Speaker 1: I'm really grateful to be playing with these wonderful people.
Speaker 1: They've helped me create a family away from my own.
Speaker 2: From Futuro Media and PRX, It's let you Know, Usa.
Speaker 2: I'm Marie Rosa. Today Luna Luna, a band from Texas,
Speaker 2: on how the Stars aligned, bringing them together to live
Speaker 2: out their dreams on this show some music this time
Speaker 2: from Luna Luna, the rising band based in Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 2: Luna Luna is best known for mixing nostalgic sounds of
Speaker 2: the past and fusing them with elements of funk and
Speaker 2: dreamlike pop. We had Luna Luna on the show back
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two, and we're happy to have them
Speaker 2: on with us today. One of Luna Luna's favorite things
Speaker 2: to sing about is young love. You know, from the
Speaker 2: joys of a newly blossoming relationship to the withering of
Speaker 2: love and oh the heartache. Each member of this millennial
Speaker 2: four member band comes from a very different walk of life,
Speaker 2: and that's part of Luna Luna's DNA. They're made up
Speaker 2: of vocalist Kevin Gonzalez, who also goes by Cave, backup
Speaker 2: vocalist and keyboardist Danny Bonilla, drummer Kaylin Martinez and bassist
Speaker 2: Ryan Gordon, who goes by Gordo. The band has had
Speaker 2: different members throughout the years, but they say destiny has
Speaker 2: brought them together from across the Lone Star State. Now
Speaker 2: they're having a good time creating music and going back
Speaker 2: on tour across the country. I'm going to hand things
Speaker 2: off now to Kevin, Danny, Kaylin and Ryan of Luna Luna.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get to know more about the people behind
Speaker 2: the instruments and hear about how the universe brought them
Speaker 2: into each other's lives to let them live out their
Speaker 2: wildest dreams. Here's Luna Luna in their own words.
Speaker 3: Hey, my name is Kavi. I'm the singer and producer
Speaker 3: of Lula La Yeah. So Lula Luna started yay back
Speaker 3: in twenty seventeen in Dallas, Texas. We're all Latino and
Speaker 3: that's a La Luna.
Speaker 4: I'm sure.
Speaker 3: Yes. I was born in Colombia stayed there until I
Speaker 3: was like six years old. You know, I feel like
Speaker 3: a lot of Latino parents are like this where they'll
Speaker 3: film like everything. So even back in the day, my
Speaker 3: mom had a lot of videos of just old parties
Speaker 3: that they would have with her family, and it was
Speaker 3: just all music and every like nobody's like sitting down.
Speaker 3: Everyone's dancing and listening to music. So I just kind
Speaker 3: of was like, whoa, Like, she's just telling me about
Speaker 3: how life growing up in Colombia was. It was always
Speaker 3: full of music and family. And I think like the
Speaker 3: music comes from the music that my mom showed me
Speaker 3: from Colombia, and you know, like sasabout checked all of that,
Speaker 3: and then obviously growing up in America you get all
Speaker 3: the English R and B pop hip hop. I think
Speaker 3: that's what created the sound. Then my mom brought me
Speaker 3: and my older sister to Dallas, Texas. She came here
Speaker 3: as like a missionary for the church. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 3: I started like getting the urge to make music when
Speaker 3: I was fourteen, but I really didn't have any tools,
Speaker 3: and I didn't have anyone to show me like how
Speaker 3: to like record music or anything. So I used to
Speaker 3: have a big, fat, like desktop computer, and I had
Speaker 3: like a little like microphone that you like plug in
Speaker 3: the bag that you put on your ear, so right there,
Speaker 3: I would just record my voice and just make ideas
Speaker 3: and just throw it on there. But you know, you
Speaker 3: can't really do much for that. But later on I
Speaker 3: found out there's someone that you can use like an
Speaker 3: app called Garage Band on an iPhone and I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I can do that, and they downloaded that and I
Speaker 3: was life changing because right there you can do like
Speaker 3: multiple tracks. It has all these sounds you can actually
Speaker 3: like make a song. Even on our last album Flower Moon,
Speaker 3: like three or like three of the songs were started
Speaker 3: like on Garage been still on my phone like to
Speaker 3: this day. It was just like a really helpful tool.
Speaker 4: Again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so back in the day, Uh, it just started
Speaker 3: with me and a friend making music and just like
Speaker 3: a room. And one day we got offered to perform
Speaker 3: at a record store in Dallas and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: we can play there, Like I'm down to play, but
Speaker 3: I didn't have a band yet. I said yes before
Speaker 3: like having an actual group to perform with. So I
Speaker 3: figured it out from there, found some people to play with,
Speaker 3: kept getting hit up to play shows or did open mics.
Speaker 3: So at that time it just came time to recruit people.
Speaker 3: And my Danny had an open mic. So I have
Speaker 3: been going to this open mic thing for like a
Speaker 3: couple of weeks already in deep ellenm it was called
Speaker 3: Drugstore Cowboy.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: At that time, it was still like the old cast,
Speaker 3: the season one cast. And then I see Danny with
Speaker 3: one of his friends about to go on. They're getting
Speaker 3: ready on stage while we're about to leave, and then
Speaker 3: he gets on the microphone and he says like wait, Luna, Luna,
Speaker 3: like like listen to this or like wait around, and
Speaker 3: we were like, okay, we'll listen. So then they performed
Speaker 3: and I was like, okay, like this is actually like good.
