Today we are joined by one of the most talented and unique rock bands of the US, Luminatrix. Hailing from Santa Fe, New Mexico with a repertoire of four studio albums and numerous singles, we congratulate them on the release of their fifth album, Hide and Seek today. We had an in-depth review of the title track here on REM, and we also enjoyed their amazing single “Iron Shirt Training”, which happens to be my favorite song from the band, so far. Here’s how our chat with these guys went down:
- First of all, I would like to welcome you and thank you for being with us today. Tell us how Luminatrix was formed and how you came up with that awesome name.
Hi Akram and thank you for having us. Luminatrix was formed in 2015, after I’d been working on solo song writing for almost ten years. Prior to that, I had been a bassist and co-writer for other projects, performing live for many years—since I was about 15 years old. I’d spent years in well-known New York City bands and on the stages of famous clubs like CBGB and Maxwell’s, but it was time to do my own thing. I was well prepared by a conservatory-type classical music education in my childhood, but I really took my time with learning to craft rock songs. I didn’t want to bring out the project before it felt like it was exactly how I envisioned it. The name was given to me by a song writer friend named David Smith, who was a someone I worked with to learn song craft back around 2006, and pretty much my best friend for many years. He said he thought that would be a good name for my project, and I agreed. What a gift! He later wrote a song called “Luminatrix” with his project Jupiter Spiral. David moved to Berlin a few years ago, but we still talk on the phone sometimes.
I have always been the type of song writer who hears songs in my mind. They tend to cycle around in there fully formed until I can create them in the world.
It took some time to figure out how to match the sounds I heard, but once I hit my stride, I became prolific and I had a lot of songs to record. However, I had no band until 2018, so Luminatrix began as a studio project. I didn’t play guitar yet, so I hired session musicians to play guitar and drums. By the second album, I had taught myself to play guitar because it was better for song writing. Eventually we ended up pulling the first three albums from distribution because of the studio nature of these recordings—once there was a live band (in 2018) I wanted it to be about those players. So we are selectively re-recording and re-releasing some songs from those early albums. “Iron Shirt Training” and “It’s Assured” were re-recorded for “Hide and Seek”. I don’t know that we will re record any more old songs, but it’s great to get those two out into the world and performed by the band.
- Your band has a very interesting set up between Jenna McGrath and Montana Joana Standish both doing lead and backing vocals sometimes. How do you manage such a setting and choose which of you sings which parts?
Finding Montana and getting her to join the band was a dream come true. Prior to meeting her, I had written and recorded many songs with dual lead vocals in harmony, and I sang both parts. I hoped to find a bassist who could sing the vocal harmonies, but it seemed like a long shot. When I met Montana, she was a lead singer who had recently begun learning bass. I worked with her for about a year on the bass parts, and then she was ready. She gave a huge amount of time and energy to the process, and also has a lot of natural musical talent to work with. So once she got the bass parts, it wasn’t that hard for her to add the vocals. I write the songs, but we now develop them together as a band. She wrote most of her bass lines on “Hide and Seek” and they’re great. Sometimes I will write one for her because I hear something very specific, which is how we worked on “Pretty Blue Dress” and I’m grateful for her flexibility and willingness to play both what I hear and what she hears. On “Hide and Seek” I wrote all the backing vocals for her. One of her vocals on “Pretty Blue Dress” is derived from the aria of the Night Queen from Mozart’s opera “Die Zauberflote” (The Magic Flute) and that’s one I couldn’t have performed myself. The lead vocals are all still me, but I work to bring her backing vocals into the spotlight in a way similar to how lead vocals are used. I did this with the “Run, run, get out” intro part on “Get Out” and with the “Golden Metal Heart” refrain on “Hide and Seek” In her own project, Montana is a funk singer and I think that really serves Luminatrix when she sings as it’s a contrast to my style. I originally wrote “Wandering Eye” for her to sing, but then ended up singing it myself because I realized that was how it was meant to be. But there’s always a possibility I could write something for her to sing lead on, or that she could bring something to the band that she wrote to sing. It’s wonderful to have such a relationship and Montana is an absolute treasure!
- You’ve recently put out the single “Iron Shirt Training ”, which is my favorite release of yours and one of my favorite songs of the whole year, so far. What’s the inspiration behind that song and what do the lyrics truly mean?
