Credit: Che Deedigan
Manchester post-punks New Luna mix up post-punk, dream-pop and fuzzy guitars, with captivating vocals and perfect harmonies on new single 'Prunus', released last week, and their first new work of 2020.
Who are you?
I’m Tommy Deedigan, vocalist and guitarist for New Luna. The rest of the band line-up is Zack Bamber on guitar, Tom Owen on bass and Nathan Gray on drums.
Tell us something about yourself and how you came to be where you are today.
We’re based in Manchester, but I’m originally from Chippenham – a small town in Wiltshire near Bristol/Bath where Jeremy Corbyn was born. I moved up North to Manchester for uni about five years ago, where I later met Zack and we formed the band.
Give us an idea of your musical style and influences.
I personally grew up listening to a lot of my dad’s records. He got me really into Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake from quite a young age, but it’s hard to say who’s influenced it. I remember stumbling across an old Radiohead CD of my mum’s when I was like 12 and thinking I’d heard nothing like it. Zack and the band are big Radiohead fans too but it’s always been an array of stuff with us. We tend to juxtapose and blend different styles of music with our own sort of take on dream-pop; some tracks to me sound like a post-punk/dream-pop tune, others are like a 90s alternative track mixed with dream-pop.
Explain the production and writing process behind your songs.
The writing process with us changes from song to song. Most of the time someone will bring the basis of a track to a rehearsal and then the band will decorate it with their style of playing and parts, messing with the structure. Other times we’ll just have some beers and jam to write something off the cuff, like that’s how 'Opinionated' was written. Production-wise, we record, mix and produce all of our own tracks as I freelance at HQ Studios near Strangeways in Manchester. So a lot of the time I’ll spend a full day at the studio working with a band or rapper, and then the guys will arrive later on, we’ll set up, order a takeaway and then just record all night.
Tell us a little about your new single.
'Prunus' definitely falls into the side of one of the more intimate/darker tracks we’ve written. It talks a lot about male vulnerability and the relationship between mental health and music, so the band’s arrangement is more built around the lyrics and vocals than most of our tunes. I guess it’s quite a personal record: I wanted to be more direct and try not to hide the meaning in more obscure lyrics.
Obviously at this time we won't be able to catch up with you at any forthcoming live shows, but can you tell us what you may have pencilled in otherwise for the rest of the year?
We have a big headline show booked for October 28th at the Deaf Institute in Manchester; here’s hoping it goes ahead as that would be a perfect way to get started with gigs again. We’re keen to get a full tour together as soon as it’s safe and possible to do so.
Where can we hear more of your music?
Spotify’s the best place to listen to us, though we’re on all the other major streaming platforms. Beyond that, the live session we did in New York for Paste Magazine just before lockdown is on YouTube and includes a couple of unreleased songs.
What social media platforms can we find you on?
Facebook // Instagram // Twitter
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