RECORDS LiVE

Donna: You guys, I found another person. We randomly ran into each other outside. Luke just happened to have all these great records on him, and I said, “Come on down because I got a record player, and we can hang out.”

Luke: Oh yeah. How you doing tonight? Donna, talk to me.

Song Plays: Dexys Midnight Runners — Come On Eileen

Donna: We’re not done with the ladies. Apparently, we got more ladies.

Luke: I think you were telling me the song’s a little dated, right?

Donna: You know you have to explain to me the sentimental value of this song because no young person likes this song unless there’s sentimental value attached.

Luke: This is not true. You guys tell me, you guys tell me. Can we crank it up a bit?

Donna: Build up the tension. There we go.

Luke: Sounds great. Do we know the song? This guy gets it.

Donna: OK, come on. You’re telling me that as a kid, one day you listen to the song and you were like, “heck yeah!” Who showed you this song?

Luke: PlayStation 2 had SingStar, an 80s pop version, and this was one of the songs. Me and my sister would sing the song all the time. Fast forward 15 years later or something when I turned 21, it came on. I was drunk with my mom, and we were both dancing and singing. But honestly, I’ve been to the club, I’ve been to Homecomings where I’m like, “I don’t know about this mix…,” and then this song comes on. I’m like, “This is my fucking night. Let’s go. Let’s go.” But you were explaining to me that it’s a little dated?

Donna: Right. I don’t think it’s dated. It’s not dated. That’s not a great word. You know, when you say the word “dated,” it makes me feel like I went out with someone a couple times and then I was like, “God, they suck.” You know?

Luke: That’s it. Sounds like dating.

Donna: Yeah, but it’s not that I think this song sucks.

Luke: Oh no, it’s a great song.

Donna: What do you think is the implication here with the album cover art like this?

Luke: It’s timeless. I wore that Thursday.

Donna: OK, hold on. Don’t tell me that it’s timeless. That is the most generic thing you could possibly say right now. This man is clearly sad.

Luke: It’s hard times right now.

Donna: But the song doesn’t sound sad, right?

Luke: Oh yeah.

Donna: So, what is the juxtaposition there? What is that in the context of this album as a whole cover art included?

Luke: Well, I think that’s my favorite media. Something that has multiple emotions to it, you know?

Donna: Mh-mmm.

Luke: When we go to movies or anything. I think the best form sounds like a dark comedy, you know? It’s like an “oh shit” thing. But then you’re sitting there reflecting on whatever because it’s intriguing, like Fight Club. You’ve ever seen Fight Club?

Donna: Of course I’ve seen Fight Club.

Luke: Yeah. It’s a good time. There’s a lot of flavors in that movie, and I feel like “Come On Eileen” is the same way. You feel the pain in him.

Donna: Let me let me absorb that Fight Club has similar emotions to “Come On Eileen.” Great.

Luke: There’s like multiple. Exactly like an onion. You know? That’s what makes it fun.

Donna: Lots of layers. Yeah.

Luke: Kind of don’t know. How to feel about it?

Donna: Well, what does this song make you feel like on a personal level? What has this song contributed to your current artistry?

Luke: It makes me feel happy and sad when I hear it live. Literally, I feel it in my heart. I get really hyped. This part when it breaks down, “come on…” You know? Then this is just going to build up, so when you start shaking around like, “oh, shit.” And then it drops again, the main hook and everything. It’s a lot. It’s kind of a different mood right now. This is kind of when it gets sad.

Donna: Yeah. And then it picks back up. Yeah. But you know, those are like big roller coasters of emotions.

Luke: And then you get build up. This is the first drop. This might have been how EDM started.

Donna: Yes! I was just about to say.

Luke: So timeless.

Donna: Yeah, timeless. Someone should sample this song. Maybe it should be you. Make an electronic track. Sample it.

Luke: I could try. I’d have to learn that form of music. It’d probably be pretty botched if I’m just like whipping that out the first time. But I’ll try it. You guys want to hear that?

[Audience: Yeah]

Donna: Yes, yes.

Luke: OK, alright, OK, OK. You forced me to do it.

Donna: There are two or three bands that I feel like people always bring up on their playlist. Can anyone, just for funsies, guess what they might be?

