LiMBO is an awesome band, and I give props to Taylor Hicks for bringing these guys together. Taylor obviously knows talent when he hears it—he selected each musician for his band after only one listening. Jeff’s take on Taylor’s formula is simple: “With Taylor finding us all, I mean, in a way, it wasn’t just the musicianship in his mind. He’s kind of like a human resources director.”
In addition to being a talented musician, Taylor apparently has other hidden talents. My only regret is that I never heard them perform live when they were all still together. While I did purchase “Under the Radar” shortly after hearing and seeing Taylor play his harmonica on Idol, a CD is not the same as a live performance. “Under the Radar” is a great CD that showcases Taylor’s talents, but only three of LiMBO’s current members are featured on that CD.
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| L-R (Jeff Lopez, Zippy Dieterich, Brian Less, Sam Gunderson, and Mitch Jones) |
Image Credit: What's Up VIP
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Shortly after Taylor left the band to begin his stint on Idol, the band decided that they could no longer call themselves the Taylor Hicks Band and began the search for a new name. Brian Less’s wife, Staci, is credited with the band’s new name:
Brian: My wife came up with the name. My nickname is Little Memphis. . . . And we were in limbo when Taylor went to Idol, okay?
Sam: And his wife said, “What words can fit those letters?” Little Memphis—
Brian: And she added blues and orchestra. Y’all are in limbo, so be LiMBO.
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Even without Taylor, LiMBO remains an extremely talented band. The members of LiMBO have become stars in their own right thanks to a suggestion that the band trail the American Idols tour this year. Once bass player Mitch Jones made this suggestion, one of the band’s managers put the tour together.
The tour turned out to be a success for LiMBO, and they even met and became acquainted with the newest member of their management team during this tour. Looking back, Zippy, Sam, Brian, and Jeff have come a long way from their first involvement with music.
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Brian: I started playing the piano when I was five years old. My parents could not pick me up on time from kindergarten, so they put me in piano lessons after school, and it was just natural for me. . . . I found a classical teacher—Mrs. Eikhoff. She taught me keyboards, piano, and I hated it because all we did was serious classical, and I was like, “I want to learn rock and roll!” . . .When I was 13, I found this guy, Bob Payne, in Memphis, who taught rock and roll piano. . . . I’ve been taught very well, but I play from the heart. So, I’ve been playing ever since I was five. . . . I knew that’s what I wanted to do when I was a little kid. I wanted to be a rock star.
Zippy: I used to have a tennis racket, I would play along to the stereo if nobody was in the house and look out the window at the trees and pretend it was the crowd. I was seven years old. I always knew I was going to play music. . . . My training started in about ‘82, and I was classically trained. I was in the Huntsville Symphony and went through school—went to college playing. I was a section leader of the University of Alabama drum line. Roll Tide—Million Dollar Band! I was the leader of the drum line. Then, I used to write halftime shows for high schools. That was the last thing I had to do with bands. Then, I focused on the rock. I tried rock and roll, and after that, I focused on the classical stuff, and when that started phasing out, I started getting more gigs and playing drum sets. I played xylophone and the timpani. I was a timpanist for the University. And, then, the rest is history—after a hundred million smoky bars later.
Sam: I actually started off on violin and fiddle when I was five. My dad is a guitar player. . . . And, basically, I started playing guitar when I was 10.
Shirley: So, when did you decide you wanted to be a rock star?
Sam: The day I was born. Actually, when I was 13, I saw Stevie Ray Vaughn in concert, and that was it. Huge day for me. Here’s this guy, front and center, spotlight on him, playing guitar for people, moving them, and that’s what I felt like I wanted to do.
Shirley: Jeff?
Jeff: I started playing keyboard and organ when I was three, and at that time, we couldn’t afford a piano, so . . . I was like Brian: I would just go down, and people said I could just sit down and play whatever I heard. But, my granddad was a saxophone player. So, he played music constantly in the house, like Coltrane and all that stuff, so he knew that I was taking in that influence all the time. . . . I wanted to play saxophone because granddad played it. It was one of the most expensive instruments. I went through trumpet and trombone because they were all cheaper, and then, finally, when I got a saxophone, that’s when I found my niche. I had my first professional gig when I was 13 with a big band. . . .
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These years of practice and honing their craft have paid off well for LiMBO. Jeff has played with the Temptations Review and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. He has also opened for the Manhattans and Blue Magic. The entire band has opened for several well known acts, including the Blues Traveler, Journey, The Marshall Tucker Band, and Hootie & The Blowfish. In addition to and in concert with their busy touring schedule, LiMBO always takes time out to support several charities.
LiMBO is very involved with an Alabama charity known as Kid One Transport (Kid One). This involvement began with none other than Taylor Hicks making a $100 donation. Suzanne Thrash, Community Relations Specialist for Kid One, reminisces that Taylor “gave $100 and said that, ‘hopefully, this will one day be bigger’.” Taylor got his wish. He and LiMBO autographed a guitar that raised a large donation via auction. In addition, Taylor’s fan group, the Soul Patrol, has raised in excess of $30,000 for this extremely worthy charity.
Kid One provides essential transportation to critically ill children and expectant mothers who would not otherwise have means of keeping vital health care appointments. The organization began in 1997 with one car and one full-time driver. Today, the charity boasts 13 vehicles, 13 full-time drivers, and now serves 32 counties in Alabama. The organization’s goal is to cover all of Alabama and to eventually cross state lines. Kid One is the only organization of its type in the United States and has recently passed some important milestones:
--The organization completed its 100,000th trip last year;
--To date, Kid One has made 113,000 trips;
--Kid One has driven over 2.5 million miles;
--The average monthly fuel bill for Kid One is $10,000; and
--Kid One operates on a budget of just under $2,000,000.
Of utmost importance to Kid One is the proper maintenance of its vehicles. Suzanne Thrash shares that “We have to keep the cars in top shape because we are carrying precious cargo.” Much of Brian Less’s time on tour was spent backstage, collecting instruments and memorabilia and having Taylor and the other Idols autograph these items to auction for this and other charities. “It became a job,” discloses Brian. Even though the tour has ended, Brian is still working hard at his “job;” he recently took three harmonicas and two guitars to New York for Taylor’s signature. Please take the time to visit Kid One’s website (www.kidone.org) to learn more about this charity, which gives so much to the citizens of Alabama.
Brian and the rest of LiMBO (and Taylor) are very big on charitable works. Personally, I love hearing, reading, and writing stories involving people who so enjoy giving back to their communities and the world at large; I could easily write about the band’s charitable works alone, which brings me to another point: I lied about only having two parts to the LiMBO interview. So much important, fun information came from this interview that I feel compelled to share more, so stay tuned; there’s more to come.
Part One of the Interview with LiMBO is here
Shirley has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with an emphasis on Creative Writing, from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Phoenix.
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