It’s been a busy and varied year for Luna Blue, a band on the rise with a lively tour schedule for later in 2021. Come and get to know a bit about them — they might just have a soft spot for your little sister’s favourite popstar…

RECORD WEEKLY’S INTERVIEW WITH LUNA BLUE

Hey guys, how are you? 

Tom: We’re all well thanks. We’re in talks with our producer about new music, which we’re enjoying properly getting into. How’re you?

All good here thank you — ready for some chill time though, it’s been busy lately!

How are you feeling now that we’re regaining some freedom?

Seb: Yeah, I’m feeling good — I’ll be glad to get back to the pub. I haven’t been yet but I’m having a beer while we chat…

Ryan: Everything’s looking up, so I’m personally feeling very optimistic as well. Let’s just ignore the Indian variant here… 

Ha, yeah, it’s too depressing otherwise, isn’t it? We’re so far through now, come on!

So, COVID aside, tell me all about how you formed Luna Blue and when. 

Seb: Originally, me and Ryan formed a band also called Luna Blue at college, years ago, and it was pretty crap. We had our first ever gig as that band as well. We both then went to the same uni and the original formation broke up, then Tom and Ryan started writing some stuff together in our first year and then they got me in, then Nick joined. I guess the rest is history!

And here we are. 

Obviously the last year really wasn’t anticipated by anyone and it continues to cause no end of issues for the music industry, but how has the band fared? Have there been any silver linings or has it just been limitation after limitation? 

Tom: Seb kind of ran off back to his parents when lockdown kicked in haha, so us being in different counties definitely made it tricky — even though we couldn’t have seen each other anyway. We tried writing over Zoom, which was pretty tough, so we just did what we could as demos. When we could meet up face-to-face again, we started writing and putting it all together. We’ve never had this many songs in the bank.

Well, that’s very exciting! Definitely a plus.

Tom: Yeah, it’s really nice that we’ve got loads to choose from now. We’re going to chat to our producer, as we said, and just cherry-pick what we want to push forward and tidy up. So, the pandemic has certainly given us time, which has been great, and we’ve had a few cool gigs come through as well — including one with McFly in September. 

That’ll be big!

Tom: Yeah, we’re really looking forward to it. I guess lockdown has also done beautiful things with streaming as well. Nobody’s had anything else to do, other than listen to Spotify, so that’s been a massive help. It’s just been listening to music, streaming Netflix, eating ice-cream and having the occasional cry, hasn’t it?

That sums it up really haha. 

Tom: Yep, lockdown in a nutshell haha. 

It sounds like it’s not been all bad then — time to put pen to paper. 

Seb: Exactly, we’ve all had so much spare time — well, especially me — which has allowed us to focus more on the band. 

Tom: Let’s not forget there have been a couple of career changes as well actually. You know, Seb…

Seb: Yeah, I was a letting agent, then I packed that in and I’m now in the process of becoming a software developer. 

Oh woah, what a career change! Very nice. 

Seb: A big change, yep. I’ve had to work really hard on it because there’s a lot to learn. But it’s cool and a lot of fun. 

I think we can all relate to how we’ve had time to develop things. Record Weekly was so tiny before the first lockdown, for one!

Tom: That’s really good. Ryan also had a little life change…

Ryan: Ha, I did. I got a cat — he’s sitting right next to me actually. 

Haha sweet! Cats are actually great. 

Ryan: It’s definitely made me appreciate cats more — I wasn’t that into them before, but here we are. There’s not as much responsibility with a cat as there is a dog, which is nice. You don’t have to take them out for walks…

Seb: You can, though! 

Ryan: Haha yeah, you could whip out a cheeky leash and take a cat for a walk.

Seb: I used to work at Pets At Home and they even sold rabbit leads…

Hahaha excellent.

*Nick then joins and some unusual influences come to light…*

Okay then, which artists have influenced your sound the most? 

Nick: If I had to pick three, they’d be Tool, Time, The Valuator and… um… fuck it, Ariana Grande.

Hahaha what a combo! Absolutely wasn’t expecting that.

Seb: Two metal bands and Ariana. Wow. 

Ryan: I’d just like to say the actual influences for the band are slightly different, to be fair. 

Nick: Oh, for Luna Blue? Well, that’s totally different then. Okay, straight off, Don Broco, Two Door Cinema Club and, yeah, Ariana Grande… She’s a good lass.

Tom: Don’t forget a bit of Foals as well. 

You seriously can’t beat a bit of Foals. 

I’m worried I might know the answer to this already now, but if you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be? 

Nick: Pendulum — that’d be sick. I’d be all over that. 

Seb: So not Ariana Grande? 

Ryan: Don Broco would actually be an amazing collaborator.  

Nick: Yeah, or the deathcore band Infant Annihilator would be another good one. 

A real range there haha. 

Right then, any dream venues, whether you’ve played them before or not? 

Ryan: Straight off the top of my head, O2 Academy Brixton and Wembley Stadium would obviously be sick. That would be an incredibly awesome experience. 

Tom: I’ve seen Don Broco and Nothing But Thieves at the Roundhouse in Camden — now, that would be a really cool venue. I’d really like to play there. And obviously a few festivals as well — headlining Glasto would be unreal. 

Seb: You could probably go back to the Royal Albert Hall again, Nick…

Nick: No, that would be amazing. I mean, it’s a weird stage. It’s one of those venues that’s designed acoustically for the audience, so you can’t actually hear what you’re playing when you’re performing. Playing there was horrible — a nightmare if you’re on stage. But, I mean, great if you’re in the audience. 

Ha, mixed feelings with that one then!

Let’s talk bands you’re keen to see live… 

Tom: I’d like to see Coldplay — they put on pretty epic shows. 

Seb: It used to be cool to hate Coldplay — just like Nickelback — but I never really got that.

Ryan: I always liked them — they’re a great band. 

Nick: I tell you who’s a sick band — Muse. They put on such a performance! Would definitely like to see them live again. 

Finally, while you’re here, what’s in store for Luna Blue in 2021? 

Tom: Our tour at the end of June/start of July is probably the first thing we’ve got lined up, which is really cool — we have a bunch of UK dates. You can see the full list online now, but we’re also headlining Komedia down in Brighton, we’re going to Bedfordshire with McFly and Ash, and there’s also a Plymouth date in among the lot. There are about eight dates in all. It won’t be, like, ‘mega’, but it’ll be really great. 

When was the last time you played live — was it right before the pandemic hit?

Nick: It was about a week before the start of the pandemic, at Sussex Uni or somewhere like that. I went to Birmingham the night of that and then we were basically into lockdown. 

What a weird time, looking back. 

Nick: Yeah, I remember peering out of the window during rush hour and just thinking, “what?”. So strange. 

Tom: I have to say, it isn’t that noisy where I live anyway, but I did really like just hearing the birds. Those simple elements were actually really nice — the not taking things for granted. 

Seb: Yeah, I kept thinking about how shit it would be to be stuck in central London. It would’ve just felt so locked down. 

Definitely. Properly eerie stuff. 

So, before you guys go, can you tease anything else that’s on the horizon?

Tom: Our discussions with our producer are basically now about music for 2022. We’re hoping to go even bigger and better. It’s been recognised that our sound is particularly good live, which we’ve had a lot of compliments about, but what comes through on Spotify is never quite as decent. Our next challenge is to step up that sound online, so bring on the next wave of new music! 

Want to keep up with all things Luna Blue? You’ll find them on Instagram and Facebook, and you can spin their addictive tunes on Spotify. If that’s not enough, you can also catch them on tour this year!