Louna is a Russian rock band. Some journalists call it the “side project” of another famous rock band called Tracktor Bowling. The musicians themselves, however, refute this definition in an interview. They insist that the Louna group is an independent project. The band gained popularity in 2010 when their debut album titled “Make It Louder!” Immediately the songs of this group topped the popular "thematic" charts.
Group name
It happened, as you might guess, from the word Luna. The finishing touch was the letter "o", added to the name by guitarist Ruben.
Genre
The genre of this group can be defined as experimental alternative music. Some people think that this is an alternative metal. The creativity of the team is at the junction of many styles and genres of recent times. The Louna group is one of the most unusual projects to date on the Russian stage. In her songs you can hear the echoes of an alternative line, which is the main one. At the same time, grunge notes also sound (post-grunge - in the official version). It is safe to say that the genre to which the creativity of this group could be attributed does not yet exist. Therefore, it makes no sense to build analogies. Attribution to a genre such as alternative metal is somewhat far-fetched. We can consider the work of this team an experiment that has already proved its worth. The Louna group has thoughtful, vibrant lyrics. They are aimed at combating various vices of our time, including social injustice and religious fanaticism.
Composition of the group
The vocalist of the Louna team is Lusine Gevorgyan. She currently participates in 2 teams at the same time, speaking also in the Tracktor Bowling team. Today, a large number of people believe that she is the founder of the alternative vocals of our country.
The second participant is Vitaliy Demidenko, who is known more as Vit. This is the bass player of the group. He also participates in Tracktor Bowling. Vitaly has his own fan club.
The guitarist of the band is Ruben Ghazaryan. In combination, he is the author of texts in English. Ruben played in bands such as Ens Cogitans and Southwake.
Another guitarist is Sergey Ponkratiev. He was also seen working with the two teams above - Ens Cogitans and Southwake.
Drummer - Leonid "Pilot" Kinzburg. She is a talented drummer and longtime fan of Tracktor Bowling.
Group creation
The creation of the team dates back to September 2008. It was then that the members of Tracktor Bowling, the Moscow alternative group, Vitaly Demidenko and Lusine Gevorgyan founded this team. They were also joined by guitarists Sergey Ponkratiev, Ruben Ghazaryan and drummer Leonid Kinzbursky.
In the work of the team, a bet was immediately placed on a powerful sound, as well as on the intellectual content of the texts. The songs of the group Louna energize the listener, make him think.
First performances, first awards
May 23, 2009 the first performance of the team. It is considered the date of his birthday. The performance took place in the club "Point" of the city of Moscow. In 2009, a young and not very well-known team won the RAMP Award, receiving it in the "Opening of the Year" nomination. The rock band Louna later gained great fame in the musical environment. Louna was the headliner at various rock festivals. In 2009 - at the Extreme Girlzz Fest, in 2010 - at the Metal Summer Fest "and" Nearby World ", in 2011 - at the Invasion and Kubana, in 2012 - also at the Invasion and Kubana and others.
Debut album
The group’s debut album, “Make It Louder!”, As we already said, appeared in 2010, in the summer. Its release was made in the fall of the same year. In the history of the team, this event was a turning point. The pronounced irreconcilable social position and non-standard music provoked the interest of the general public, as well as the media. Note that Dmitry Spirin, the leader of “Cockroaches!” Took part in the recording of the debut album. (Russian punk band), as well as Erwin Khachikyan, keyboardist of System Of A Down.
Growing popularity
The team in February 2011 presented the single "Who do you believe?", Made in collaboration with the vocalist of the group Lumen Rustem Bulatov. In the summer of that year, at the invitation of the Invasion 2011 organizing committee, Louna performed on the main stage of this festival with such stars of Russian rock as Alisa, Gleb Samoilov, DDT, Kipelov, Spleen, Lyapis Trubetskoy , "Pilot", "King and the Jester", "Chayf", "Bravo", "Bi-2" and others.
The composition "Fight Club", included in the debut album, in January 2011 entered the rotation of "Our Radio". And in a week - and in "Chart Dozen" (rock chart). This song rose to second place and managed to last 16 weeks on the chart. Later, in the summer of the same year, another group song - "Make it louder!" - within a month reached the top of the charts and within 2 weeks did not give up the position.
The expert council of "Chart Dozen. Top 13" (annual award), the group Louna was nominated in the finals already in 3 nominations - "Best Soloist", "Song of the Year" and "Breakthrough". In addition, the team was invited to speak at the awarding ceremony, which was held in Crocus City Hall on March 7, 2012. Louna became the winner of the award, winning the nomination "Song of the Year" ("Fight Club").
