“At their best, it’s hard to believe there is any other kind of music besides this simple, graceful,
chiming chug.” — The Guardian
Eleven years since they broke up, indie rockers Luna, described by Rolling Stone magazine as “the best band you’ve never heard of” are back on the scene and will make their New Zealand debut this September.
In their initial 13 year run, Luna honed a moody, introspective sound that owed a debt to influences like the Velvet Underground, for whom they opened up on their European reunion tour, and Television, whose Tom Verlaine made a guest appearance on their 1995 album Penthouse.
The news of the group's recent reunion came almost exactly 10 years to the day after the release of the group's final album, Rendezvous. The group, formed in the early Nineties by New Zealand born Dean Wareham after the demise of dream rockers Galaxie 500, announced its breakup about a week before the record came out. The group played its final gig in February 2005.
After the group's breakup, Wareham and the band's bassist, Britta Phillips, put out three albums as a duo and toured. The couple married around the time they recorded their Back Numbers record, which came out in 2007. Dean and Britta have continued to tour (including a 2010 trip to Wellington to perform at the International Arts Festival) and this past April Wareham put out a self-titled solo album featuring Phillips in the band, produced by My Morning Jacket's Jim James.
Luna recorded eight studio albums between 1992 and 2005. The current touring lineup is the exact ‘99-’05 group that recorded Luna Live!, Romantica, Close Cover Before Striking, and Rendezvous: Dean Wareham and Sean Eden on guitar, Lee Wall on drums, and Britta Phillips on bass.