Thank you! This is the first Luminatrix song I wrote, and one that was previously done with studio musicians to a click track. We re-recorded it live for “Hide and Seek” with the band and it has so much more vitality. The first version got a lot of airplay on our local radio station, 98.1 KBAC, Radio Free Santa Fe. This was heartening and gave me motivation to continue. The song is based on internal martial arts principles, but in a way of comparing them to the struggles of difficult interpersonal relationships. I was reading an old internal martial arts book called “The Study of Form-Mind Boxing” by Xing Yi Quan Xue. You can see how the title is a direct influence on the song lyrics. The song talks about how fear causes people to blame each other for things and in doing so, destroys the possibility of love. In a similar way, the practice of internal martial arts involves getting the opponent the take an energetic or psychological “hit”. “Iron Shirt Training” is a real martial arts practice in which the torso is hit with iron bars until it’s so tough it becomes like iron. There is also “Iron Shin Training” and “Iron Head Training” –that’s where you see people breaking boards on their heads. I use “Iron Shirt Training as a metaphor for protecting the heart to the point of armoring it away from any possibility of love. But one radio DJ thought the song was about getting your boyfriend to iron your shirts, so we joke that it’s really about that! Haha!
- Congratulations on your new album “Hide and Seek”. I truly loved it. What’s the drive you had while writing this album, and what makes it differ from your previous releases?
Thank you, that means a lot to us. I had a strong inspiration, drive and direction on “Hide and Seek” that was developed for several years before recording. I envisioned writing a rock album that was inspired by the structures and themes of classical symphonic music. I collected my symphonic bits and variations for a few years before I started writing. By then we had achieved some college radio success with our 2023 Album “Antihero” which made the NACC charts. So the idea of doing an entirely symphonic album didn’t completely mesh with continuing to attempt to conquer the college charts, which we also wanted to do. And we wanted “Iron Shirt Training” to also be presented as it should be and to be promoted properly. So I decided to make the album about half symphonic rock—these are the 6-8 minute long songs “Pretty Blue Dress” “Hide and Seek” and “Get Out” and half shorter songs that would have a better shot at widespread airplay, including the two re-recorded songs. I’m so pleased by how this all came together to form what feels like a complete and well rounded album experience.
- If I ask you to name the top 5 artists that inspire your sound and songwriting, who would you pick at the top of your head?
Mozart, Bowie, Prince, The Pretenders and Nirvana.
- In your opinion, how does a rock artist stay relevant in 2024 compared to the past? Is it touring or digital platforms or promotion…what’s your take on that?
There has to be some direct connection to the audience through the songs themselves, via the message and the music. It has to resonate with others deeply or it won’t have legs. On top of that, it needs proper promotion through college radio and alternative radio. Live shows are important, but touring isn’t what it used to be, so we make live videos at our shows here and put them on youtube, where people all over the world watch and enjoy them. We record live songs and whole live shows. The structures that were set up during the heyday of the industry really enabled indie artists to tour and make it work, as well as enabling labels to sign smaller bands financed by their mainstream successes. Those days are gone but we have other benefits in place of the old ones, like the ability to easily record and produce ourselves and output a quality product. People think it’s a goal to do only music, and I used to live that way, but the new way is to have a day job and do music also. If toured a lot, I wouldn’t have the money to make my albums, so my business model is different from the old one. Digital platforms are tough—I’ve always believed in the power of radio.
- Do you plan on touring in the near future? If so, do you have any venues you still haven’t played but wish to play?
We don’t have a tour planned, although we would accept one under the right circumstances. I’ve done a lot of touring in the past, and it’s a lot of fun to get out there and connect with audiences every night, but I’m not sure how much it really helps most bands in the end.
- If you had a chance to collaborate with any artist or band, living or dead, who would it be?
I’d love to collaborate with Diamanda Galas. I think we’d do something truly original.
At the end of the day, I would like to thank you for giving us some of your valuable time and information, and it’s always a pleasure having you here. ‘Iron Shirt Training’ is out now on all platforms, and the wonderful album ‘Hide and Seek’ will be out on September 15th , so be sure to check them out and follow Luminatrix on all their social media accounts to stay updated. Cheers!
