Music should be thought provoking
and tell a story in which the listener can take a right or left or be daring
and travel down the path less taken, the nominal fork in the road.
Much like a Frost poem in which you
have Miles to go before you can sleep, the Luna Sol album is
rifftastic with a grown up story of political awareness and human feelings that
touches a side a lot of rock does not engage in. It is one of caring and going
out on a limb rather than taking a machismo stance and a love of the blaring
carburetor of life.
David Angstrom, Les Paul slinger of Hermano, treats us to a feast of riffs and incredibly
emotional and solid lyrics in the debut of Luna Sol’s “Blood Moon.”
An output that is so pleasing to the
ear, you will be enjoying yourself immensely from track to track. Sit back, maybe grab a nice
artichoke dip with some pita chips and enjoy probably and this might get me in
trouble, but my favorite interview I have done by far.
Gaff-
Thanks for taking the time and chatting
David- My pleasure
Gaff-
The new album is really good, I will be honest it is a different vibe than I
thought. Lyrically I found it to be really heavy and then in other aspects it
was light. Can you take me through your writing process? Is it something that
you do as a group or lyrically are you coming up with everything
David- This project, when
I moved to Colorado Marshall
I
vomit riffs out and if they feel good while I am playing them I start humming
melodies and writing lyrics. I walk my dog a lot around here it is just
beautiful in Colorado, there is a nature reserve near my house, and I would
just walk and think about different cities I have been to, and I wanted to
create, I had never done this before, I wanted to create a space to write
within and decided to take the old tales from cities, you know, kind of creepy
and tell about the dark side of Colorado because it is so pretty, but there are
haunting elements as well, like there was a lady who lived in a cabin for 32
years and she went fucking nuts and dies in this cabin. That dirt in the cracks
of the beautiful landscape were seeping into the lyrics and the headspace where
I was coming from at the time. I was trying to put it all together. Some songs
are written in different stages, I was thinking about the continual wars that
are going on and conversations I had been having with my son and a chorus just
popped out for “Your War”. I would
like to say I am some kind of genius but I am not, I am a slob and it just kind
of comes natural.
Gaff- I find that usually ends of the most genuine
David- Yeah, me too. I
grew up listening to Alex Lifeson, Johnny Winter and Leslie West. I like the
purity of players like that. When I write songs, I try to do the same thing
with the songs.
Gaff-
The one thing about the album from a listening standpoint, it is in no way
contrived.
David- Thank you very
much
Gaff-
Some stuff you listen too, especially in certain genres, some will write only
about certain things, this is riff and boogie ridden but is dealing with mature
topics, which is what captivated and grabbed me. So you have the lyrics and
riffs, how do you go about the process of putting it down in the studio?
David- I have always
loved recording and since I was twelve years old I was working with a 4 track
my friend David Barrick bought. Well actually I had 2 radio shack recorders
first and then I bought a 4 track. So I have always written that way. I was in
a studio in Atlanta and Brendan O’Brien and
Nick were in there, he is so talented and just the sweetest guy (Brendan), he gave me some of his drum samples and sometimes
I will write over my own cut-n-paste jacked up beats and tell the guys this is
what I am going for. I have used those samples for 15 years for writing.
It
is just a kick, snare and hats and cymbals and I create drum beats under a
riff, sometimes I will create a drum beat that I think is kind of cool and that
is why the drums sound really weird and Pat is the first drummer I have played
with that has tried to emulate some of that stuff as it is really quirky and
bizarre. He always says “I want it to sound like your writing demos”. He’s a
badass, that’s not easy to do. I demo
everything. I put harmonies on tracks and everything to hear it as complete as
I can sometimes. The coolest thing about
playing with Pat, Shanda and Shannon is that they are so unique in their own
sounds and personalities …they bring these totally different layers to where I
was originally going. Shanda and Shannon add their own harmonies that always
make me smile.
