Seb, Ryan, Tom, and Nick all met at college in Brighton, an interesting place to form a band and the creative streak of the town seems to have rubbed off onto them. Since lockdown, Luna Blue has embraced and adapted to the challenges of both COVID and online performing. 2021 was undoubted quite a challenging one but they are fully prepared for 2022 and for the potential greatness it may bring. Front-man, Tom High, tells us more.
“It’s been really tough, but we’ve all stayed safe and healthy and are so excited for what’s next”
In an exclusive interview, Tom talked about how everything is going in for him during these unprecedented times. Tom said, “We’re currently preparing for festival season and our late summer tour, and also in our ‘writing phase’ where we’re full steam ahead on writing demos ready for our next studio session – very exciting”
He talked about the success that followed after the two tracks ‘Dance With Your Heart’ and ‘Away With You’ that blew off. “Having the support of BBC Introducing (big shout out to Melita Dennett!) has been great. Both tracks being crowned as BBC Intro Tracks of the Day pretty much on release was massive for us, and helped draw attention to (drummer) Seb’s 24hr Nirvana Drumathon in May just after the first lockdown, which ended up raising almost £1.4k for #SaveOurVenues! We actually filmed the music video for Away With You in the fortnight leading to Lockdown 1, so very fortunate timing! It remains our most-streamed track which I think says something about that time, said the frontman of the group.
Tom further talked about their musical taste and inspirations. He said, “We grew up separately and actually all met in our first year of university (though Seb and Ryan met earlier at college). Three-quarters of the band are classically trained from a young age, so any chance we get to play our music with an orchestra we leap at it – it’s something we like to mix with our indie rock tracks now and again, and live audiences seem to love it! Seb and Nick are heavily influenced by prog metal like Tool & Karnivool, whereas myself and Ryan are more indie/pop guys – but that tension between different genres when we’re writing is maybe what gives Luna Blue its a unique sound. There’s also jazz and funk, and artists as diverse as Bjork and Jeff Buckley in the mix!”
He also added, “Don Broco was a big inspiration before we graduated. Right now, I personally LOVE Nothing But Thieves so I’m sure some of that influence will flavor our music vocally.”
Tom also revealed how they came out with the interesting name of the band. ” Ryan and Seb first met a couple of years before the ‘university forming’ of Luna Blue at music college in Bournemouth, and had a prog-rock band called … Luna Blue!! The name came to the ex-guitarist in a dream apparently … that project disbanded when uni beckoned, but we loved the name and it lived on … (thanks Max!)”, said Tom.
Tom further talked about the effects of the pandemic on their music as a group. He said, “Like many people, we were scattered under lockdown and couldn’t meet up to write in person for about 7 months, so instead were writing demos over Zoom… it worked, but was definitely a painfully slower process! We have continued to e-meet weekly as a band with our manager throughout, meaning all the projects we were working on – and especially our tour, which was rescheduled three times! – have been supported”.
Luna Blue is looking forward to Live touring and interact with the group’s fans. Tom said, “we cannot wait! We have some great gigs coming up at last, including headlining the Unsigned Stage at Tribfest, and sharing the main stage with McFly and Ash at Amp Rocks! And of course, our home-city headliner to round off”
Listen to Luna blue from their official site: www.lunablueofficial.com where you will find the complete discography:
