Luna 13

Hello Dr Luna, and welcome to the site. First of all, as a simple introduction, tell us who you are and what you do.

Dr Luna - "I am Dr Luna from the Elelctronica project Luna 13. I was born in White Sands New Mexico (La Luz), grew up in Lake Havasu, Arizona and lived in Maharashtra, India and Los Angeles CA from my late teen years till now. In India I lived with the Kalu tribe and my guru Bhau Kalchuri. I consider myself an Occultist Musician as I am a devout worshipper of the Dark Side of the Mother Goddess (Kali in India, Hecate in the West).

I was initiated in India by one of the more obscure Kali Tribes in a location called Khajuraho. Luna 13's release 'Rakshasi' (female demon) was dedicated to the Dark Goddess Kali. Several of the songs on that release feature Kali Priests chanting powerful hymns to her. The song 'Raksha Daksha' which is Luna 13's most brutal live song to date, features children of Kali chanting very destructive hymns in her honor. Almost all my music is connected to the Dark Side of the feminine form in one way or another."

You've gotten quite the following since your start, practically going from a nobody to a somebody in two years. What would you say contributed to this success?

Dr Luna - "In order to get Luna 13 to people's ears, I realized that I needed to stop focusing on Los Angeles and that I had enough connections in India to start a scene there. I put the songs 'Surya' and 'Varahi' (two really heavy songs) on internet Radio in India and they exploded. The success of Luna 13 comes from going after the Asian market. Now that Luna 13 has an Eastern following, I am now shifting my focus on America and Europe."

You describe your music as Witchstep, which is a term that isn't all too often heard at all, and call it a mix of Drum'n'Bass and Industrial. Some would argue that the industrial sound is lost, and the electronic elements more or less fall into standard dubstep territory rather than the aforementioned genre. Would you dispute this? Or would you agree?

Dr Luna - "Luna 13 is purely 'Dark' electronica! I created the Witchstep tag in 2010 and seen other projects use it. I throw in a little Drum N Bass and Dubstep here and there. Where the Industrial comes in is through the song writing and my influences. I do NOT rely on crazy builds and I write music with a chorus and a verse. Like Industrial, I keep things very repitious which is not so much of a dubstep theme. I personally love Dubstep sounds but do not like the song arrangements of Dubstep. I purposely like to keep my style simple and heavy. Songs like 'Nether and Nocturnal', 'Get Thee Behind Thee Satan', 'Surya and Kali Kavachum' definitely have strong Industrial beats.

In my personal life, my music idols are all industrial. I believe that Trent Reznor is the greatest electronica musician to date and 'Filth Pigs' from Ministry is my all-time favorite release. The sounds I use are electronica but the structure of my writing is Industrial. Also, when I received my fan base demographic from Jango, Last.FM and Spotify, the industrial fan came through significantly greater than the dubstep fan. I started using the term industrial right after that information was presented to me."

In a lot of your press formats and biographies, you mention that you're on the top sellers list on Amazon. Do you think this helps draw attention to yourself when reaching out to either new fans or magazines? Or is it something that you really find impressive in all generalities, and hold dear to your heart?

Dr Luna - "It has helped a lot. I live in Los Angeles and I have submitted to every label here and at the end of the day, the life of a Los Angeles electronica musician is grim! I was told by a large record Label this summer that Luna 13 wouldn't succeed because it was not 'good time music' and people go to a show to have a good time. Only people in Los Angeles talk like that, while N.I.N. sells out the Hollywood Bowl. When 'Rakshasi' was released, it went number 1 in Drum N Bass on Amazon and Number 3 on Itunes it's opening day. I felt that I had no choice but to take snap shots of the Amazon charts, place them on social media and send them directly to those labels."

And, also, your sales mainly come from India and Japan, which is a little odd considering you are based in Hollywood, CA. Have you ever really connected with those countries, or did it come as a shock to you when you found out your music was coming from those two countries?

Dr Luna - "Marketing the release 'Rakshasi' in India was one of the best moves that I have made. I knew the scene would like the attention. India has possibly the most underdeveloped music scene in the East yet has a massive amount of music listeners. I intend to go to India and play some shows out there at one point. The numbers in Japan are recent and Japan really came through for my latest release 'Empress Of Filth'. The self-titled track 'Empress Of Filth' was loved in Japan and Thailand. While India was a marketing strategy, Japan was not."