Once
we started playing together and working on songs together I could hear them and
started writing into their thing. So yeah, I kind of tend to throw everything
down and I send it to them to check out. Then they tweak it and we start
breaking the ideas in and creating them as Luna Sol in the practice room. When we are writing a record, I will send
those guys a riff and ask what they think, but I am quick also to throw things
away. I will go back and listen, if I don’t love it, I know it is disposable. I
don’t linger on songs and ideas…if they grab us, we use them, if they don’t we
don’t. It is kind of cool what you said
about writing. I think, being older and looking back, I used to be that way. When
I was in Supafuzz,
I loved being in that band. The soul kind of left the band because we were
writing to be on the radio or to appease some music biz weasel who was
promising the world. You forget that at the end of the day man it all started
when I was 10 years old and I put on the radio and was blown away. I’ve
discovered that by having wife and kids in my life and heart that I already own
the world…having the right riff and playing music is just the icing on the
cake.
Gaff-
I think there is a thing with growing older, the sanctity of your soul, there
is no substitute for it. Like I said, lyrically, this album the strengths are
its tonality and the articulation of the voice and really just the lyrics.
David- Thanks man. I also
see myself as a guitarist so when you are saying that, it makes me blush.
(Laughing) I had to sing because no one else wanted too. That started when I was 10 years old in my
first band with David Barrick and Jon McGee, outside of Hermano it still holds true.
Gaff-
That was the question I was going to ask you, and you answered it. You have
been in Supafuzz, Hermano,
over 5 bands, is it easier being a singer songwriter or do you still see
yourself as the cat with the black Les
Paul just fucking rocking out?
David- Guitar geek is how
I see myself, it is just Les Paul swung low, that is when I am having the most
fun. I am still working on my guitar plating and recently really began working
on my vocal style. You know it is interesting, when I was writing a couple initial
ideas that grew into what is now on “Blood
Moon”, my wife would kind of pull out stuff and say, “You know, that
doesn’t sound really sincere, it sounds like you are trying really hard” when I
was trying to sing higher parts and stuff, she would tell me to just be myself.
“When you sit around and play guitar, you do not sound like that.” So in Luna Sol
I tried to approach it as being more honest and not caring what came out. Well
caring, but not forcing. I definitely
see myself as a guitar player but I love to write songs. I really enjoy singing
and harmonizing too, I can’t lie. I love
the craftsmanship of songwriting, the art form. I love it all, especially with Hermano,
you know those guys are so amazing and I can be sitting in a room and pop off 6
riffs and you know put some turn around in there and come up with a pre chorus
and a bridge and literally write a song in 5 minutes. That is fun, I love it.
It’s a rarity and I’m honored to be a part of Hermano and Luna Sol.
Gaff-
Do you find, with this, you are not focusing on the riff so you are able to be
a free with playing because you are focusing on the vocals?
David- I actually do not
focus on the riffs, I just let them come out. John (Garica)
told me one day, and I remember we were offered a tour, and I was like we gotta
do that. We were on the phone and John said “We gotta do what? First of all we
don’t GOTTA do anything.” I was like, haha..yeah, you see I have been in Supafuzz
for 10 years playing every dive bar in the US and you are already well known,
we were playing in shitholes, so yeah in my mind, we had too. It was really
cool to have a friend of mine just grab me and say you do what you want to do
when you want to do it. Then it is really real. It’s pure and honest. Done because you love it and crave doing it
vs feeling you have to do something for someone else. He taught me that freedom and I think that is
becoming a bigger part of my life in a lot of areas and it is really nice. I am
very grateful for John and all of my friends.
OK… I am not sure if I answered your question or just rambled. My brain is fuzzy at times. hahaha
Gaff-
No you did, it seems as if the riffs come out effortlessly and vocally, do you
see yourself thinking more about singing than playing the guitar
David- No, it just all
kind of happens. I mean I had to be the singer when I was 10 years old and in
sixth grade I had a band called Aftermath with David Barrick, who now produces
Black Stone Cherry and also the Kentcuky
Headhunters, David is amazing.
Also Jon McGee from Taildragger.
He’s so talented as well.
We
were kids growing up together in Glasgow, Kentucky. Those guys didn’t wanna
sing and said I had to sing, we were trying to emulate Rush, Itchy Brother, and Mountain.
We were trying to learn all this stuff and I said I can’t focus on guitar
because I have to sing and I can’t focus on singing because I have to play
guitar and it’s was confusing to me.
Then one day, I don’t know, I just found this space when I was a kid and
just started doing it and it would come out. I didn’t have to struggle with it
after that. One thing that is kind of interesting and one thing that I have
learned about myself is that if it’s not there, I am not gonna force it. If I can’t find a melody I don’t force one
anymore. I mean we have 5 tunes that I
think the riffs and the songs are just amazing musically, but I can’t find a
natural vocal part …so I just scrap them. They are just songs, we can make
more. hahaha
Gaff-
Yeah, it seems as the interplay with the guitar and vocal is very natural
sounding.
David- Well Thank you
Gaff-
As a band how long did the recording process take you?
David- Well, these guys
are all badass so when we kind of decided we were really a band, we tracked for
a week in my home studio in Colorado with the amazing David Prasse
co-producing. I would find time to do vocals around work and life, so it took
about a year to complete to be honest. I work a lot, so I would get up around 5
in the morning just to sing vocal parts, about once a month I would have time
to do that. So as far as music goes it was done pretty quickly, and were
passing files to friends so they could play on it. It did take a little time,
but David Prasse really did an amazing job and it was worth every moment we
took to create “Blood Moon” in my heart.
I’m very proud of this record.
Gaff-
Who mixed and mastered the album?-
David-I
am really glad you asked that man, a really good friend of mine named David
Prasse, he actually was the attorney that was behind the force of Supafuzz.
He traveled all around and did so many great things for us. Of all the people in the music business, I
know a hand full of people that are good people, Ram (Hermano/Luna Sol manager), David
Prasse they are great people who love music like we do. David and I have always
been friends and we hadn’t connected in a couple of years since I moved out
here, so I shot him a note and was like “hey
I wanna make a record” and he was like, “Oh I am doing a lot of recording at home just for fun.” So I told
him he should come out to Colorado from Atlanta and let’s make this muther
together. He did, he paid for his own
flight, brought his own Miller High Life and tracked us. He brought his own mics and really became a
part of this record from the first note recorded. He is definitely a part of all of this and he
has done a great job with it. He actually just recorded Hermano here at my home, too.
David Prasse rules, man. Great guy.
Gaff-
I was gonna ask you about the 12 songs
David- Yeah, my poor
neighbor’s man. I’m loud and always writing.
Gaff-
So that is great, you were able to re connect with someone, and did he do all
the recording, mixing and mastering
David- Yeah, he did it
all at his house. He would send it to us in dropbox and that was around him
working on record deals, as he has his own full time gig, and it was great, and
he is such a good friend that it really meant the world to me that he was
involved in it.
Gaff-
In terms of the mix, are you guys, well some engineers are like, please get the
fuck out of my hair, are you all hands off and let the engineer do his thing
and listen then on the car stereo, or hands on?
David- I am definitely
hands on and always involved. As
co-producer I helped sculpt across the board, but David and I work really well
together. We have a blast! We set up mics together and made sure
sonically that the album sounded real. David REALLY did an amazing job to
capture a real sound, I wanted to hear a record that was honest sounding like Zappa,
Clutch
or Government
Mule. You know you can get
something back from an engineer and it is so squashed, and they say “it’s better for radio”. Honestly, I could care less about this
playing on the radio, I wanna listen on my home stereo. Loud! Let other people kill it with their own
compressors, I wanted it to sound natural and David did too. He and I did a lot
of that stuff, Pat was involved a lot too.
He had some amazing ideas. Shanda and Shannon had a lot of ideas too,
they are all so very talented. As far as
the engineering and technical chores though they all really trusted what David
and I had done before and let us do our thing. They are very trusting. and
badass! I’m lucky.
Gaff-
What was some of the gear, guitars, amps pedals, what kind of shit were you running?
