DJ Interviews: LUXTHEREAL

 Hey all, here's my interview with band LUXTHEREAL

How'd you get started in music?

I felt captivated by music from a young age.  I played in band in school (flute, then later, guitar).  My other bandmates were similarly struck by it at a young age.  The immersive and transcendent quality of music proved to me that it is truly the language of the soul, cutting across all boundaries, barriers, differences, especially those in the mind.  Music transports us to never before seen landscapes, states of being, and emotional atmospheres.  When I was growing up, I wanted to 'know' everything about existence. I was schooled in my parents' religion like most kids.  When I began having peak and ecstatic experiences with music, I found my true religion.  My other bandmates feel similarly about this. It was as if these experiences were the true Holy Grail of the self, rather than the stuff I was taught in the religion classes, which hinted at these exalted states, but never got me there.   

Who are your inspirations or influences?  

LUXTHEREAL has a wide variety of influences musically spanning many decades of rock music, including : The Doors, The Beatles, Roxy Music, The Motels, Sting, Dorothy, St. Vincent, Bowie, as well as blues/jazz, classical, synth, and ambient music.  There is music for every emotion, and every activity.  Why be limited to a narrow handful of genres? We are also inspired by poetry, as evidenced in our lyricism. 

What advice would you offer aspiring performers?

Be as true to yourself and your artistic expression as you can be, and keep evolving/developing your craft.  Don't try to 'fit into' someone else's style/genre/mold as a performer or songwriter.  Be the most authentic 'YOU' that you can be!

How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

LUXTHEREAL is not easily pigeonholed into any particular genre; each song is it's own individual expression.  We are dedicated to staying true to that, rather than to fleeting stylistic musical cliches.  The amalgam of influences we each bring to the table results in our individual luxtherealistic sound: melodic/lyrical, sometimes haunting, often joyful, hypnotic/atmospheric and sometimes psychedelic, emotive, and sometimes sardonic. 

Additionally, there is a lot of reliance now on repetitive digital samples and synth loops in music production, and it's overdone.   Musical collages can be created this way without ever playing an instrument, but there is an artifice to it that creates a kind of sterility when it is overdone.  We make a conscious effort to stay away from that, and utilize a distinctly more organic approach to writing/creating/recording.

Any new gigs or albums in the future

Absolutely!  We are promoting our current release: "The Oracle Squeaks" (released right before Christmas), and our singles: "I Got You" & " Cardboard Limousine", which are available on all major streaming services now, as well as in rotation on many internet radio stations.  We are also working on our next release, which will feature a couple of new singles this year, so stay tuned, and follow us on Luxthereal.com, and also on Twitter @luxthereal1.