A LUNA RED (1999-2003) were an electro-punk band from Vancouver BC.
Although they first entered the public eye in May of 2000 at a
sweaty basement show in Vancouver, their inception was in the
summer of July 1999 as a casual recording project between Jack
Duckworth and Erica Neumann.
In the spring of 2000 the duo
became a trio with the addition of William Winslow-Hansen on
keyboards/samplers/sequencers and in three months wrote their debut
album,
The Death Birds. This album was recorded in spurts
throughout 2000, then finally released in early 2001 on local
Vancouver label
Global Symphonic (
Sunset Rubdown /
Frog Eyes /
The Organ). The
album, although backed with very little publicity, received
favourable reviews in a wide variety of North American
publications.
The band toured Western US twice in the year 2001,
the second tour with LA's goth-punkers
The
Nightmare Syndicate which brought their music to a wider US
audience. Despite their venturings with shows and tours, 2001 was a
relatively quiet year for the band due to Neumann's departure from
the band (Larissa Loyva then joined), working with an added
drummer; Graham Jackson, Winslow-Hansen being involved in a serious
car accident, and Duckworth's intense touring with his other band,
Radio
Berlin.
A Luna Red pooled their focus again for 2002. The
band wrote a bunch of new material at the Vancouver studio The Hive
for their next album
SLMZK!, which was released on LP and
CD by the US label
Action Driver. This recording was more "live
off the floor" punk/jazz style than the more studio-y
debut.
Loyva left to focus on her other projects and Sean E
stepped in. A string of live shows that year put the band back on
the wagon again with dates in the states that summer. The band will
also released a 12" 45 EP with San Francisco's
Ghost Orchids.
In the
summer/fall of 2002 A Luna Red recorded the tracks "It Is Your
Anthem" and "The Electric Blood" for the ELCTRK! single, which was
released on the US label
Gold Standard Labs which was released in
early 2003. That was around the same time core memb ers
Winslow-Hansen and Jackson left to form
Droom. The band continued through a good portion of
2003 with JJD, Sean E, and new drummer Neal Simpson until the fall
of 2003 when JJD's dedication to
Radio Berlin and everyone's interest in moving
on dissolved the band. Active musical projects of former members of
aLUnARED are
PR13M5 and
A_Spectre_is_Haunting_Europe.
Their
sound was built on strong rhythms, electronic dance-panic mayhem,
and good song composition without resorting to pop music clichés.
Rough musical reference points for the band include
Skinny Puppy,
DAF,
The VSS,
Big Black,
Nomeansno,
PiL,
The Faint,
Einsteurzende Neubauten,
Cabaret
Voltaire, and
Coil.