“Me enseñaron a vestir”: Michael Stipe sobre Limbo District, la mejor banda de la que nunca has oído hablar | Michael Stipe

“I thought I’d landed in a hippy cowtown,” says Michael Stipe, of his first months as an art student in Athens, Georgia. “I was an urban punk rocker, and Athens seemed beige and granola; it took me a while to find my ‘people’.” But, in 1979, at the only coffee joint still open after Stipe’s nightshift at the local steakhouse, he saw “this unbelievable, almost-cartoonish trio who looked like they’d stepped out of the Weimar Republic”, he says. “I waved at them. They waved back.”

Power trio … Dominique Amet, Davey Stevenson and Kelly Crow, circa 1982/83. Photograph: Collection of Kelly Crow

That trio – Jeremy Ayers, Davey Stevenson and Dominique Amet – later became Limbo District, the most radical group of an Athens underground scene that gave the world the B-52s, Pylon and, of course, REM. But while those bands went on to enjoy global recognition, Limbo District are forgotten. They existed for only two years, imploding messily before releasing any music. For decades, the only evidence they ever existed was several minutes’ footage in 1987 documentary Athens, GA: Inside/Out.

“They were one of the greatest bands on Earth,” says Stipe. Now a new album of rediscovered live recordings illuminates a group whose fusion of art, furious rhythms and punk sensibility proved an indelible inspiration to Athens’ future stars.

Limbo District were led by Athens-native Ayers, the son of a professor of religion and philosophy at the University of Georgia. “Jeremy Ayers inspired almost every musician in Athens,” adds Keith Strickland of the B-52s. “His early-70s parties were like art happenings – walls covered with black plastic; floors thick with popcorn; Beefheart and Velvets records playing. He opened doors to creative possibilities. Plus, Jeremy and his boyfriend Chris [Coker] were gay – so were Ricky [Wilson, future B-52s guitarist] and I, but we weren’t out yet. It was inspiring to see Jeremy walk around Athens in tight velvet pants and a little fur coat.”

I’m just happy there’s renewed interest in Limbo District, that a shred of their influence still exists

Ayers loved recording himself reciting poetry and playing percussion while Chris improvised on recorder. Strickland says: “It was a cacophony, and it was the introduction to writing and recording for Ricky and me. We continued that method of songwriting.”

Mover and shaker … Influential underground Athens figure, Jerry Ayers, circa 1982/83. Photograph: Collection of Kelly Crow

In 1972 Ayers escaped to New York, joining Andy Warhol’s Factory studio, writing for Interview magazine as Sylva Thinn and befriending superstars such as actors Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis. “Andy loved Jeremy,” says Stipe, “and Andy was hard to impress.” But within two years, Ayers returned.

“There was a cynicism to that scene, a hard edge,” says Strickland. “Jeremy wanted a different life.”

Athens was certainly different: it had no clubs, no “real” music scene. Bands in Athens played house parties to entertain their friends; careerism wasn’t a prospect – although REM would, of course, go on to global stardom. Even here, Ayers’ influence was key.

“Jeremy was a great friend and mentor,” Stipe says. “The person that I became, the public persona of Michael Stipe, I owe to him. He taught me how to dance, how to laugh at myself, how to dress. At the time I thought he was the first love of my life – although it turns out I was just infatuated with him,” Stipe laughs.

Ayers formed Limbo District in 1981, playing percussion. His boyfriend, Stevenson – “a big, buff, beautiful redhead who loved to discuss Schopenhauer”, says guitarist Kelly Crow, who went on to become a band member – played bass. Amet, who played organ, was from an upper-class French family and knew nothing of rock’n’roll.

Finding his people … A young Michael Stipe (left) with Davey Stevenson (right).

“At their first rehearsals Jeremy asked her to sing Johnny B Goode, and she sang like it was opera,” says Crow. “Jeremy loved that: he’d been hoping for someone who didn’t come from a [typical] western music background.”

Amet was “Amy Winehouse levels of exotic”, adds Stipe. “She’d strike matches and use the ash as eyeliner, applied with a nine-penny nail.”

I hadn’t had any friends in Athens. Those guys became my savioursMargarita Bilbão

Singer Craig Woodall was “a small, quiet guy from a place where you couldn’t be outwardly queer and not expect something to happen to you”, remembers Crow.

“Craig had a very hard life,” adds guitarist Margarita Bilbão, an émigré from Basque Spain they discovered after hearing her rant against Athens on student radio. She’d never played guitar before, but the band loved her attitude, and that was more important. “I hadn’t had any friends in Athens,” Bilbão remembers. “Those guys became my saviours.

