a reinvented band in some regards. Although they are still comprised of the original trio: Ben Bowlware, Robert Riggs, and Derek Moore, their previous name “People, People” was too hard to find on the Internet. They were essentially invisible to Google because a comma between the words “people” and “people” makes the search relevant only to the word “people.” Since they weren’t aiming to be intentionally obscure, the old name had to go.

Other signs of evolution? This is a band originally formed in Stillwater. And while Bowlware and Riggs are primarily based out of Oklahoma City now, Moore still resides in Stillwater. But that won’t be for much longer. Moore says he has plans to join the rest of the band in OKC by this summer. Being closer as band means the OKC metro will be hearing Limber Limbs perform more often, a prospect I find encouraging, because they do sound good live.

I liked their eponymous EP as a whole. Knowing that they’d snagged my attention once before, even if it was by chance, I shouldn’t have been surprised that I’d come to like the music so much. As it turns out Cameron Beckham Neal and Zack Zeller are listed as contributors on the EP. Both musicians are in another OKC-based band called Horse Thief, which I like as well. Neal played cello and sang backing vocals on Golden Rust, while Zeller also sang backing vocals on the same song. Other contributors include: Jason Daugherty on violin and John Hildebrand on cello. I’ve listened to the EP probably six or seven times over the course of three weeks, starting when I assembled my Norman Music Festival wishlist and again on the way back from Austin Psych Fest as I played it for my co-Editor. Limber Limbs has a good thing going on. If I had more time, I could see doodling while listening to it.

The EP, released this past April, clocks in at four songs. The band’s material is cohesive in scope, but you’ll hear distinctive instrumentation between each of the songs. Take “Golden Rust” for instance; you’ve got a strong upbeat indie percussive element, although with not a lot of cymbals, that is layered with reverb-y vocals and string elements. There are also a few tempo shifts that pair well with the narrative. If you’re like me and like to examine lyrical content, then you’ll likely appreciate the literary allusions. “Sounds of “Sleep, perchance to dream.”

This Shakespearean reference is well-placed when you take into account the variety of themes presented throughout the EP. There are plenty of references to the feeling of near claustrophobic pressure in coming of age as one takes up the mantle of adulthood. This can be heard in a song like “I’m Coming Back.” On the sonic end these sentiments are echoed when the band shifts from more sparse instrumental arrangements into a wall of sound that envelops you before slowly releasing the tension once more. These motifs not only appear in songs about troubled love, but more broadly throughout the EP. There are weighty choices to be made and the consequence of each carries its own burden. The reference to Hamlet’s mental fatigue in taking charge of his life and righting past wrongs seems rather fitting for a band fond of alliteration.

I found the majority of the songs to have engaging song structures. The melody of “Mexico” is longing in all the right ways, and when compared to the other songs seems the most at ease. The walls aren’t closing in on this one, which makes sense since the narrative shifts and there is a reprieve from the pressure when roaming alone in a desolate land. It’s a song about escapism and finding time to think. Whereas the last song “As You Lay Down Your Head” brings that soaring sonic wall of tension back, but the bass and piano ground it as the last lyrics ask “Is your life laid out like the pictures you’ve seen?”

Speaking of seeing things, you can watch Limber Limbs and Chelsey Cope play The Blue Note this Friday. Doors open at 9 p.m. and there is a $5 cover. Check out their body of work via Bandcamp or follow them on Facebook. If you have to miss them, then take heart: we’ll likely have an interview with the trio up next week.

Helen Grant
Managing Editor
OKC.NET - OKC.NET

Today, it’s so easy to find music and secure a lot of music. I’m bombarded with new artists every day, but my world slows down when filming sessions go like they did with People, People. - What's going "on"

Today, it’s so easy to find music and secure a lot of music. I’m bombarded with new artists every day, but my world slows down when filming sessions go like they did with People, People. - What's going "on"