Second album
The band’s second album, Time X, was released in February 2012. The disc included several tracks of protest themes. In addition, the album included several lyric compositions. In the same year, in March, solo concerts were performed in St. Petersburg and Moscow, dedicated to the release of the second album. 14 new songs were included in it. The recording was attended by Sergei Mikhalok, the leader of the famous Lyapis Trubetskoy group , as well as Alexander Ivanov, the leader of the NAIV group (broken up in 2009) and the current Radio Chacha project.
In an interview, S. Mikhalok said that he likes to collaborate specifically with musicians from Louna. He noted that the main part of duets in rock and roll and on stage is created when the producers want to get some benefit from it. However, Louna is not a commercial project.
New assault on the Chart Dozen
The song "Everyone is entitled" has been in the rotation of "Our Radio" since February 2012. She stayed in the Chart Dozen for more than two months, reaching third place. The composition "Mom" in August 2012 for three consecutive weeks led the hit parade. In total, she lasted in it for more than three months.
By June 12, 2012, the group’s performance at the "March of the Millions" refers. Together with the main studio activity, an English album is also being prepared. The team, according to the musicians, has plans for performances at the largest rock festivals, including world-class events.
"People Look Up" is a song that started on Our Radio on November 16, 2012. A video was also shot on it by Svyatoslav Podgayevsky, who had previously made clips of this group on the songs Mom and Make Louder.
Louna conquers America
In 2013, on January 25, it became known that the band's first English album will be released under the name Behind a Mask. Red Decade Records will be involved in its publication. The song Mama was first played on Chicago Radio 95FM WIIL on March 22, 138 Americans called after that. About 75% of them said they liked the song. One even confused vocalist Louna with lead singer In This Moment. The single Business was released on March 26, and then a high-budget clip of the same name was presented, which was presented to Western viewers. Also in 2013, on February 24, the group's English-language website began to operate. Then the track list of the future debut album appeared.
On the basis of a popular vote on February 24 of the same year, L. Gevorgyan was recognized as Russia's best rock vocalist. She went around Helavis, Diane Arbenin, Zemfira and Olga Kormukhin. The vocalist of the group Louna won the prize "Best Soloist", which she received from the hands of Nikita Vysotsky, a famous actor.
The first English album of the band was released on April 30, 2013 (Behind a Mask). He has received positive reviews in various online publications in the United States.
A tour of US cities took place in the fall of 2013. Louna performed in 26 cities in America with The Pretty Reckless, a band from the United States, and Heaven's Basement, an English band. For 44 days, Louna traveled 13 states. As part of the tour, in addition to live performances, the group gave numerous interviews, spoke at a Chicago radio station with an acoustic set and was received with great interest by American radio listeners. The songs of the group were in rotation of the seven largest radio stations in America, and a song called Up There in the hit parade WIIL FM took 13th place. At American concerts, all albums and paraphernalia were sold, which indicates a high interest in the work of the team.
Album "We Are This Louna"
Louna's albums added to their list on December 1, 2013 with the advent of the new “We Are Louna”. It was recorded using crowdfunding, that is, with the money of the audience. Fundraising was recognized as one of the most successful in the history of musical crowdfunding in our country. In the fall of 2013, a large-scale tour of the United States took place.
2014 in the history of the group
In 2014, work was underway on the video for the song "With You". He came out on June 30th. In May of the same year, the group played two anniversary concerts for its fifth anniversary in the capital, and one in St. Petersburg. On the fifth anniversary, her friends performed with the group. Among them are Ilya Chert, Rustem Bulatov, “Cockroaches!”, “Elysium”, “Brigade Contract”, “Prince”, “Stigmata”, “Fantasy”, etc. A documentary film entitled “We Are Louna” was also released. .
2015 year
In 2015, the premiere of "Fighter's Road" in the "Chart Dozen" premiered. The song immediately fell to sixth place, and a month later led the hit parade.
In February, the group returned to concert activity. The media’s interest in it also increased: the team began to be more actively invited to broadcast on various radio stations. From January to May of this year, the group visited 40 Russian cities, covering almost all regions. This tour, which was called "Even Louder!", Is by far the largest in the history of the team. In almost all cities of this tour, full houses took place. According to the unanimous opinion of the capital and regional promoters, Louna is currently one of the most popular rock bands in Russia.
On May 30, 2015, Louna’s discography was replenished with The Best of, which included the best songs. Bonus tracks - "The Way to Yourself" and "Freedom" (in acoustic arrangement). "In Me" is a song included in the album in a variant recorded jointly with D. Rishko.