Interview: Luianna

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today? 

Music is medicine, song writing has always been my way of processing, understanding and letting go of tough emotions.

I struggled as a kid with a lot of unprocessed emotions, I remember this coming from the confusion of never meeting my father, and also sexual abuse I’d lived through as a toddler, I was feeling displaced and started having flashbacks through my early teens, so I started writing poems, and it worked! I could always put onto paper feelings and memories I was not able to even think about let alone speak about.

There was an old acoustic guitar in my mums house and I remember finding a chord sheet and following it till I could make melodies with a hand full of open chords when I was about 10. Then I got together all of my poems and started putting them to music, and all I really remember is I felt free doing it, not a worry in the world, just creating songs.

Funnily enough I don’t write that way now, I always come up with the music and then let the lyrics come as and when, but for sure that was how I started.

If I wasn’t making music I hope I’d be a councillor, I’ve worked a lot over the years helping teenagers write songs about their feelings and it’s so immensely effective as a form of expression, kids take to it so well.

I had a feeling it would work, as it had so well for me, but the results blow me away everytime. When theirs a beat, and a safe environment for young people to write, magic happens.

How long has your band been around?

This solo project has been a dream of mine for years, I got the confidence and ability and songs together just before Corona hit. So I guess a couple of years : )

Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music? 

I’m wrote and recorded all of the songs from the EP in Berlin. The music stores and friends I met the past years influenced my sound massively. The Micro Korg is a dominating sound through all of my tracks and after I’d been lent one for a couple of weeks I was sold. Those bass notes!! Yes!! Also I wrote all of the drums for the original tracks on a machine I’d found in a music shop in the centre of the city, it enabled me to communicate in the studio what I wanted and influenced the overall sound massively. 

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?

LUIANNA is my middle name, It makes me smile. I was brought up by my mother and all I knew of my father was he was a greek islander, who for whatever reason, never made it to the UK to be with us.

It was a strange feeling knowing I was from a very different place culturally in my blood, to where I was brought up in south London and I felt it.

My Mum had told me Luianna was a greek word, from the island I was half from, but when I eventually made my way there to find my father, he asked me my full name and he laughed and said ‘Luianna, it is beautiful, but it is not Greek, your mother was very high when we where together, she must have thought it was Greek, but she made it up’ (Sorry mum)x

So thats that. Luianna - A made up beautiful word from my mother, who whole heartily did think she was giving me a local Creten name : )

Tell me about your most memorable shows.

I wrote and recorded this EP during lockdown, and it’s just coming out now, so I hope my most memorable shows are yet to come!

I will say, when I was living in the U.K I worked with a London based circus company called Baseline Circus for a show at Boomtown. They asked me to sing a couple of songs alongside the D.J, and with areal performers flying through the air, strobe lights, an amazing stage set up and thousands in the audience it was by far the most intense and incredible stage show I’ve ever been a part of. Thank you Bassline for having me!!

What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

I love doing festival shows, also grungy dark dive bars do it for me. The bigness, and the intimacy, are both really rewarding.

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

Oooo la la, I love this question!

Aurora

Stormy

Little Simz

Mabel

Annie Lennox

Quinn Christopherson

Portishead

Daisy the Great

Doja Cat

Ber

Wande Coal

BERWYN

Joel Corry

Joy Crooks

Mynolia

Ben Abraham 

(And the list well and truly goes on and on!!!)

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

Trust yourself, Trust your gut. All of us have our own unique ideas and sounds. Self doubt is real, but if you go with your gut, great things can come through.

If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?

Don’t be afraid, and get in the studio girl!!!

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

Heroin - This track is about my father, and his life, mixed with how thats effected mine. From the day I wrote it, which was an epic day of tears and writing, to the way it has developed in the production, I am so happy with it. Especially the ending. I can’t believe that piece of music came from my brain. It blows my mind.

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

My favourite are Witch, Sick in the head and Heroin. Interestingly I write a lot of heartfelt love songs, but these three are each their own individual story.

People seem to connect more to the love songs though, I get messages online about peoples connections to them in different ways, and for me, this is what it’s all about, this is one of the main reasons want to share my music, to help others process their feelings, have a cry, to think. So I feel blessed that this is already happening right at the beginning of my music career : )

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

I write in flow state when I have too, when I am in pieces, or elated. This is how and when I write the best, which is not always ideal, because life is of course made up of these times, but also it’a nice that its’S also mundane and settled, and the later does not inspire me, but I appreciate al of these times combined.

My creative process is melody first, playing around on the synth or guitar, sometimes just a simple beat, and when I get into it, the lyrics follow. I never plan to write a specific song, I just get in the flow and see what comes : ) Usually nothing special, sometimes, something I just can’t stop singing, these are the ones that make it into the studio.

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

Acceptance of ones self, anarchy, joy, sadness and for sure. These are poetic diary entries and it’s a pleasure to be in a place to share that intimate part of myself.

Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?

Solo helps a lot : ) I’ve got to this place for good reason! ; )

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

I plan to keep being creative, keep writing and keep recording and releasing when I can. I’d love to write with and for other artists too, as the fact of songwriting is my favourite place to be in the world and therefore my favourite part of being a musician. Being a musician is made up of an insane amount of different elements and disciplines, I’ll take them all, and give them all my all : ) But song writing is where its at for me.

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