Limblifter Reveal Select May 2024 Canadian Tour Dates

Illustrious Vancouver-based alt-rock outfit Limblifter is heading back on the road in support of their latest LP, Little Payne. The tour marks an inspiring comeback for the band after Little Payne’s rollout was cut short by front-man Ryan Dahle’s unexpected hospitalization and subsequent open-heart surgery. Limblifter is happy to report that Ryan has fully recovered, and couldn’t be more excited to get back on the live stage. The upcoming tour features stops in Mayne Island, Victoria, Nanaimo, Vancouver, Toronto, and Burnstown.

Ryan Dahle says:

“For about a year, we weren’t sure if the doctors would give me the green light to play shows again. “Now I am fully recovered and ready to test out my new bovine and titanium heart valve. I feel like a bull or sometimes a cow.

“After not playing guitar for a solid year, I have a renewed sense of joy that the instrument brings me. I hear it differently, I understand it in a different way. I definitely have a new appreciation for the fact that I can kinda sing and kinda play this instrument, and that I’ve written all these songs and made these recordings. It seems so basic but when you sink that much of your life into something it tends to pay off even if it’s just personal and private.”

Little Payne’s genesis was years of improvised recordings of Ryan Dahle, drummer Eric Breitenbach and occasionally other band members in recRoom Studio in Vancouver. Hours of recordings would then be sifted through to form full songs. The task of choosing the right songs out of this mountain of ideas, editing the arrangements, overdubbing additional instruments, and finishing the production was shared by the four band members.

Eric Breitenbach contributed the music for two songs, “Dish” and “Impulse Control,” recorded at his studio in Chinatown in Vancouver called The Spot. Ryan then added vocals, and the rest of the band added parts to finish the recordings. Gregory Macdonald did many keyboard, synth and vocal overdubs at his home and at his other band, Sloan’s studio in Toronto. The record was finished, mixed, and mastered at Ryan and Megan’s Mayne Island Sound.

Special guests rounding out Little Payne include Stefania Dubroski, who overdubbed some electric piano, synth strings, organ and acoustic guitar from her home in San Jose. Mark Petersen, a frequent Limblifter collaborator who often shows up in the live format, overdubbed some lead guitar on “Subtitles.” Donny McCaslin, the celebrated American saxophonist with whom Dahle toured and recorded on McCaslin’s acclaimed 2018 release Blow, overdubbed a few saxophone solos from a studio in Brooklyn.

You can find tickets to Liblifter’s upcoming shows on the band’s website here.

Tour Dates:

May 2 – Mayne Island, BC @ The 44
May 3 – Victoria, BC @ Wicket Hall
May 4 – Nanaimo, BC @ The Queens
May 5 – Vancouver, BC @ The Green Auto (all ages)
May 25 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
May 26 – Burnstown, ON @ Neat Cafe

Limblifter ‘Little Payne’ album artwork