On another magazine, your music, specifically your first release "Phantom Bass Queen" was called Satanic. Do you believe this statement to be accurate, or not?

Dr Luna - "Being a devotee of the Dark Mother Goddess, I accept titles like that! I do not believe in Good and Evil coming from two different beings, yet one force that works through both. I experience the Dark Mother as the highest wisdom in the Universe. We get realization when we balance those two energies. Most of my music expresses her in one of her various forms. The specific path I have taken is called 'Aghora' and this path has to do with realization through overcoming your fears. Nightly, I sit in front of an altar to the Dark Mother holding a human skull chanting to her. My goal is to transcend all fears. To the outsider, it appears Satanic and 'Phantom Bass Queen' is very dark and songs like '777 Number of the Bitch', 'Demonatrix', 'The Thrill Kill Sisterhood' and 'Feminist Satanist' definitely appear to be Satanic to the outsider. To me, I am comforted by sounds and images that are Dark. I am also I giant fan of Horror and that comes though 'Phantom Bass Queen' as well."

And now let's talk a little bit about the birth of Luna 13. When was it that you first started to get serious about making music?

Dr Luna - "I was a bass player for several bands and that includes a popular LA band 'Kill the Gods' that did pretty well in underground alternative scene. I joined 'Kill The Gods' as a teenager and the drummer of the band was from the British Goth Rock band 'The Bolshoi'. I left the band to live in India and in India I discovered electronica and Drum N Bass at a local scene in Maharashtra. I then bought a Korg keyboard, started creating Ambient and had a few releases that were purely 'Ritual Dark Ambient'. Before Luna 13, I had a small fanbase of Witches because my releases 'Tales of Moon' and 'Revenge Of The Burning Witch' had Latin invocations on them. I have been playing music since the age of 13 and have had some success in other genres of music."

Were you ever part of any other groups before venturing off on your own? And did they contribute to you knowing what you would and wouldn't want to do as your own entity?

Dr Luna - "I have been in the bands 'Age Of Chaos' (Punk), 'Epic' (Goth) 'Kill the Gods' (Grunge Rock) as a Bass player and got very close to record deals with two of those projects. The singer 'Gus Chambers' of 'Epic' became the singer of 'Grip Inc' with Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo. I just found out that Gus Chambers died in 2008 while I was writing this.

The two things that drew me to Electronica are: One, it is by far my favorite genre of music and two, I had too many brushes with success that failed due to band relationship problems. I love creating electronica music on my own. Having the ability to write and produce my own music brings me closer to my art than anything I have ever done in my past. Not having to deal with other personalities allows me to express art in the most personal way."

When did the name Luna 13 first come up? Not only that, but you call yourself Dr. Luna; why not just use that name?

Dr Luna - "When I lived in India, I was given the name Chandra (Moon) by my first spiritual teacher. After my training I changed my last name to Luna in honor of my tradition. 13 is one of my favorite numbers, so the name Luna 13 became fitting. The name Dr. Luna is a slight protest. In the electronica world of clubbing, you are constantly asked what your 'DJ' name is. It gives me the opportunity to say, I am NOT a DJ, I am an electronica musician. I do not spin records, I create my own loops and music. Dr Luna replaces DJ Luna."

And, when you first started up Luna 13, did you start off with demos, or did you just get to making your first album? And if you did make demos, how do they compare to your music now?

Dr Luna - "I created a demo called 'Feeling Like My Old Sunny Self Again' and shopped it around Hollywood. It received the response that I still get today in Los Angeles, 'This is too dark for the Dubstep audience.' Luna 13 is not 'Goodtime music'. My release 'Resurrection In Black' did get picked up by one of my favorite electronica Labels Morbit Records."

"Phantom Bass Queen" was your first album, and that released back in October 2012. How was the reception for the album, and did the overall response shock you?

Dr Luna - "The release was originally called 'Feeling Like My Old Sunny Self Again' and I rereleased under the name 'Phantom Bass Queen' and added several Dark Drum and Bass songs on it. The song '777 Number Of the Bitch' started the whole thing, and mainly due to the video that came along with it. In the video, a group of dark occultists abduct a girl and create a Zombie out of her. It came in second place in a horror video festival in South Africa. Luna 13's recognition started at that point."

And when did you first start to notice that your music was garnering a good following? Again, were you surprised by this?

