Lime Cordiale: ‘We couldn’t let Idris Elba, a great man of culture, drink from his shoe’

We speak to Lime Cordiale – brothers Oli and Louis Leimbach – about their mini-album ‘Cordi Elba’, a scintillating and varied collaboration with acting royalty Idris Elba. 

Picture the scene. You’re on stage performing with Idris Elba, one of the coolest people alive. Suddenly, a raucous section of the audience starts demanding this fine specimen perform an uncultured – or ‘bogan’, as your home country calls it – act. They want him to perform a ‘shoey’. In other words, they want Idris to down a beer from his shoe.

That was the situation facing Lime Cordiale – Oli and Louis Leimbach, Australia’s brilliant brotherly duo – at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney last year, alongside their extraordinary collaborator, Idris Elba. Of course better known as an actor and, to some, a DJ, this unlikely partnership has seen the star of The Wire and Luther take on a whole new artistic role. Nothing could quite prepare him, however, for the calls for a ‘shoey’.

He’s not doing this, this great man of culture right here

‘By the point Idris had joined us on stage,’ Oli recalls, ‘it was almost like we’d had enough of that thing. I understand how funny it is, but Idris didn’t know. So people started chanting ‘shoey’, and he was like, “okay, so what am I doing: drinking a beer out of a shoe?”’

‘He was down for it, but I didn’t want to be responsible for a front-page news photo. Half the Australians are all for that, the other half think it’s kind of grotesque… I just had to say, “No, he’s not doing this. There’s a great man of culture right here.”’

‘There is a small part of me,’ Oli admits, however, his brother nodding in agreement, ‘that wishes I just let it happen.’

This unlikely collaboration began through Oli and Louis knowing they wanted someone to feature on their track ‘Unnecessary Things’, from the ‘relapse’ version of their 2020 album, 14 Steps to a Better You. ‘We wanted to give it a little bit more love, so we were on the search for someone to feature on it.’

A lot of Australian acts would just go for another Australian act – that was just a bit predictable

‘We didn’t quite know who that person was going to be. We were looking at maybe a female French artist or a Japanese hip hop artist. We were just looking for something a bit different. We didn’t know who; a lot of Australian acts would just go for another Australian act, and I feel like a lot of collabs are just a bit predictable.’

Like a creative boomerang, their publisher got in touch with an answer. Hollywood royalty was in town, shooting for a film. Not only that, but Idris had also heard the band’s music, loved it and wanted to come together on the track.

What’s more, in this curious tale, after their previous tours of Australia, Oli and Louis had found a hype song of their own: Wiley’s ‘Boasty’, one of the few tracks known to feature Idris, albeit as a rapper.

‘We were on tour around Australia at the time. And the funny thing is we were actually hyping ourselves up just before going on stage with ‘Boasty’. That was like our hype-up song just before going on stage. I don’t know why but it became our song at every gig. And so when we got that message, it was weird. Then he came into the studio and smashed it out real quick, it took like three hours or something.’

The funny thing is we were actually hyping ourselves up just before going on stage with ‘Boasty’

And we’re blessed he did, with the initial collaboration kindling a creative union that would lead to more. With Idris playing as much a part of Cordi Elba’s musical construction as the two brothers, the result is not merely some pet project to satisfy the creative outlet of someone usually confined to the screen (or DJ booth). It’s a well-crafted EP that packs a variety of styles into a compact project.

‘Unnecessary Things’, for instance, the track that initiated the collaboration and features last on the EP, certainly found the right person to feature, with Idris delivering a heartfelt, emotional addition to an otherwise laid-back groove. Another, ‘Holey Moley’, has Idris offer his typically coolest-of-the-cool appeal, whilst singing about being ‘shitfaced all the time’. It has deeper undertones, however, referring to the drinking culture within the industry.

