We caught up with Still Listening favourites Lime Garden ahead of their Truck Festival set.

Lime Garden have accrued a crowd at the main stage for their hotly anticipated set, both in the physical and metaphorical sense of the phrase. They make a return at the cooler time of 8pm at The Nest, which has turned out to be packed out tent despite its size. Scheduling means they’ve forgone their initial slot to make way for Pigeon Detectives…Alas, the crowd know where to go and turn up in full support.

We spoke to Lime Garden before their re-emergence on The Nest stage.

You guys have had a great year! Has there been a holy shit moment that’s cemented how well things are going?

Leila: Maybe Glastonbury. We played the Park Stage.  

Annabel: That was quite early on the Sunday morning, but it was really busy! A lot of our inspirations were on the line up as well.

Who did you manage to catch?

Annabel: Fontaines DC

Both: LCD Soundsystem.

Annabel: The sun going down and we were right at the front as well, it was so good, so unreal. 

You’re obviously travelling a lot with tours and festivals. What books are you reading?

Both: We don’t read books!

Leila: It’s the other two you’ll have to ask.

How are we killing time on the road?  

Leila: I really like a game on my iPhone called Slither AI. It's just where you sort of float around space as a bird and you have to jump these fences.

Annabel: We listen to a lot of podcasts like listen Off Menu, that's often like the drive home. We don't want to listen to any music.

What’s been a festival moment outside of Glastonbury that’s really taken you by surprise?

Annabel: We've been to this festival just outside of Berlin. We played at like 11pm, and it was in the forest, and it was really busy, and we were just like, oh hey Germany! It was 5am, so it was like, oh, it’s fucking on.  

You’ve had the opportunity to open for one great acts in the past year. Is there anything you’ve learned that you’d love to take on in the future? 

Leila: A bigger live set up would be nice! They (Bombay Bicycle Club) had quite a few extra musicians on stage, playing accords that I would love to have more people play, like trombones and synths and stuff.

You guys are from Brighton. As a London based mag, there is an importance of looking outside of the city and platforming musicians from across the country. Is there anyone you’d like to plug?

Both: Ladylike!

Leila: They're a really good band, we’re really good friends with them as well. there's lots of good music, quite a lot. Like Maximilian, if you’re into Jeff Buckley, you’d love him!

We’ve seen your Charli XCX cover, how did that come into fruition?

Annabel: We’ve been lifelong Charli fans, and we were playing a show at the George Tavern for our label. We got together to learn it, and we were like, what key is this song in? In the first session, nothing seemed to be working.

Leila: Yeah, we were like, it sounds stupid. So we went outside for a little reset, came back and we were like, and then we played it, and then people really liked it, so they'd play it for other sessions, and then,

Talking about women in music feels reductive but I feel like this year, there has been a bit of a shift in terms of women dominating. What are your thoughts on how 2024 has been in regards to this?

Leila: It's been really positive, even if you look at the Mercury nominations, there's a lot of really talented women in there. But in terms of guitar based music, I don’t think it’s quite there yet. We really need to grab it.

Annabel: I feel like there's often cliche in live music. If you're a female band, you have to have some sort of gimmick almost. Like you have to have something. You can't just be a band. Like boys can just walk up and do their t shirts. And their songs are beloved. And they're very stink, you know. Whereas if women do it, it's either punk or statement. It's sort of done, but there's a lot of progress.

What does the rest of the year look like for you?

Annabel: We'll be going to America in October for the first time. We're going to be in L. A. for Halloween. We’re going to dress as pirates. Don’t ask why, but that’s the plan.

Leila: And I really want to see New York. New York, yeah. Chicago is what I've heard is really cool. Honestly, we've only been to Texas, so we’re excited to get out there and see more.