Ecstatic about hearing they’d made it through to the semi-finals, Limbo Sanctuary from Sydney absolutely cannot wait to hit that stage again. They’re looking forward to doing their fans justice onstage at The Factory Theatre on the 7th with a full reworking of their original set of songs. Before the show, they stop off to talk to Emergenza about what that process has been like and what’s getting them excited the most for the semi-finals.

CAN YOU INTRODUCE US TO YOUR BAND LIMBO SANCTUARY?
Limbo Sanctuary are a trio: James Phipps, Austin Jenkins and Nina Barnard. We have been together for about a year now and have had some amazing opportunities in that year to bring our quirky indie pop rock sound to the people.

WHERE DO YOU DRAW YOUR MUSICAL INSPIRATION FROM? WHAT THEMES DO YOU EXPLORE IN YOUR SONGS?
It's different for all of us. Nina and myself (James) write the majority of the songs. Personally, I grew up listening to a lot of melody driven music. To me if you have a good melody you're more than half way to a complete song. Lyric wise, Nina and I are very similar in how our lyrics are mainly emotion driven, rather than story boarded. We explore depression, anxiety, empathy, right up to extreme happiness. Drum wise though the inspiration for our songs thus far comes from Chad Gracey, Mick Fleetwood, and Chad Smith.

YOU SAY YOU'RE GETTING READY TO RECORD YOUR DEBUT ALBUM. HOW IS THAT GOING?
It’s going really well. We just recorded our first demo of some of the songs and it came out really well, and we are excited about getting in and recording. We haven’t got any official dates as of right now though.

WHAT WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE FIRST ROUND FOR YOU?
The atmosphere- everyone there was super nice and supportive, and the venue looked and sounded amazing.

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO BETWEEN GIGS AND WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO PREPARE FOR THE NEXT PHASE OF THE COMPETITION?
Between these two gigs we have been reworking almost all of our songs, tweaking and changing them to make them the best they can be, focusing a lot on the melody, metering and the overall direction of the sound. We also worked on tracking a demo of four of those songs. To prep for this next gig we have been rehearsing a lot, we are really proud of our set list that we are bringing to you guys this round so be ready!

IN WHAT WAY DO YOU THINK YOU'VE GROWN AS A BAND SINCE YOU FIRST ENROLLED IN THE FESTIVAL?
I think as a band we are much better connected now, with reworking these songs we connect a lot better when we are performing now. Our understanding of each other as musicians has grown, which is just going to make our vibe when we are on stage reflect the music that much more.

SO HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE EMERGENZA FINALS?
Really amazing- when we received the phone call that we were through we were ecstatic and we cannot wait to do the Limbo Sanctuary fans proud and get through to the next round!

HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO PROMOTE FOR YOUR UPCOMING GIG?
We have been promoting our gig through word of mouth and lots of social media such as: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST ABOUT THIS ROUND IN THE SEMI-FINALS?
Performing. Emergenza always picks amazing venues for the competition to be held in and this one is no different. Also, with such a wide range of audience there, we can gauge how the songs are from a live perspective. We all love the stage so we can’t wait to get up there again!

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO ENROLL IN THE EMERGENZA FESTIVAL?
We heard about it from the Internet and decided it would be an awesome chance to get our name out there and play some great venues. We believe we have something to offer people and this has given us the chance to get our music heard.