For ‘What’s Not To Like’, an upbeat number designed to wash away any self-doubt, Idris had a strong say in the track’s messaging. ‘The chorus lyric came from us, but for the verse, I think he’d just been at a party the night before. And he was talking to someone who was constantly looking over his shoulder. He thought, “okay, this person obviously doesn’t want to talk to me.”’

‘Then someone whispered in her ear, “do you know who that is, it’s Idris Elba?”, And they suddenly wouldn’t let him go. He thought, “Screw you, I was trying to have a conversation as a person and now you want to have a conversation”. That’s what the verses are about.’

He’s going on set of the film and every time he’d get a bit of downtime he seemed to be working on the next song

Musically, Idris ‘plays his voice,’ says Louis, before Oli adds: ‘A lot of those songs came from skeletons that he created.’

‘We’d go home from a session and Louis and I would go surfing or work on something else, but he’s going on set of the film and every time he’d get a bit of downtime he seemed to be working on the next song. Those songs are completely different to what he gave us, but, ditto, it still has the same sample that he put in there.’

This is perhaps most easily identified in the penultimate track, ‘Holiday,’ which curiously branches out more into house and is one that’s ripe for further remixes (one from Idris himself perhaps). Yet, it’s a surprising fit on this coherent mini album. ‘It was very much this dance tune that he wrote. And we almost had to pull it back, so it met our style a little bit, but we changed things around.’

And when musicians come together with someone usually used to screen, the language of creativity inevitably varies. ‘Idris is very visual,’ says Oli, ‘And he’s got this crazy imagination. So he would even sometimes say something like, “we need to be doing this,”’ he mimics, gesturing with his hand going upwards, ‘And then it’s absolutely a take-off.” And you’re like, “Alright, cool.” Then you figure out how to do it. He was always quite descriptive.

You’d think, “Maybe he’s over it. Maybe he’s onto something else.” But then he’d call and be 100% committed

As for the music video: well, anytime there’s a camera involved it would be hard not to step aside and let someone such as Idris take the reins. Originally considering having the music video for ‘What’s Not To Like’ in animated form – to bypass not just Idris’ busy schedule but the small matter of being on other sides of the world during a pandemic – the actor instead actually pushed for using a green screen studio. ‘We kind of kept forgetting how enthusiastic he was,’ Oli says.

‘When he went over to London you might not hear from each other for like a week or two and you’re like, “oh, I don’t know. Maybe he’s over it. Maybe he’s onto something else.” But then he’d call and be 100% committed.’

Despite such questioning, Lime Cordiale are in fact no strangers to fortuitous collaborations. In 2019, through the wonders of Instagram, the pair were told Post Malone’s manager had listened to their music, enjoyed it, and was keen to get in touch. Slightly disbelieving, Oli returned the reply (how’s that for sliding in the DMs?).

‘He instantly asked for my phone number, called and said, “Dude, we were listening to your music last night and ‘Postie’ loves it, and all of our crew love it.” And so it kind of went from there. It was interesting; we went to see three Post Malone shows in Sydney and hung out with him, played beer pong, got pretty drunk and went to the after parties. It was all pretty wild. And then we got flown over to LA and formed this collaboration with the Post Malone team.’

We went to see three Post Malone shows and hung out with him, played beer pong, got drunk and went to the after parties

‘We were schmoozed,’ Louis admits, interjecting.

And whilst the pandemic put paid to some of the plans they had with Post Malone – specifically, their plan to visit his house in Utah and undertake song writing sessions – the pair are now hoping to fly out again soon and potentially ‘rekindle that relationship button’, as Oli puts it.

‘It’s a completely different world to what we’re used to,’ Oli adds, ‘they’re rolling around with their crew through the states; we’re just like beach bums from Australia, so it’s been quite an experience for sure.’

‘Beach bums’ is certainly an understatement. For whilst these heady collaborations are no doubt impressive, the real strength lies between these two, Oli and Louis. Two years apart (Oli being the elder), the spark between them is clear, despite calling over Zoom; as evidenced by the small but by no means insignificant way they talk, as Oli typically leads before an astute remark or joke by Louis to round it off. They aren’t just brothers, they’re band partners, with a collective flair between them.