[Audience names various hip bands including Radiohead]

Yeah, Radiohead. We’re not there yet, though. The second one is Pixies. So, when did you first fall in love with Pixies? Tell me, tell me all about it.

Song Plays: Pixies — Gouge Away

Luke: My family’s always loved Pixies. My sister got really into them, really young. I don’t know. I never really had a feel for them, but then, I think I was 12, and we’re going to check out the Santa Cruz colleges. My parents got tickets for all of us to go see Pixies. And that was the first time I ever like smoked weed and saw people going crazy in the pit. I saw X, which was this old Los Angeles band. I saw them a little bit before, but that’s like an old crowd and like Pixies is old, but…

Donna: Well, I mean, OK, we’re not going to open the conversation about X because I have some thoughts. Good thoughts, good thoughts. Great thoughts.

Luke: Really?

Donna: I love X. Well, we’re not talking about X right now.

Luke: Tell me about it, yeah.

Donna: We’re talking about [Pixies].

Luke: I mean, if I’m going to talk about the song…the structure here is just…

Donna: Yeah.

Luke: I think after this both Radiohead and Nirvana were like very big on just the idea of like quiet verses, you know? Just feeling it out a little. It’s got dirty guitar tones in there and then at some point it just kind of drops and gets heavy with the hook. That’s pretty much most of the song.

Donna: What elements of this song have you recently employed in your own song structure?

Luke: So many of my songs. I feel like I hear it all the time even with multiple genres. I mean, it’s a safe structure. You know?

Donna: Yeah. Do you like to play it safe most of the time when you’re creating your own music?

Luke: Sometimes. I think the beauty of a song can be the simplicity of it. You know? Sometimes I want to build off of something and make it go a few different directions and not have the same structure. Maybe a build or whatever the fuck, but yeah. It kind of gives me a moment too, as a performer, to kind of breathe, put focus on my lyricism, and then just let everything go up again, get crazy. Because I can’t just be going in the pit or anything for like 30 minutes straight, and for the people who can, great admiration there. I think that’s great, but I just need a little breather here and there.

Donna: So, off of that, what are your personal thoughts and feelings about people who choose to voluntarily employ more complicated song structure and rhythms throughout their songs, however, they run those sounds through like a billion different pedals? And then all of a sudden, there’s this distortion, there’s all this character on top, and then eventually it’s kind of a toss up whether you can or cannot actually decipher the musicality itself. What are your personal views on that?

Luke: Sometimes the song calls for it. I think because there’s a lot there, you know? If a song has multiple parts and everything like “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Maybe we’re tired of it. Maybe some people are tired of it. I can still sit there and be like, “This is a great piece.” There’s a lot of shit going on there.

Donna: Right.

Luke: I think there’s a portrayal of being in hell at some point in that song, and the way that they do that and everything is so necessary. And then heavy riffing. I also think of Them Crooked Vultures. That’s a little power band between Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, bass player from Led Zeppelin. They have a song, “No One Loves Me & Neither Do I.” That whole song’s heavy. Then for whatever reason, the very ending is…they just crank the compression. It’s all in your ear and your speaker explodes.

Donna: Right.

Luke: If that was the whole song, I’d be like, “This is a shitty song, right?” They save it towards the end and then it works because there’s been intensity there the whole time. Then at the end it’s just out of control.

Donna: There has to be like a payoff.

Luke: Yeah, it’s just whatever the song calls for. It’s like, you wouldn’t throw that midway into a Jason Mraz song. You want to have that organic-ness to it. That softness.

Donna: Right.

Luke: Sometimes it calls for it.

Song Plays: Radiohead — Videotape

Donna: Yeah. Well, do you feel like Radiohead is of a similar…?

Luke: Hell yeah.

Donna: Not genre. That’s not what I was going to say. Of a similar level or how do you compare Pixies to Radiohead in your mind? Well, clearly you put Pixies first.

Luke: Yeah. So, there’s actually a little bit of…

Donna: Is there a bit of a “competish”?

