MOANA With Moana lutton
Photo by Tanya Voltchanskaya
How did the members of Moana align themselves?
I was a shy banshee girl hiding in my cave working on spells and songs for a number of cold dark years before I decided I needed a pack. Lochy was just a child when I twirled him in my web and got him to bang his head on coconuts. Javan was a street-rat with dangly long fingers who needed a quest. One day the three of us walked past a fairy garden and saw who was to be later known as Jo Bones tormenting gnomes and eating their mushroom houses. It was a burden, but we took him with us and secretly extracted his powers whilst he slept. Now he is ours. He belongs to no Son of Apollo. Together we are a very twisted family, mortal enemies, star-crossed-lovers, wailing babies.
Moana's sound is it's own thing and isn't very easy to describe, are there bands you all listen to and draw inspiration from when writing new material or do you all just let the ideas come out?
Yeah, it just flows. We’re four people with an array of different tastes, musical influences and approaches to our instruments that mesh to make it a unique beast and hard to pin down, as you say. My musical influence probably comes through most prominently as I play the sort of ‘overseeing director’ and every now and then I’ll encourage the guys to listen to some influences I’m particularly crazy on. But for the most part we don’t talk much about that kind of thing, we just let it happen.
The Trilogy Of The Black Monsoon is a collaboration between visual art and music with Part II launching at the start of next month, releasing your artwork in three pieces is an interesting approach, what is the idea behind it?
The standard ‘formula’ of releasing music and lack of soul and art in popular music is very boring to me. I wanted to do a project that was not only a collection songs but that also encouraged people to think differently about this ‘formula’, to be exposed to collaborations between art forms and to create a full-power body of work that actually has meaning through a story, a visual journey, a video expression, a particular live delivery. There are so many complexities and contrasts in mood and meaning across these songs that exist in an otherworldly realm. It was just natural to want to do something epic and weird to suit it all.
As well as music, you are quite involved in theatre and it is very apparent in a Moana performance. Is it something you try to incorporate into your live shows?
Yes and no. It’s not so much consciously incorporated but just naturally a part of how I perform and how the music delivers itself to me. Having come from a theatre background before starting the band I’m really interested in creating mood and atmosphere, story-telling, costume, symbolism and drawing from certain theatrical and literary movements in performance and writing. It’s fun. The music envelopes me in its drama and otherworldliness I can’t help but get into character and theatrically tell the story in a live performance setting. With the trilogy launches we are doing some more deliberate theatrical live shows with various actors, performers etc that are gonna be pretty freaky and exciting.
Via Luna Pictures has done all your video clips and seems to be able to capture the visual story your music is telling perfectly using her own techniques, how do you find working with another creative genius to recreate the desired vision of your artwork through another medium?
It’s exceedingly rewarding, educating and fuck loads of fun. We started working together because we have similar aesthetic tastes, so it’s so enjoyable to see how someone as imaginative and creative as Luna interprets our music and stories into something out of this world. We collaborate and work really closely as I usually have a tonne of visual ideas squirming through my brain. But there’s something really beautiful about letting go of any ‘creative perfectionisms’ you may have as an artist (which there are a lot of sometimes!) and seeing how two creative brains like Luna and Is, combined with her amazing crew, bring something to life that you could never achieve on your own. That’s the beauty of collaborating!
Crowd funding and government grants are something that can help accelerate a creative's pursuit of accomplishing or finishing a project, how has it helped you achieve your goals and what advice can you offer other artists to acquire government funding?
My advice would be to dream big and not be afraid of seeking those avenues to help you out. Unfortunately money is the big villain in all big creative projects that can stunt you from bringing it to life. Obtaining financial backing for a project as complex as ours has taken it from an extravagant idea in our conversations into an actuality. I think not compromising your artistic vision or letting the complexities of money or “what other people might think” get in the way of it is really important with that kind of thing. Applying for grants or putting yourself out there in crowd-funding campaign can be a lot of work and it doesn’t always succeed, but I’d say stay passionate, dream up a project that is innovative and meaningful and dream big. If you don’t succeed the first time, get better and try again, get inventive with it, don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Who's got it in the bag for this year's Big Splash?
Apollo’s Son, Jacob Diamond and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are the apples of my (slightly mad) eye. They are all incredibly talented musicians with swagger, power and wild styles of their own. But Cool Band will probably win.
What night has a better vibe to it, sweaty house party or sell out venue gig?
Tough one… As much as I love sweaty, messy, disgustingly good house party vibes I have to say a sell-out venue. I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to that - I’d prefer to be in-control on a huge stage with lights, smoke and sparkles with an audience there flaring to watch you play and hear your music. I find that energy the most electric, pure and where I can really reach that euphoric state in performance. House parties are absolute chaotic joy, but I’m usually too cooked to even remember the performance (and so is everyone else) or care about doing it well.
Which bands in Perth are doin' it good at the moment?
So many!! Joni In The Moon, Koi Child, The Weapon Is Sound, AJ Wigwams, Methyl Ethyl, Fait, Black Stone From The Sun, Kucka, David Craft, Hideous Sun Demon, Odette Mercy & so many many more.
What are the next releases for Moana and when should we be booking work off?
Saturday 1st August at The Bird for “The Trilogy Of The Black Monsoon” Part II Saturday 19th September at Mojos for the final Monsoon and our EP launch!