David- I have a plexi
reissue and a JCM800 that was modded for me by Steve Wilson. He’s an amazing
tech and great guy. Check out his
company Bias
King. Amazing! He was Stevie Ray Vaughn’s tech. He is an amazing guy
out of Louisville. Shanda and Shannon brought their won kickass gear as
well. In fact, one of the reasons
Shannon is in the band, I knew when she walked in with a 76 P bass and a 72 SVT
that she got it. She knew tone. That made me smile. Shanda also has this old Electra that sounds so
great, and a purple sparkle Flying V that sounds great. She showed up for our
first jam with that Purple V and a kickass JCM900 (her 900 sounds amazing!) and
I thought, “well, Shanda’s in”. I use Dimarzio pickups. Steve Blucher has
always been good to me there. I use what most people use for the neck position
in my bridge position, I like that goofy old sound. As for pedals I use a Greenhouse Effects Gold
Drive pedal, Roy’s pedals are amazing. I also use my SugarBoost from Brad/Fu Manchu’s company Creepy Fingers, I have one of his
original pedals that he made for me. I love that pedal and use it all the time.
It’s like butter…well, fuzzy warm butter.
Ha. So… yeah, a bunch of old
pedals, some new pedals and a bunch of crappy chords that have been in road
cases way too long. Those cables bring
the crackle to the party. Ha.
Gaff-
Is the Les Paul your main axe in terms of everything?
David- I think so, I mean
when I was growing up Ace Frehley was everything to me. Then, at 11
or 12 I went to the music store and Sam Bush and Greg Martin were all hanging
out and they would tell us to bring in a record and show us what kids were
listening too. So we would bring in Kiss and they would all laugh. These amazing
bluegrass and blues players, they were all laughing at it. So this amazing
guitar player, Kenny Weber (Kenny was a mentor, teacher and friend to me..he
passed but is still a part of my soul) said if you are going to listen to rock
you need to listen to Johnny Winter, man. He put it on and I was
like holy shit. So I really got into Johnny Winter, so I got a Firebird, Strat,
Melody Maker, LP Jr., Silvertone, Gretsch, J200… I just love guitars man. Each
one is very different.
Gaff-
Growing up in the south, were you an Allman Bros fan?
David- Oh my god yeah.
Gaff-
Yeah, because it tinges through for me in some of the stuff you guys are doing,
Tonality wise, some of the Duane stuff shines through in some of the stuff you
are doing. Which is the shit, I fucking absolutely love it. So, I really get a
tinge of that in what you are doing, so thank you.
David- Oh man, I really
love the Allman Bros. If I could even play like Duane
Allman could played with the slide on his pinky toe I’d be stoked. Ha.
I’m a hack slide player, but slowly learning.
Gaff-
There is that Southern tinge in which I find to be very relaxing and not a lot
of bands, in terms of the heavy riff rock thing, have that laid back soul, so
that was another thing that I thought was really happening
David- Oh man, that is
awesome. I will always have my Kentucky
roots and southern soul.
Gaff-
So you have the album out, do you guys wanna tour, where do you wanna take it?
David- I don’t have any
pre conceived notions, I just wanted to make a record and was blessed that
David and Randy’s label wanted to put it out in the states. Isa and Martin at
Cargo in Europe stepped up, Alex too over an email I sent out when I was on a
plane asking if anyone would want to put this out for me and Isa said, “I will,
Dave.” She rules.
Gaff-
I was actually able to go to Cargo last year. Man, what incredibly nice people.
So if something happens great, if not, you have an album that fucking slays.
David- If it is in the
cards, I’ll play cards. I suck at playing cards, my wife always beats me, but
whatever…no plans, no failure, just music for the love of music these
days. I’m at a stage musically where I
don’t want to make any plans. I have enough gear in my house in that any moment
I can go in and have more fun that most people get to do at clubs …so I feel
deeply blessed.
Gaff-
Do you have a favorite track on the album? Or one that really hits you when you
are playing and singing?
David- They are all so
different that I don’t know if I have a favorite. I had not thought about that.
I mean I really like singing the chorus of “Your War”, I like bringing to light that politicians easily send
people over to be killed, yet stay home protected themselves. My dad was in N.
Korea and Viet Nam, so I am trying to reflect what he may have gone through in
the song “December”. That really
hits me as I am really close with my Dad.