Luke: Noooo. That’s mentor and student right there, you know? I guess I didn’t pick a great example for that with this song. I mean, this song is just more like a build, I guess. My admiration for Radiohead is always in their third act, in the bridge, you know, because I feel like wherever they’re taking their song, they take it completely somewhere else. That really makes you sit there and just be like…

Donna: Yeah. So, speaking of third acts, are you one for second chances in music? Are you the type of person who will begin to listen to a song and then immediately decide whether it resonates or not? Or do you have to listen to it all the way through the end and then decide for yourself? Or do you need to just have it hit right away?

Luke: So, you know that song, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World?” Yeah? I just fell in love with that song. I’ve heard that song for years and for whatever reason now when it comes on I’m just like, “Hell yeah, baby, let’s go!”

Donna: Is it nostalgic for you, or did you understand something different about the song that you hadn’t caught before?

Luke: I think it ties in with what we’re talking about with “Come On Eileen,”  where there’s a lot of mixed emotions there in that song. And just everything going on right now, I’m listening to their song like, “Fuck.”

Donna: Right. Yeah, yeah. That’s dark, Luke.

Luke: Yeah, I know. Bu just try to have a good time. That’s what great about music.

Donna: Yeah, yeah. So do you feel like your happy emotions are always accompanied by the sad thoughts, and vice versa, in your own brain? Is that how you feel you naturally perceive and observe the world? …I think that’s a yes.

Luke: Yeah. I think you just got to be in the right headset in the right moments. Just because there’s shit going on, you can’t sit there and let that tear you down. Maybe it’s like a coping mechanism or something.

Donna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: At the end of the day I think, “I’m still here living. I want to have a good time. I want to appreciate the people around me, even if stuff gets rough sometimes.” Being a musician isn’t easy. The struggle’s there but there’s also values to it that, I can’t even… Sometimes I’ll sit there and be like, “I’m so lucky for some experiences that I get out of this.” I don’t even think I was thinking about that four or five years back when I’d really dive into “I want to do this forever.”

Donna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: I missed it, but the build up in this song and how the drums just build up crazy.

Donna: Yeah, yeah.

Luke: Like now it’s like breathing.

Donna: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it’s great. That’s I think a great comparison. I think this entire song very much is like a deep breath. That’s what it feels like. It’s steady, you know, rhythmic.

Luke: Yeah, this was on loop when I was 14 and I was like, “What is life?!” It’s great.

Donna: So what was the point that you mentioned four or five years ago? Do you remember the exact moment or day or decision or resolution that you had when you were like, “Yes! I am doing this forever.”?

Luke: I was in the back of a van heading out to Oklahoma at some point and that fucking song, “Nothing here I care about…” You know it? What is that? You know the song? Pinegrove, yeah.That’s a little embarrassing. It’s really popular song. Anyway, I was listening to it. I was going out to play a show, and I was thinking we’re only gonna be there for a night and go on to the next one and I teared up. I was like, “This is a good feeling?”

Donna: Locked in.

Luke: Locked in.

Donna: Fully loaded.

Luke: Hell yeah. Times like that you reflect. It’s momentary.

Song Plays: Slow Hollows — The Art School Kids

Donna: So, Slow Hollows I’m actually not super familiar with. Go ahead and tell us about them. What is Slow Hollows to you?

Luke: Yeah, this is a band I heard Junior year of high school. An LA band, an indie band.

Donna: Was it like a an indie band that just had like a moment? Or is it like…?

Luke: Yeah, yeah. So pretty much, before this, there’d be bands I’d hear. A  lot of them are old though, you know? And then there’s like stuff like Black Keys or Jack White. That was kind of like the music that I thought, “This is sick.” And then a girl put me on this band.

Donna: It’s always a girl.

Luke: It’s always a girl. The intro, I remember being like, “I don’t know where this song’s gonna go.” And then it does this very old school, kind of R&B, bluesy… And his voice is very monotone, and there’s not a lot of character to it. So I was sitting there and I was like, “I really relate to this” and I feel a lot to it.

Donna: Yeah.

Luke: It seems possible, pretty much.

Donna: Possible in what way?