They aren’t just brothers, they’re band partners, with a collective flair between them

‘We got to this age where we enjoyed hanging out with each other as brothers and our tastes in music became a bit more similar. I guess we just wanted to create music we were listening to, so we started writing together with no pressure or idea of what we actually wanted to do. Then we had a few songs and would just play at the local bar down the road and invited all our friends.’

At one point, a band member that’s actually not with us anymore (our old trombone player), said: “If we’re going to do this, we should actually do it, because you can muck around, play gigs and write a song every now and then. But if you actually want to make it a thing, then you need to go real hard.”

Lime Cordiale became good friends with Post Malone too.

‘So from that point we made sure we had shows every weekend and were busy trying to record more and write more, trying to make it more of a job. That was a while ago. 2009 is when we were playing those first shows, but I think we really kicked into gear around 2012.’

Quality albums soon ensued, culminating in their 2017 debut studio album, Permanent Vacation, which featured their pulsing hit ‘Temper Temper’, among others. Their subsequent 14 Steps To A Better You added to their dreamy repertoire – and it’s no surprise it endeared them to the likes of Idris and ‘Postie’.

Despite their rising stock, the one thing you can’t falsify has remained intact: a genuine connection with their fans

But despite their rising stock, the one thing you can’t falsify has remained intact: a genuine connection with their fans. Louis, for instance, a graduate of Sydney College of Fine Art, who continues to make the artwork for the band’s albums (‘anyone that’s been with us for a while has kind of seized on the development of his art as well as the music, which is quite beautiful, really,’ Oli says), can be seen in a short documentary from 2017, sprawled across the floor of their parent’s house, creating prints.

Anyone who had pre-ordered the album received one, whilst Oli was rolling T-shirts himself (admitting they’re ‘horribly folded because I can’t roll for shit’) before placing them into envelopes for each fan. It’s these small extra steps that makes it hard not to love such a band. ‘[We] love to keep it genuine,’ Louis says, ‘We need to come up with the next thing to sort of give to the fans,’ implying a lot about his appreciation for their ever-growing audience.

They’re the musical gift that keeps on giving, too, with a whole festival – The Squeeze – that they’ve been running since 2019. ‘This is the first year where it’s actually outside and it’ll look like a proper Festival, an all-day event.’

‘We started it because we weren’t getting booked on festivals. So we thought, “screw it, we’ll do it ourselves. And we’ll book artists that we think are undervalued and need to be heard. And we’ll get people another avenue for people to discover music.” And then it’s just grown from there.’

They’re the musical gift that keeps on giving, too, having run a festival since 2019

Thanks to their manager, Mike Chugg, a well-known promoter Down Under, the festival has risen in stature. ‘He’s really taken it on board this year and made it 10 times what we could have ever dreamed of. We just thought we were gonna put on four shows in the capital cities of Australia, but he’s done around 12 shows in rural areas. It’s pretty large.’

For fans in the UK, unable to squeeze in The Squeeze, a rescheduled UK-wide tour (originally set for this month) means you’ll now be able to catch Lime Cordiale later this year, including shows at Camden’s Electric Ballroom on 13^th and 14^th September.

Will Idris be in attendance at any of them? Most definitely.

‘He’s just as keen as we are. When he got on stage in Sydney, he was the one pushing it. He was saying, “are you guys playing any shows? I mean, how crazy would it be if I got on stage?” We obviously just thought, “Yeah, you should do it.” There was a bit of back and forth. We didn’t want to ask too much, and he probably didn’t want to get into our space too much.

“Idris, you’re getting on stage with us in the UK. You don’t have a choice.”

“But I feel like now we’re just like, “Idris, you’re getting on stage with us in the UK. You don’t have a choice.”

You have a choice to get some tickets, which are on sale now. Choose wisely, you wouldn’t want to miss it. Who knows, maybe Idris will drink from his shoe after all.