I used to write stuff with a lot of hidden messages, and I just tried to
be honest in writing this time. I had a great time, so each one of them is
different and they are fun to play which is kind of cool.
Gaff-
Yeah it’s not fun to play an album and you fucking hate playing it
David- oh dude, yeah. As
a kid, I was blessed to work with the attorney, Linda Mensch, an amazing person
and she helped this band I was in, Black Cat Bone, and asked on the demo is there
any song that you hate, and I said, yeah and I told her and she said to take
that song off and I asked why and she said that will be the song that will be a
number one hit. She said every band, the song you hate is the number one song
even before they get a chance to hate it. I said that was interesting. I loved
and love Linda Mensch. She was a great
guide for me early on in my music business path.
Gaff-
You turn into Quiet Riot.
David- Yeah, no
publishing. I watched a video on that drummer.
Gaff-
He was a great drummer, for that style of rock.
David- He is amazing,
Gaff-
You forget that Randy Rhodes was in that band. Rudy Sarzo on bass. Franky had a
great back beat for a sunset strip band.
David- What an amazing
guitar player. Rhodes, Oh fuck yea. The drummer, his style was so different.
When I was in Supafuzz,
we got this call from our booking agent about this weird in between date and it
was opening for Quiet
Riot, but they have to use your gear, we were like, Hell yeah we
will do that. Rudy Sarzo and Frankie, hell yes. It was awesome.
Gaff-
Who was playing guitar, Carlos?
David- Yeah Carlos was
playing, it was all of them.
Gaff-
What year was that?
David- It was 95 or 96,
maybe 94. We started Supafuzz in 94, it was early on and we were
just hitting the road and playing anywhere we could. It was trip and I loved
Rudy Sarzo.
Gaff-
Especially since he played with Ozzy and did the Whitesnake shit. He has played
on some Epic albums. In terms of influences, growing up in the South, were you
way into the boogie swing or really have a lot of different influences in your
style of playing? Obviously, you also loved Kiss.
David- I love metal,
early Priest,
you know, if I ever work out, I can’t help but crank some Priest, I just love it. Really
everything, I just love music. I adopted, even late, when I met my wife, she
had put a Tom
Waits track on when I was with Hermano, and now I am learning about Gogol Bordello
and Tom
Waits from her. Amazing artists!
I have just always tried to soak in good music and I try to think about
what Eddie
Van Halen said about Cream when I was growing up. “Hey, you can always learn from anybody,
sometimes you learn what to do and sometimes what not to do, but you gotta
learn.” I was like, that is really cool. So I try to adapt that. I am not
saying I am good at adapting that (laughing), but I try.
Gaff-
In terms of the journey you have had, do you still love playing as much now as
you did as a kid? Or now, being able to reflect on certain moments, is it more
fun?
David- I actually like
playing and writing even more now than I ever have. I don’t like going out and
playing in clubs, trying to play at midnight, I could care less about that. I’m
not interested in impressing anyone; I just want to play guitar hahaha. I love
to play guitar and write songs, but I also love to think back about being all
over the world and I have done some really cool shit and the reason I was able
to do it was because of that Black Les Paul. Watching Greg Martin when I was
10, thinking, I could do that. He is amazing, I didn’t really think I could
pull off what Greg does but he was so honest in his style and tone.
More
importantly, Greg Martin was standing beside me, saying you can do this and let
me show you how. It was never a question. I never thought I would be as good as
Greg Martin and I still can’t play like him as he is amazing and one of my
favorite guitar players in the world, but just being around that, I think it
changes your view of what might have seemed so distant. I love playing, its
different, I used to like the fight and the struggle of the dive car
circuit. We are headlining on Friday, we
got the best tour, but honestly I could give 2 shits about that anymore; I just
wanna play guitar man. With Hermano, we will play matinees, blow their
heads off and let the young kids with skinny jeans and even skinnier tone fight
it out who is gonna go on late and ask themselves what the hell just happened.
I realize that skinny jeans kid was me a few years ago and that makes me smile
for them. It’s all good stuff, just
different stages and different paths, I think.
Gaff-
We get to play early shows and you are done at 9pm, for guys our age that is
spectacular.