Luke: Just to recreate and have a sense of appreciation to it, I guess. I remember I always wanted to be in band. My dad was in a band since before I was born. So it’s always something I wanted, but I guess it wasn’t until transferring to a different high school and backyard scene kids getting into some music. I was like, “Damn. I can do this, right?” Then this guy, Austin Feinstein, he just started playing again. I think he stopped for a couple years after the pandemic. They just dropped an album, and he’s done collaborations with a few people. He did one with Frank Ocean, “Self Control.” That’s him on guitar. So I always thought that was really cool, too. “Garden Shed” with Tyler the Creator. He was involved with that one. I don’t know what he did. I mean, I know the guitar in there was crazy. It was probably him.

Donna: Yeah.

Luke: I thought that was cool, too. As an artist, he’s able to just dive into these different genres and bring something out of it. I can always hear him out of it when he’s doing it, you know?

Donna: Well, funny enough, I think it’s always so interesting how people put R&B and hip hop and indie music and all these other genres into very separate pockets. When in reality I feel like they have way more overlap, and they all extrapolate from each other in different ways rather than we would normally think, right? I mean, Lana Del Rey, for example. I remember early on in her career, I was going through some of her interviews and she was friends with so many hip hop artists. And if you break it down, everyone talks about the same thing, you know? It’s like same topics, slightly different rhythms, right?

Luke: Yeah, I mean like music’s been around for a minute.

Donna: You heard it here first, folks.

Luke: That’s the beauty of SoCal. It’s just such a mix of all of it. That’s a lot of places, too. I feel like when you go out of state, you’re more likely to run this stuff, maybe more rooted, I guess. But SoCal is just…

Donna: Mm-hmm. You mean more inspired by the local flavor?

Luke: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Good way to put that. When I say rooted, it’s fucking lazy. But yeah, I feel like all my friends and everybody likes a little bit of Wu Tang. And a little bit of, I don’t know, Boston? Some shit. Steely Dan.

Donna: Steely Dan!

Luke: I mean, there’s purists out there for sure. I feel like my dad’s a bit of a purist. He’s like a folky, old school type dude.

Donna: I think that’s a fallacy.

Luke: Fallacy. I know the word kind of.

Donna: I don’t think that’s a true statement because all classic Rock came from Blues music. So how are you going to be a purist about Rock if you’re not honoring the lineage of where it came from, right? That’s doesn’t really make any sense, right? Or at least to me, it doesn’t.

Luke: Yeah, I guess. More so people just cap it at a certain time and my dad capped it at…

Donna: So he’s got a good decade that he hyper fixates on?

Luke: He doesn’t even like the 80s, so I guess as soon as electronic sounds kind of evolved. He likes all of the acoustic stuff.

Donna: Yeah, yeah.

Luke: So what? What would you call it. Organic?

Donna: Organic. I don’t know, man…

Donna: …but we got some Manwolves going on here.

Song Plays: Manwolves — These Days

Luke: Yeah!

Donna: Do you think they’re organic? Do you think that their sound is rooted?

Luke: Listen this the saxophone and you tell me. These guys are from out in Chicago. They’re still going. Their new stuff’s a little bit different.

Donna: OK. I guess you don’t like it.

Luke: No, I’ve just been talking for a minute. I don’t do that well, so my mouth is giving out.

Donna: Oh, you’re out of breath. Got it.

Luke: Yeah, but pretty much. I was listening to their live show. It’s pretty sick. I hope to get out that way someday and play with them.

Donna: The sax is a nice touch. I will say that.

Luke:  Oh yeah.

Donna: I love some some wind and some brass. I really do.

Luke: Me too. I think the natural frequencies that come from it are so tasteful. Like when you’re there in the room hearing it, it’s great. And then whenever that translates onto a recording, it’s just, for some reason, I feel like it’s easier than electric guitar or something. I think I’ve picked it mainly for this line. I really liked that line.

Donna: So what exactly about this song, besides the groove of it, that really draws you in?

Luke: I think I definitely feel his his heartache, for sure. And that the band can carry that throughout the song is really well done. The drums and this are just great. A lot of hi-hat play going on.

Donna: Right.

Luke: Chimes, great touch. Chimes is so easy to just throw on something.

Donna: Yeah, I feel like I feel like more bands have chimes than we would assume, or just like, random little touches here and there. But they’re always in the undertone of the music, right? They’re not going to be front and center.

