Luna Blue are bringing that warm summer breeze we all love with their fun, indie rock! Based in Brighton, the band have been nailing bringing their influences together to make their own sound; there’s a great blend of rock and sense of melody here and is very impressive. It makes me very excited to see what they are going to deliver next! Was great asking their bass player, Nicholas Davie, some questions about the band and their love for what they do.
There’s such a great mix of influences you can hear in your tunes! Foals and Chilli Peppers are two that came to mind, what do those bands mean to you guys?
Foals and the Chillies are 2 of our biggest influences. We saw them both when they headlined Reading Festival in 2016; Foals’ live atmosphere was the thickest fog we’ve ever been in! Spookily, Seb and I both saw Chilli Peppers at the same gig 2 years before we met each other. I think the Chillies have had an especially big influence on our guitarist, Ryan - you can hear that in his playing from our music instantly.
‘Nightjar EP’ came out back in 2017, must feel like a long time ago now. How does it feel looking back at the EP, three years later?
Yeah, it feels like ages ago now! We look back on it so fondly though; compared to our new music (which is more pop-oriented) Nightjar EP definitely captured our prog rock side. The song ‘Nightjar’ itself was directly influenced by bands like Karnivool and Pink Floyd (and that track has some die-hard fans!) ... 'Checkmate' and 'Borrowed Words' remain in our set to this day, we still love them. All the songs played such an important part in our development as musicians and songwriters, and our new material is turning a little towards our indie rock roots whilst retaining our signature upbeat sound.
‘Borrowed Words’ seems like such fun song to sing, how did that one come about?
It’s certainly got one of the catchiest melody lines Tom has ever come up with! We wrote this at the beginning of our 3rd year at Chichester university, back in 2016. This track in particular is a perfect representation of our different influences coming together in their rawest form. Tom initially brought the chord sequence to us, then over the next few weeks Seb and I accessed our metal and prog influences to put down a tight, driving and interjecting drum beat and bassline, with Ryan adding one of the funkiest and most soulful lead guitar lines we have in any of our songs. Tom then brought his powerful vocal influences (such as Jeff Buckley) resulting in a track to knock your socks off!
The single ‘Tropical’ was the next release, it sounded so much more full and colourful! What did you guys learn between the EP and the next set of releases?
Tropical was the last song we wrote while still at university. The main thing we learned was that we didn’t need to make a song complicated (like a lot of the stuff in Nightjar) to make a cracking and catchy tune … we’ve had Tropical in our live set since the start of 2018, and it’s still one of the top 3 that gets the most attention.
I read that you guys did a performance with a huge an orchestra!!! And that your bass player did a lot of the arrangements? That must of been such an experience, tell us a bit about how it came back and how it went down?
We’ve done this a grand total of 3 times now, and it’s definitely something we’re looking to do again. One of my degree modules was learning to arrange for orchestra and other classical/jazz ensembles, and the realisation came to us that we were at a time in our life (at uni) surrounded by musicians who were literally there to play their instruments! I utilised my skills to arrange a two hour set of Luna Blue's music plus a few covers (such as a fusion version of Aha’s 'Take on Me' and Agent Fresco’s 'Anemoi').
We did this twice during our last 2 years at uni, and it then came up in an interview with Melita Dennett on BBC Introducing South in July 2018. They invited us back 6 months later with a compact version of the orchestra to play live on the radio, WHICH WAS INSANE!! One of the songs performed was 'Borrowed Words', which was filmed and recorded (and can be found on our YouTube channel).
Brighton is known for being such a hub for artists, what's it been like being in the local scene and how do you find trying to stand out?
Although the music scene here is amazing, it is incredibly saturated. We love living and playing in Brighton, but standing out can be very difficult ~ which is why we’re constantly searching for 'outside the box' ideas (like the orchestra) to help leverage Luna Blue, and get us noticed. Social media has also played a huge part in the band’s image since leaving university; we’re constantly developing ideas for content, competitions and activities that are not only entertaining, but involve our fan base as much as possible ... I distinctly remember being slapped in the face by Seb with an asparagus for 'content'! I also recall Tom downing 2 straight shots of the hottest chilli sauce we could find in nearby shops … it’s entertaining, what can I say? But yeah, alongside the music it's finding fun stuff to do and running competitions which help keeps us 'up there'.
There’s been two singles released so far in 2020, ‘Look At Me’ and ‘Away With You’! How’s it been with putting music out during COVID? Hope you are all okay too!
We're all good thanks, although (like many bands) we've been in 4 different locations during lockdown.
'Look at Me' was released around a month before the outbreak of COVID and subsequent lockdown in the UK; as usual, we did everything we could to promote the song, and we played a couple of sold out gigs around that time to celebrate the release. The track achieved a large number of streams on Spotify, (around 44k).
'Away With You' however, was released in the thick of lockdown, so part of a very different landscape … luckily we shot a music video for it back in February, so had content to go with the release. The track had around 800 Spotify pre-saves and made it on to some very cool playlists, so we're happy (sending huge thanks to our loyal fans all around the world!). Seb did a 24-hour lockdown Drumathon which raised £1375 for #SaveOurVenues, and we've also played a few virtual lockdown gigs and festivals, which has certainly been interesting - although this enabels us to play for our fans during the pandemic, of course it's not the same as a live gig - we can't wait to get back out there when it's safe!
I hear a mix of Foals and Everything Everything in the recent release, ‘Away With You’, is that a fair reflection?
Bands like Everything Everything and Two Door Cinema Club certainly played a huge part in the writing of 'Away With You'. But then again, I remember thinking of Don Broco (and even Tool, minimally) during the writing process at times … and yeah, there's a Foals influence as well I guess, especially when the texture thickens at the end of the track … Our influences come from literally everywhere when writing, which I personally like to think sets us apart from a lot of other bands, in breeding a unique Luna Blue music style. There are parts of our songs where you might think “Ah yeah, deffo a Bruno Mars vibe here” and it may turn out that particular section was initially inspired by something as unexpected as Meshuggah, or Joe Pass!
I’m sure the lockdown etc has stopped a few plans, which I hope will be fulfilled eventually....is there anything planned for when normality is back to the best it can be?
TBH yeah, it’s been difficult not to be able to meet up and drive each other nuts! - that's genuinely been probably the hardest thing. Not being able to take the mick out of my nerdiness and being oblivious to everything, Ryan’s weight (he’s not even fat), Seb’s dopiness, Tom’s hair (and calling him Tombot 3000 - he loves spreadsheets!) has been really hard. The main thing we’re excited to do once everything returns to normal is gigging again. We’re all also incredibly social, so there is going to be one wild night out when we get back to normal! But yeah, the main thing is gigs will be up, running and booked in as soon as we’re given the go ahead that the UK is safe again - and we're in the process of rescheduling our August tour to March 2021, anchored around a headline gig at Brighton's Komedia on 26 March. We also have another release planned for August, and a couple of surprises along the way, so watch this space!
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