‘We’d clear the room’ … Limbo District (left to right) Margarita, Craig, Jerry, Davey, Dominique. Georgia State University, Atlanta 1981. Photograph: MacMini/Marlys Lenz Cox

Even among the post-punk mavericks of early-80s Athens, Limbo District’s wild, perverse cabaret was “radical”, says Stipe. “They were intentionally abrasive, like Einstürzende Neubauten or Psychic TV, but they had melody, humour. They rewrote where punk could go next, drawing on vaudeville and Edith Sitwell. They unsettled people, in a playful way.” Strickland remembers the band as “a mesmerising tapestry of pure imagination, with a sexy, surreal, Fellini-esque quality”.

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Athens loved Limbo District, but touring revealed them to be an acquired taste. “We’d clear the room,” says Crow. They recorded material with future REM producer Mitch Easter, but no one would release it. Bilbão grew anxious over her limited skills and fled to New Orleans, heartbroken. She was replaced by Tim Lacy, who was replaced, in 1983, by Crow.

Alrededor de este tiempo, Jim Herbert, un profesor de la universidad, realizó Carnival, en colaboración con la fotógrafa Marlys Lens Cox. La extraordinariamente surrealista y onírica película corta imagina el Distrito del Limbo como “un circo ambulante existencial de los años 20” que se detiene para descansar junto a un lago y se dedica a luchar desnudo. Stipe intentó que MTV emitiera Carnival. “Pero hay traseros y penes y senos en esa cosa”, dice Crow. “Nunca iban a transmitir eso”.

La banda estaba con el tiempo contado de todos modos. Woodall cayó en la adicción a la heroína y pasó los años siguientes sin hogar, luchando contra el alcoholismo y problemas de salud mental. El hermano de Stevenson, Gordon, de la banda de “no wave” de Nueva York Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, fue una víctima temprana del SIDA; su muerte en 1982 destrozó el corazón de Davey. Él y Ayers se separaron en 1983, poniendo fin a la banda, y Stevenson se mudó a Francia para estudiar filosofía en la Sorbona. Amet, que había sido arrestada por robar alimentos y enfrentaba la deportación, fue con él.

“Dominique había estado enamorada de Davey desde el primer día”, dice Bilbão.

“Davey lo era todo para ella”, asiente Crow. “Vivían juntos en un apartamento desde donde se podía ver la Torre Eiffel desde el balcón”. Stevenson murió de SIDA a principios de los años 90. Amet posteriormente se casó, tuvo un hijo y murió hace unos 20 años. “Ninguno de nosotros sabe más que eso”, suspira Crow. “Ella siempre me dijo que quería tener un hijo. No sobrevivió a sus 40 años”.

Mientras tanto, Ayers se dedicó a la pintura y la fotografía. “Sus pinturas eran bastante hermosas, figurativas y simbólicas”, dice Strickland. “Hizo una hermosa pintura de Ricky, de memoria, después de la muerte de Ricky. Jeremy siempre fue tan abierto. Sentías que eras visto cuando hablabas con él; estabas siendo escuchado y oído”.

Antes de huir de Atenas, Bilbão visitaba a Ayers: “Si me sentía enojada y todo parecía mal, tomaba una taza de té en su jardín y hablábamos y éramos felices. Era como un oasis de paz, su gran jardín de bambú”. Fue aquí donde Ayers murió de un ataque, el 24 de octubre de 2016. Tenía 68 años.

“Fue tan trágico, pero poético”, dice Herbert. “Murió en ese jardín que tanto amaba”.

Abundante en Atenas … El guitarrista Kelly Crow guardaba un archivo de material de la escena de los años 80.

En los años posteriores a la separación de Limbo District, los B-52s y REM disfrutaron de un éxito multiplatino y aclamación crítica. Pero los experimentadores vanguardistas que habían sido una inspiración clave para ambos grupos estaban “perdidos en el tiempo como entidad”, dice Stipe. Henry Owings, historiador no oficial de la escena musical de Atenas, redescubrió su legado, lanzando tres EP de material de estudio inédito y el álbum en vivo Live Limbo en su sello Chunklet Industries (con más por venir); ahora está organizando proyecciones de Carnival en todo el mundo.

Durante años, Crow había sido el archivista de Limbo District. “Llevé todas las grabaciones de estudio, cintas en vivo, volantes y carteles de un hogar a otro, durante décadas”, dice. “Siempre habíamos querido lanzar nuestra música, pero nunca pudimos permitírnoslo. Estaba a punto de renunciar. Luego Henry se acercó. Henry se preocupaba. Nuestra música está en streaming ahora. Puedo conducir mi auto y escuchar Limbo District en el estéreo”.

Stipe está “simplemente feliz de que haya un renovado interés en Limbo District, que todavía exista un rastro de su influencia”. Para Bilbão, son los recuerdos de las personas que hicieron Limbo District lo que más importa. “La música era solo un accesorio, lo importante eran las personas”, dice. “Pienso en Dominique, Davey y Jeremy todo el tiempo. Eran increíbles. Siempre los he tenido en mi corazón”.

Live Limbo está disponible ahora a través de Chunklet Industries. Carnival se proyectará en el Reino Unido a finales de este mes.