Dr Luna - "Not really, I thought it out before I began to market Luna 13. Even though Los Angeles said, 'We don't like it,' I knew that it would gain in audience over time. It is not surprising at all that other countries would come first. As of today, Luna 13 is starting to grow faster in Japan via internet radio than any other location."

Somewhere along the lines, you created Snake Bite Records to distribute music throughout India. When did you form the label? And does it distribute elsewhere in the world? Or just India?

Dr Luna - "Snake Bite Records distribute digitally worldwide but only distributes CD's and Cassettes in India. Yes, Cassettes! Cassettes of the release 'Rakshasi' are sold in India at a few stores."

And then you had a few releases in between your first and your latest one, "Empress Of Filth" alongside the "Empress Bee Sides" release. Did those releases help establish you further?

Dr Luna - "'Empress of Filth' outsold all my old releases combined in the first week. EOF had several songs that didn't make it on the release due to contract issues with certain female singers. Jenna Hays backed out of Luna 13 releasing the songs we created because we agreed at the beginning to 60/40 in royalties (60 in my favor). Before the release, she contacted me and stated that she was working on BIG projects and believed her name was worth more and asked me to change the contract to 70/30 in favor of her. I dropped the songs altogether. Similar contract issues happened with other singers and I decided to drop all songs that had some contractual problem. After 'Empress Of Filth' ended up number 2 on the electronica charts, Jenna Hays and others jumped back on board wanting their songs released. That is what 'Empress Bee Sides' is. Those songs were supposed to be on 'Empress Of Filth'. I said, '70/30 in my favor is all I will do,' and everyone agreed."

And, with "Empress Of Filth", you described it as being more commercial than not. Some might call this a sellout, but, in your own words, how would you describe this commercial sound as compared to your previous releases?

Dr Luna - "The music under the female vocals is standard Luna 13 darkness. What makes it sound commercial is the incredible vocals from these female singers. Songs like 'Bathory House', 'Ghost From the Sun', and 'Empress Of Filth' are traditional to the heavy sounds of Luna 13. What is fascinating is that the song 'I Don't Care About Superman' was originally a song called 'Minotaur' and did not have singing but chanting. I just had a hunch that I should put Troubled Janis' vocals on the track. It turned it into another song entirely. If I didn't use her vocals, it may have been the heaviest song on the release. So it is the female vocals that make it sound commercial, the music is of the same traditional, heavy low end, lo-fi sound that I love. The same exact experience happened with the song 'My Addiction' on Empress Bee Sides. The last few minutes are possibly one of the heaviest sounds I have created but the vocals give it a commercial sound.

Being a devotee to the Dark Goddess, I love working with female vocals. I believe that 'Empress Of Filth' was my most honest release because all facets of my personality are in the music. It has very dark material and commercial and I like to combine them."

But, even with that being said, how has the reception been for "Empress Of Filth" in comparison to previous releases? Has it attained more positive reception, or not?

Dr Luna - "Yes. 'Phantom Bass Queen' is limited to a certain audience where 'Empress Of Filth' and 'Empress Bee Sides' can hit that genre but several others at the same time. The song 'Tonight I Take What's Mine' seems to be appealing to all the different types of Luna 13's fan base."

And, onward, I know that you're currently on a tour in Arizona. Is this in support of the new album? And how do live shows normally go for you? Are they rather good and does the crowd respond well to your music and performance?

Dr Luna - "I just started supporting 'Empress Of Filth' which was released on Halloween 2014. Luna 13 really is a live project. I create most of my samples by taking low Sub Bass, undetectable by the human ear and I wrap Lo-Fi distortion around the Sub Bass till it is audible. Listening to Luna 13 on a laptop misses the most important aspect of my sound, Lo-Fi Sub Bass. When I play live, the Lo-Fi distortion Sub Bass is heard and felt. During my recent show at Solar Culture in Tucson AZ, the Sub Bass tipped the sound system over during the song 'Ghost From The Sun.'

The way I create Luna 13's sound is so unique, when I play with other electronica acts they are often either amazed or put off by how I put my sound together. I use a NI (Native Instruments) MASCHINE yet run it through old 80's equalizers to give it a Lo-Fi sound. I do not like the over produced sound that comes off most dubstep, I find Luna 13's sound is much more raw than the normal EDM projects. I even mastered the demo 'Feeling Like My Old Sunny Self Again' on a 90's 16 track Tascam on purpose."


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