2011 was a big year for Campbell’s Limousines. The electropop duo’s debut record, Get Sharp, was released by Dangerbird Records (home to Fitz and the Tantrums, Silversun Pickups, Ben Lee and others), they spent the summer playing festivals like Outside Lands and BFD, and, in an ironic twist, MTV played the video for “Internet Killed the Video Star,” and featured them during MTV Push Week. They toured the East Coast with Neon Trees, but their biggest boost of all may have come from the national tour they just finished with Swedish indie sensations the Sounds.
“The tour was awesome,” says lead singer Eric Victorino.
Clearly, the Sounds were impressed, too—they invited the Limos back for a 25-date European tour that winds through Germany, Belgium, the UK, France, Spain, the Czech Republic and of course Sweden.
That tour starts in January, with just enough time in between to play a couple of Bay Area shows. Unfortunately, their annual pre-Christmas show at the Blank Club tonight has been sold out for a month. Hometown fans have learned it’s the best show of the year to reconnect with the band’s music in an intimate space. That’s exactly how the band and club owner Corey O’Brien designed it.
“Corey lets us do our thing, he trusts us,” says Victorino. “We just book a couple DJs and we play by ourselves. Last year, it was just us and a DJ set.”
Those who didn’t get tickets to the Blank show will have another chance to see them at their New Year’s Eve show at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco.
They’re also finishing up a video for “The Future,” off Get Sharp. It’s a follow-up to their awesome zombie-themed short film for “Internet Killed the Video Star” that they produced locally last year.
“It’s a similar situation to last time where we just had a massive idea and a lot of luck. Everyone kind of came together,” says Victorino.
When the band put out a call for volunteers to help out on the “Future” shoot, they got a little sampling of how much their fan base has expanded in the last year.
“Some of them were brand new fans who just saw us at Outside Lands and said ‘I had no idea you guys were even from the Bay Area,’” he says. “I love people knowing we’re from here, but it feels like something’s working when someone just sees you at a festival and becomes a fan, and then they find out you live down the street.”
.Catching Up With The Limousines
