As we bid farewell to 2023, come along with us for a series of interviews with a few artists. We’ll chat with them about their experiences, challenges, and successes throughout the year. These talks give you a close-up view of what happened in the metal music scene in 2023. We chatted with Lotta and Dennis of LUNA KILLS to see how the alternative metal band have experienced 2023. Watch the complete interview here or read the transcript below…
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. You just had your final show of 2023. How are you guys doing?
Lotta: We just finished this year in Espoo. We’ve always wanted to finish off in Espoo. [laughter]
Dennis: I’m basically almost from Espoo, only 10 minutes away. So it was almost like a hometown show.
That’s great! Well, we are here to talk a little about how 2023 went. Can you talk a little about what you guys have achieved as a band this year?
Lotta: Achieved?
Dennis: Quite a lot. We’ve had a lot of shows. We had tours.
Lotta: Yeah, couple of tours, yeah. I think we have written like quite good new material and we have been preparing also for next year. But yeah, mostly we have done shows, so far, many great shows and we’ve made great bands, so it’s been so awesome.
Dennis: I agree.
The biggest thing was maybe opening up for SONATA ARCTICA. How was that touring experience in general?
Lotta: We had bigger venues, so it’s always a pleasure to play at bigger stages. And it was like we had one Finnish tour before that. So it was like, same thing but in bigger venues. So very nice.
Dennis: Yeah, it was a bit more challenging compared to the LOST SOCIETY one because I think the listeners are quite different. But yeah, they responded really well to our music. So success, I would say.
This is also the time for Spotify Wrapped, after having done all these tours have you noticed anything in your statistics from streaming services?
Lotta: I have to say that I’m not a fan of Spotify Wrapped. So I haven’t even seen our statistics.
Dennis: Did you not look it up?
Lotta: I don’t want to. [laughter]
Dennis: Are you scared? [laughs]
Lotta: Yeah. [laughter] Probably it is good or not, but I’m not a fan of Spotify Wrapped so.
Dennis: At least we got a lot more streams than before.
You also somehow found time to write some new songs. Was your process this year different than what you did before?
Lotta: This year was a little bit more challenging because we had these tours and everything and we had to prepare for them as well. And we had so little time in between to actually write and get in the creative space of writing. But I think that anxiety attacks and panic attacks turned out great? [laughs]
Dennis: Yeah, we managed to create some great music.
Lotta: Yeah, that has been the main motivator of this year and I think the new material is a little bit more aggressive and that’s a good thing. It definitely adds a new side to us. So looking forward to releasing that.
You played two new songs today, “Love U” and “Slay Ur Enemies.” Was it the first time you played them?
Lotta: Yeah, it was. We are looking forward to releasing them.
Dennis: Yeah… Could you tell?
I don’t know the songs so maybe you played mistakes, maybe you didn’t. [laughs]
Lotta: We actually played the other one in Lutakko last week, so “Love U” was the first time we ever played here. It feels more like at home to play those songs. I don’t know, probably it’s the same for every musician, when you have new material, you want to play it. It was great to get playing the new stuff.
It was pretty fun to watch you because especially during “Love U” you were actually smiling a lot. So I presume you had fun. You mentioned anxiety and panic attacks earlier. Do you feel like you put a lot of pressure on yourselves in 2023?
Lotta: Yes and no, because I think one of the main motivators was that we are not trying to push ourselves over the limits and we are trying to still remain true and comfortable with the writing and having a great time with it as well. And I think we had new creative spaces for doing those kinds of things. So I think yes and no, because obviously we had time pressures coming up, but we tried to avoid them as much as we could. [laughter]
Dennis: Sometimes you have to get something then and then something happens and that usually leads to a good song…
Lotta: Yeah, deadlines.
Did you guys have any time to discover or rediscover some new music?
Lotta: This year, I have discovered my new favorite band which is PALEDUSK. I love them. They are so energetic and over the top and I have listened to them almost exclusively this year, and also BAD OMENS and SLEEP TOKEN were like a big hit in the winter time.
Dennis: I was going to say what I looked at my Spotify Wrapped. My top four songs were SLEEP TOKEN from the new album, which before gigs, I was driving everywhere, I was listening to the same music over and over. I discovered new stuff but I strictly listened to that.
Lotta: BAD OMENS‘ “Concrete Jungle” album was my warm-up record. Every time we are driving to shows I’m going to sing the whole album in the car and warm up because Noah [Sebastian] is such an insane vocalist and he has such an amazing range. So yeah, that’s that’s the two bands I have listened to.
Are they inspiring you as well in terms of writing new material?
Lotta: I think PALEDUSK‘s [latest] one is more to the point.
Dennis: Yeah, some crazy, crazy stuff.
Lotta: The way that they are writing music and seeing music is so different and inspiring, and really breaks the norms of making music so that is really inspiring to me.
Looking forward to see what you have coming up. We talked about your anxities and putting pressure on yourselves, but what has been the biggest hurdle in 2023 for you guys?
Lotta: Time management, to be honest, we have so much going on and it’s really hard to fit everything inside those given frames. So that’s one thing we have had…
Dennis: In between shows and tours, I guess we’re always trying to find the time to make something, I guess.
This year, you also got management and a booking agent. Has that helped you a lot?
Lotta: Yeah, because all the shows that have been booked for us this year… it’s incredible. And management also… we have more structure and people to turn to when we have issues and everything. It’s really great and then the behind-the-scenes work that they…
Dennis: It’s good to have a shoulder [to turn to], so that we don’t have to think about everything too much.
What can people expect from LUNA KILLS in 2024?
Dennis: Sick tunes!
Lotta: Let’s not promise that [laughs] but more shows definitely. And yeah, we’ll to push the new music out because we really want to play it. We want to play it all.
… And there is Tuska 2024 of course, which you just got confirmed to!
Lotta: That’s the one festival that we’ve been waiting for the happen to us, so it’s going to be sick.
Dennis: Yeah, I’ve never even been there myself so…
Looking forward to that! Anyway, thanks so much for your time, is there anything you still want to say to your fans?
Lotta: Thank you, everybody who has come to our shows. Thank you everybody, who has listened to our music bought our merch, and supported us. It’s a big thing for us that we’ve seen growth in the people who come to our shows and everything. Thank you so much and we’ll see you next. year!
Dennis: What she said!
Interview by Laureline Tilkin