David- Now that is what I
am talking about that is my favorite. Last time we went on tour, which was a
few years ago, my wife and I were dating and when we would get done, she would
laugh as we would grab a bottle of wine, go up on the second floor of the tour
bus and watch Six Feet Under, now THAT is an after party.
Gaff-
I get it takes a lot to rock. You are stinking and sweaty, need some downtime.
David-exactly, you know
what is crazy, when you are young and no money you get in the studio and have
to hurry, now you are older and you have a family and responsibilities so time
is limited and again you have to hurry, it is as if things have come full
circle. But I have better gear now. Haha.
Gaff-
so true, I think now I can relate better and play and sing better as I can look
back and really know what I am doing now, as opposed to being young and not
really taking it for what it is worth. I now really understand the math and
science of being in a studio and really how it works. It is such a crazy thing
and people so take it for granted. Next thing you know from a click click, you
have 7 guitar tracks and 5 vocal harmonies and you are asking yourself how the
fuck did you do that. But in all honesty, without bands like Hermano, I wouldn’t be
doing this today, so thank you so much for doing what you do my man.
David- Hermano is such a joy, like you said, you feel
blessed, you get to a point where you are doing it for the love of it and it is
a different element and it is really nice.
Gaff-
I feel it comes out really genuine. That is why when listening to your playing
in Hermano and Luna
Sol, the boogie and certain influences so hit home for me, and I truly
love it.
David- No one gets that
so I am so happy you got it and thank you.
Gaff-
So obviously your heart and soul has been put into this album, is it an easy
transition then into the Hermano tracks, you can hop on the les Paul, not worry
about singing and just let it ride?
David-
Yeah man, I have my friends over, we get up, make a huge pot of coffee, and we
start writing riffs and record them. Some of the songs we had gotten together
about 5 years ago and did a little session to see what we could write and we
did 5 tunes. David Prasse was laughing
as he kept timing, we had not heard these songs in 5 years, let alone play
them. We would listen to them and he would say the longest time it took for you
to run a song before tracking was 7 minutes.
He was like “you guys are insane”.
There is something in that band, we are just such good friends you know and it
just clicks, we are all very different yet musically we think a-like. Hermano
is definitely a blessing and I am humbled and honored to be a part of it. They
are all just great, life-long friends. We get done at night after recording with
Hermano,
and most bands talk about how great it sounds and how badass you are, we get
out the catch phrase game have a drink and that’s it. We don’t even talk about
the songs. We just let them live on
their own.
Gaff-
We enjoy eating chicken wings.
David- Friendship is just
as important.
Gaff-
If not more important
David- Yeah, you are
definitely right.
Gaff-
It is such a marriage
David- You are right man.
I have always had that. I have always been lucky and it took me getting older
to truly see how I lucky I was you know to have that. I don’t know if a lot
bands are lucky enough to have that. Good thing about being in the bands I am
in, we have no egos and we have no money, but we have a deep, true friendship
and love for loud slamming riffs. That
trumps money any day. (laughing)
Gaff-
I am just happy I had money to buy some gear. Guys get all wacky and pissed
about who is getting credit for writing what, it is a band; everyone is
contributing to the process. You hear horror stories about bands making these
great albums but members are still pissed because they only got a fifth of a
credit. So it’s great you guys are free about that stuff.
David- I had a buddy came
in and he helped me with a riff and I turned it around but gave him points on
the album. Why not, was the right thing to do.
Gaff-
It gets crazy
David- People get so
crazy about points, I am like dude, I will give you 43 cents right now, fuck
it. You are worrying yourself to death over nothing.
Gaff-
Yeah, here, I will take this quarter and cut it in thirds, there you go.
David- Ah, here man, here
is a whole quarter, I’m cool.
Gaff-
Oh you are on Itunes, let me break it down for you, I make enough to buy a
fucking jiffy pop at the end of 3 months. If you are in it to become a
millionaire overnight, fucking auto tune your voice and do something different,
because it is not gonna happen.
David- Yup, yeah no
thanks, not doing that.
Gaff-
so the album, all tracks are killing, is this the easiest album you have done?
