We had the lovely opportunity to sit down with the talented Australian DJ Anna Lunoe last week and ask her some questions about her work and success thus far in her career. If you haven’t gotten to know her yet, right now is a great time to start.
I started writing with PB&J roughly 3 months ago and (maybe it’s a coincidence) Anna Lunoe was one of the first artists I came across in my search for nu disco/funky house music. I specifically remember having a major “yes” moment the first time I heard her single “Love Ting.” Not trying to rant on too long – the interview will do most of the talking. I’ll leave a soundcloud to her latest track “Voodoo” that released last week in Australia – also the first song she has ever sung on. Enjoy!
Interview
Who started you in the direction of DJing? DId you have any prior musical experience? Do explain.
AL: I have had a healthy music obsession since the age of 7. It got pretty serious at around 9. I started making mixtapes for everyone I knew then, school friends, family, even penpals. I would stay up late listening to every top 40 countdown trying to tape my favourite songs off of the radio for these mixtapes. I came from a pretty musical family, dad a bass player for a while. My brothers play guitar and drums and jamming was a big thing in our place. I played piano and violin but I used to always forget to take my violin to school and get in trouble and eventually quit. I took some singing lessons and did musicals and plays. But the pop music problem got worse. I wasn’t happy with just pop music and i started raiding the bargain bin of my local cd store (this is long before itunes and blogs) and I was obsessed with the idea of discovering amazing music that not even my big brothers or my dad knew about. When I left school I would write songs on an acoustic guitar, then started doing a community radio show and a dj career came after that!
What have you been up to all summer? Play any shows? Work on new music? Went skydiving? Fill us in.
AL: Its winter here in Aus, i was in USA in may/april and then I came home and did a bit of a studio lockdown and then came out with about 8 new tunes, the SBC Summer sessions mixtape, the official Parklife festival mixtape (both on soundcloud) and a new Ministry Of Sound – Clubber’s Guide to 2011 which released 2 weeks ago here, and now I’m about to do a tour around Australia for the next 2 months to launch that, then I’m coming back to america for nov and dec. I just released another single with LA producer Them Jeans called Voodoo (*linked below*) and now I’m in the process of finishing the demos i made in June and organizing remixes and general release stuff for those! Its been a shitty cold winter here so I just stayed inside and got shit done.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen while playing a live set (i.e. someone banging their head against a wall when a banger drops – ironic, yes, but you understand why he did it)?
AL: Oh god. Naked boys standing on someones shoulders? Boobs (skimpy tops are not designed for dancing) and on saturday a girl danced with a glass balanced on her head for 45 minutes! I swear! i even tweeted a pic of her.
Who have you had the pleasure of working with thus far and who do you aspire to work with some day?
AL: Oh man, I have been lucky enough to get to work with some of Australias finest. Wax Motif and me have a big new tune coming out to follow up our first single ‘love ting’. I sing on it and he is on fire at the moment with all the Dr Gonzo stuff. I am doing stuff with Mikey Di Francesco from Vanshe who is unbelievably talented and has the BEST GEAR EVER. He is one of those people who collect vintage synths and mixers and drum machines, it takes us forever to patch it all together but then it sounds ridiculous. I have been playing him lots of UK post garage shit and we are getting some cool deep stuff going on. Them Jeans, obviously, and a melbourne producer named Swick who is definitely one to watch!
How soon can we expect you to come play in the states (preferably central Florida)?
AL: Probably end of the year! if not definitely next year…. lets just say ill be in the USA ALOT next year!
What can we anticipate from you in the not too distant future?
AL: More production, more collabs, MORE ANNA IN GENERAL! ha.
And there you have it! If you’d like to see/hear more of Anna Lunoe, you can follow on her facebook, soundcloud or blog for all the latest updates. Also, I highly recommend youtubing some of her live sets – they’re pretty epic. That’s all for now.