Luke: You can’t have all chimes.

Donna: Well, they’re a lot more audible on this track, I think, than oftentimes they are in other music.

Luke: Well, yeah. I really like them. I feel like chimes don’t get used enough. I feel like I only think that when I hear a song with chimes. I’m like,
“Hell yeah!” People are getting rowdy about the chimes right now. Chimes on 123! [audience reaction] Oh yeah. There you go.

Donna: So OK, if every sound has an emotion, what do chimes signify for you? What layer does it add to what you’re listening to?

Luke: Just breathe.

Donna: Just breathe?

Luke: Just chill a bit. Ease up. Why are you so nervous? Why are you so tense? Just ease up. We’re having a good time. “Fly Like An Eagle.” If I’m high as shit driving in my car. I don’t even think chimes are in that song. But I don’t know, it’s just the same mood as “Fly Like An Eagle.”

Donna: Can we look that up? Are there any chimes in “Fly Like An Eagle?” Are there? No, because if that’s the example you just used and there are none, I will laugh.

Luke: It’s the same vibe, like if I’m tensed up and shit, that will chill me out. And then that little synth part. And that’s what chimes do to me too.

Donna: I feel like that should have been your 5th song.

Luke: It could have been. I’ve had plenty of moments where I need to pop that one on. I’m like, “OK, here we go.” I’m creating my own avatar.

Donna: Yeah. You just you get your fix and then you’re like, “I’m flying.” It’s good. It’s good, it’s solid.

Luke: I wish I could get a sax player. That would be great. Bu I don’t think I could utilize the sax player enough. I think I’d have to find someone who just knows how to get it in there.

Donna: I feel like once you find a sax player, you’re just going to put them into everything.

Luke: I’d probably make the whole set around that. You’d just rip it out there for a second.

Donna: Absolutely, yeah. Oh man. So what, at the end of the day, do you feel is the general thing that you look for the most when you’re listening to music? What is an element that makes a song your favorite? Any song.

Luke: Oh, I don’t know.

Donna: We just went through five. And they were all very different with some similar undertones and with that dichotomy of the happiness and the sadness. But what do you really fee it takes for a song to make that favorites list?

Luke: I don’t know. There’s a lot of songs that I wanted to put on there, you know? It was a hard fight. Five I thought was going to be easy.

Donna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: I can get a little bit of this, a little bit that. I don’t know. I think you just kind of know when you’re listening to it. Actually, it’s funny because when I’m showcasing my music to people, I like to show it to a lot of people who listen to different stuff. I don’t mind an honest review. I really don’t. So it’s kind of fun to just give it to a random person. I like showing music to people who don’t like my music. And then finally at some point, if there’s a song where they’re like, “Yeah, I can fuck with that one.” I think that’s cool. I feel like we all have those songs that we like and the songs that we don’t.

Donna: So just like I asked Andrew, what is your current project that you’re most excited about? Or rather, most focused on? Either/Or.

Luke: Oh, most focused? Working on recording more right now. I just want to put out more pieces.

Donna: And that’s with Don Luxe or on your own?

Luke: Yeah, with Don Luxe. Recording. For the live stuff, I’m having a lot of fun playing in Dane’s band, Au Revoir Heart, playing bass. We have a show Saturday. It’s so much more fun not having to sing. Just not having to fuck up the vocals. Vocals I take so personally when I fuck them up, and I do like every set. There’s going to be a croak in there. I’m always like, “Fuck, I suck!” For whatever reason, just playing bass out there. Even if I fuck up on bass I can get back into it, you know? Bass is a little easy. You kind of get the easy one out. I feel like when you fuck up on bass, no one really knows it’s you. So I’m in a good little spot for that.

Donna: Well, everyone go ahead and check out Don Luxe if you haven’t already, which is Luke’s band.

Luke: Also, we have a tour. I’m looking forward to that. We’re going to be in Las Vegas, Reno and Berkeley. If you guys are in that area, just happen to be in that area April 11th through the 16th, hit me up.

Donna: Heck yeah. Alright, give it up for Luke, everybody!

Luke: Thank you.