David- The new Hermano
album is the easiest album I have ever done. It just took a few moments of my
life. I was laughing my ass off the whole time. The Luna Sol
album was a labor of love. I wrote maybe 25 songs just to get the ones we ended
up with. I wanted to make sure it was good and I think David did a lot of work
on his side, tone wise and going back and forth, making sure I was happy and it
is was all done in a real positive light. You know, we had a blast, I felt 15
again in the back of a Camaro, cranking Van Halen. It definitely took a lot of work
but I love it. …and my friend and
executive producer Art McIntish came in and saved the day helping us finish
up the album and getting it released in the US.
He’s a great guy too. I’m lucky.
Gaff-
Then Hermano, if you are ripping tunes in 7
minutes then that truly can’t be a time you hated, ha.
David- It is crazy, the
drummer Chris and I have been friends since we were 13 years old. It was a
totally different vibe with Luna Sol as it is them playing my songs, with Hermano,
we just get in a room and everybody riffs and we track it, like the first Gov’t Mule
album. Luna
Sol is a crafted band that ultimately creates the sound organically
after running the songs several times. I
really dig both very much. So cool.
Gaff-
I think a lot of times, with guitar players, their solo album sounds exactly
like the band they are in, whereas the Luna Sol
stuff so definitely has its own vibe. So, I commend you in terms of that.
David- Thanks so much
man.
Gaff-
When Steve Perry did, “Oh Sherry”, fucking Journey could have done that.
David- I wanted to be Ace Frehley and do “Back
in a New York Groove.” Sound like Kiss kind of, but no,
not.
Gaff-
You would have to get on Quaaludes and have that Brooklyn drawl. So it just
seems like everything and this is one of those albums where you listen to it,
then listen to it again and by the third time, the Luna
Sol album has you hooked. Like I said, lyrically it hits places a lot of
bands in different genres shy away from. The maturity along with the riffs is
what really sunk its hooks into me, so Thanks so much for putting out a great
album.
David- Thank you so much
for those kind words.
Gaff-
Like I said, I was not sure what it would be like, so I listened to it and then
I had my son listen to it and then I went back and listened to Hermano and the Luna
Sol stuff is different but still has the chug to it where you can still
shake your ass in a bit if a different light. Is there a date when the Hermano album is coming out?
David- I have no idea.
John is out in the desert doing vocals and with all of this stuff, Hermano
and Luna Sol,
it happens when it happens. No plans, no pressure. I am sure it will see the light sometime next
year. I am really stoked for it.
Gaff-
Thank you so much for doing what you do. It touches a lot of people and lets
people feel better about themselves.
David- Thank you for
helping to get the word out. I love to make music man and I hope to be able to
do for a long time. At the end of the day, the fact that people like it makes
it so much more. And if my kids and wife dig it, I’m happy. I’m so lucky that my folks bought me a guitar
for my 10th. It’s allowed me
to see the word and make some great noises with wahs over the years.
The
End
So, what have we learned from this
discussion friends? David might be one the coolest and most down to earth
players in this hemisphere. He is what one may call the Wyatt Earp of guitarist
in the fuzz driven world of rock that roll, where pure confidence and ass
kicking display of the power of the riff compels me.
Loving the music you make and
sharing it with the people of the world is such a wonderful gift and David is
hitting it out of the park with his release from Luna Sol.
It is a mature, lyrically story telling of the common man, and what and how
people are feeling in this insanely motorized and crazy busy society we
co-habitate in. It is a breath of fresh air when pollution is loomimg it’s ugly
head around and above the street corner of desire.
My advice, get this album, put it
on, mellow out your mind, body and soul and just listen as it transcends
boundaries of wonderful musical escapades.
The riffs fly and the bass and drum
work set such a wonderful foundation, no leaks will ever be intruding this
piece of art. Yes art folks, due to the pouring of emotionally adequate vibes
that were introduced to the ears of listeners. Much like a Basquiat painting,
it lets you into what the artist was feeling and wanted to portray at the
moment it was conceived.
Bravo Luna Sol,
thank you David for a piece worth its weight in Gold.