I was a shy banshee girl hiding in my cave working on spells and songs for a number of cold dark years before I decided I needed a pack. Lochy was just a child when I twirled him in my web and got him to bang his head on coconuts. Javan was a street-rat with dangly long fingers who needed a quest. One day the three of us walked past a fairy garden and saw who was to be later known as Jo Bones tormenting gnomes and eating their mushroom houses. It was a burden, but we took him with us and secretly extracted his powers whilst he slept. Now he is ours. He belongs to no Son of Apollo. Together we are a very twisted family, mortal enemies, star-crossed-lovers, wailing babies.
Moana's sound is it's own thing and isn't very easy to describe, are there bands you all listen to and draw inspiration from when writing new material or do you all just let the ideas come out?
Yeah, it just flows. We’re four people with an array of different tastes, musical influences and approaches to our instruments that mesh to make it a unique beast and hard to pin down, as you say. My musical influence probably comes through most prominently as I play the sort of ‘overseeing director’ and every now and then I’ll encourage the guys to listen to some influences I’m particularly crazy on. But for the most part we don’t talk much about that kind of thing, we just let it happen.
The Trilogy Of The Black Monsoon is a collaboration between visual art and music with Part II launching at the start of next month, releasing your artwork in three pieces is an interesting approach, what is the idea behind it?
The standard ‘formula’ of releasing music and lack of soul and art in popular music is very boring to me. I wanted to do a project that was not only a collection songs but that also encouraged people to think differently about this ‘formula’, to be exposed to collaborations between art forms and to create a full-power body of work that actually has meaning through a story, a visual journey, a video expression, a particular live delivery. There are so many complexities and contrasts in mood and meaning across these songs that exist in an otherworldly realm. It was just natural to want to do something epic and weird to suit it all.
As well as music, you are quite involved in theatre and it is very apparent in a Moana performance. Is it something you try to incorporate into your live shows?
Yes and no. It’s not so much consciously incorporated but just naturally a part of how I perform and how the music delivers itself to me. Having come from a theatre background before starting the band I’m really interested in creating mood and atmosphere, story-telling, costume, symbolism and drawing from certain theatrical and literary movements in performance and writing. It’s fun. The music envelopes me in its drama and otherworldliness I can’t help but get into character and theatrically tell the story in a live performance setting. With the trilogy launches we are doing some more deliberate theatrical live shows with various actors, performers etc that are gonna be pretty freaky and exciting.
Via Luna Pictures has done all your video clips and seems to be able to capture the visual story your music is telling perfectly using her own techniques, how do you find working with another creative genius to recreate the desired vision of your artwork through another medium?
It’s exceedingly rewarding, educating and fuck loads of fun. We started working together because we have similar aesthetic tastes, so it’s so enjoyable to see how someone as imaginative and creative as Luna interprets our music and stories into something out of this world. We collaborate and work really closely as I usually have a tonne of visual ideas squirming through my brain. But there’s something really beautiful about letting go of any ‘creative perfectionisms’ you may have as an artist (which there are a lot of sometimes!) and seeing how two creative brains like Luna and Is, combined with her amazing crew, bring something to life that you could never achieve on your own. That’s the beauty of collaborating!
Crowd funding and government grants are something that can help accelerate a creative's pursuit of accomplishing or finishing a project, how has it helped you achieve your goals and what advice can you offer other artists to acquire government funding?
My advice would be to dream big and not be afraid of seeking those avenues to help you out. Unfortunately money is the big villain in all big creative projects that can stunt you from bringing it to life. Obtaining financial backing for a project as complex as ours has taken it from an extravagant idea in our conversations into an actuality. I think not compromising your artistic vision or letting the complexities of money or “what other people might think” get in the way of it is really important with that kind of thing. Applying for grants or putting yourself out there in crowd-funding campaign can be a lot of work and it doesn’t always succeed, but I’d say stay passionate, dream up a project that is innovative and meaningful and dream big. If you don’t succeed the first time, get better and try again, get inventive with it, don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Who's got it in the bag for this year's Big Splash?
Apollo’s Son, Jacob Diamond and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are the apples of my (slightly mad) eye. They are all incredibly talented musicians with swagger, power and wild styles of their own. But Cool Band will probably win.
What night has a better vibe to it, sweaty house party or sell out venue gig?
Tough one… As much as I love sweaty, messy, disgustingly good house party vibes I have to say a sell-out venue. I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to that - I’d prefer to be in-control on a huge stage with lights, smoke and sparkles with an audience there flaring to watch you play and hear your music. I find that energy the most electric, pure and where I can really reach that euphoric state in performance. House parties are absolute chaotic joy, but I’m usually too cooked to even remember the performance (and so is everyone else) or care about doing it well.
Which bands in Perth are doin' it good at the moment?
So many!! Joni In The Moon, Koi Child, The Weapon Is Sound, AJ Wigwams, Methyl Ethyl, Fait, Black Stone From The Sun, Kucka, David Craft, Hideous Sun Demon, Odette Mercy & so many many more.
What are the next releases for Moana and when should we be booking work off?
Saturday 1st August at The Bird for “The Trilogy Of The Black Monsoon” Part II Saturday 19th September at Mojos for the final Monsoon and our EP launch!