Luna
5 Questions to Dean Wareham

LA RECENSIONE

This mini-interview is the result of an email exchange with Dean Wareham.
We had asked him if we could ask him 5 questions and he, very kindly, immediately replied:
"sure, send me your 5 questions"
[the contact was made through the official website of Luna, www.fuzzywuzzy.com]

1. Where are you right now and how are you doing?
DW: I am at home in New York City. I just came home from an audition for a TV commercial, where I had to play a glamorous bank robber... things are good.

2. The new album title together with the name of the band means "romantic moon" in Italian. Where did you get the title from and what's romanticism for you (sadness and loss, memories)? How do you feel about your new record?
DW: I got the title from an advertisement for a Latin radio station that I saw in the subway. It advertised "Musica Romantica Y Moderna". Which I thought was an apt description of some of Luna's music. What is Romanticism? Folly? Madness? Homesickness? I really don't have the answer. But I'm very happy with the new Luna record, I think it's our best.

3. You seem able to write effortlessly magnificent songs. How do you start writing a song?
DW: It is not effortless, that's for sure. Doing the music is easy, we all contribute and come up with ideas together. Writing the lyrics is a solitary endeavor, and I work hard at it, writing and rewriting till I am hopefully happy with every little word.

4. Luna made some great covers which for me are better than the originals, they seem written directly by yourself (Ceremony, Sweet Child o'Mine, Ride Into The Sun, Indian Summer, Bonnie and Clyde). How do you choose them and what comes next? Will you ever cover Galaxie's songs?
DW: We have always done Galaxie 500 songs live, and I don't really consider those to be "covers". With cover versions, it's a good idea to take a good song that has poor production, so that you can improve on the original, or else to rearrange it, to "Lunafy" it... this of course is not a real word.

5. Any chance seeing Luna in Europe the next months (Italy, Germany, UK)? And a curiosity: "Dizzy" on the last record reminds me strangely of "Jump" by Van Halen, am I wrong?
DW: We will be touring Europe in October, definitely Germany and the UK, and maybe a date in Italy... You are right about the similarity between "Jump" and "Dizzy".
And you managed to ask me about 10 questions, but only used 5 numbers... very sneaky of you.

All the best,
Dean