Speaker 3: And then like we talked to each other, exchange info,
Speaker 3: met up later, had some studio sessions together. We got
Speaker 3: asked to perform another show in Denton, like a house show,
Speaker 3: and then I asked Danny to play the keys for
Speaker 3: us if he wanted to, and he said yeah, and
Speaker 3: then that's that's the rest is history.
Speaker 5: I'm Danny, I'm the tree leader of Luna Luna. I
Speaker 5: also played the keys, and twenty two one night, I
Speaker 5: see these guys, I'm like, oh, they kind of looked
Speaker 5: like me, and I was I was skeptical, and then Kevin.
Speaker 4: Goes, we made this song last night, So then I'm like,
Speaker 4: oh my gosh, because be awful.
Speaker 5: And it was Revelation, and I remember the intro hit
Speaker 5: and I was like, okay, and then when the drums
Speaker 5: came and I was.
Speaker 4: Like, oh my god, is so good. I was.
Speaker 5: I was blown away. And for some reason that night,
Speaker 5: my mom was there, my friends were there, and my
Speaker 5: aunt was there. For some reason, this is the night
Speaker 5: everyone showed up. And then so I'm setting up because
Speaker 5: I'm excited. I'm like, I got to show these people.
Speaker 5: They're going to love me because they never seen somebody
Speaker 5: like this before. And I remember like just like getting
Speaker 5: ready to perform, and I turn around and they're leaving.
Speaker 5: They're like walking out the door, like they already passed
Speaker 5: the door.
Speaker 4: My ah, no, wait, you want to see this. Trust me.
Speaker 5: So then then they come back in and then I
Speaker 5: just I go in like I'm like, this is my audition.
Speaker 5: They're gonna love it. They're gonna they're gonna make me
Speaker 5: join after this. And then yeah, so I was just
Speaker 5: singing my heart out and then uh yeah, we exchanged numbers.
Speaker 4: After that.
Speaker 5: It was like the world was waiting for us to collide.
Speaker 5: So my dad came to America when he was I
Speaker 5: want to say, fourteen, and my mom came to America
Speaker 5: when she was in second grade. Man, my parents loved
Speaker 5: to tell stories, especially my dad. They were there in
Speaker 5: the eighties and and that was when there was a
Speaker 5: civil war happening. So they would tell me horror stories,
Speaker 5: like just walking to school, they'd be dead bodies, or
Speaker 5: you'd see someone die or see someone drown when they're
Speaker 5: just trying to cross the river to go to school.
Speaker 5: So their stories remaining like we had to survive, We
Speaker 5: had a grind to get here. You better not waste
Speaker 5: the opportunity that you have to go to school and
Speaker 5: learn something. So that's what I was always pushed to
Speaker 5: work hard. I've always had a connection with music. I
Speaker 5: think it's just it's one of my first memories. I
Speaker 5: remember when I was eight and I told my dad, like,
Speaker 5: I want to be a singer. He's like, sings for girls.
Speaker 5: And I was like, man, you sing all the time,
Speaker 5: and that's what you listen to male singers, Like how
Speaker 5: is this? I didn't even take it that personal because like,
Speaker 5: I'm gonna do it anymore. I'm not asking you, I'm
Speaker 5: telling you that I'm going to do it. And anyway,
Speaker 5: learned how to read music and it just clicked It's.
Speaker 4: Something that I understood.
Speaker 5: It's like a like an Isaac Newton with math.
Speaker 4: It just felt like it just happens.
Speaker 5: I didn't have to try. I just instantly got it.
Speaker 5: I'm a very confident person. I'm well aware of what
Speaker 5: I what I'm capable of, and I think that's just
Speaker 5: from how I was raised. So I have strong self confidence.
Speaker 5: I'm believe in myself more than anything. And I knew
Speaker 5: this is the time. You know, I've been waiting for
Speaker 5: an opportunity unity. I've been trying to find it this
Speaker 5: whole time. It's right in front of me. I'm gonna
Speaker 5: take the moment and seize it. I don't care what
Speaker 5: anyone says or anyone does. My moment, I'm gonna make
Speaker 5: it happen. That's my thing. I'm gonna make things happen.
Speaker 5: When I say I say something, I do it. I
Speaker 5: knew instantly I needed to be in this band. It
Speaker 5: wasn't like I hope I need to be in this band,
Speaker 5: So I made it an.
Speaker 1: I'm Kaitlin and I'm the drummer for Luna Luna, and
Speaker 1: I am twenty six years old. So I grew up
Speaker 1: in Lufkin, Texas, and yeah, it's a really small town
Speaker 1: next to Louisiana, Deep East Texas and very conservative, very
Speaker 1: close knit, lots of churches around there. So my parents
Speaker 1: are my dad is Mexican American and then my mom
Speaker 1: is white. Then yeah, I just ended up up playing well.
Speaker 1: Around fifth grade, my mom asked me if I wanted
Speaker 1: to play music, and I'm the only one in the
Speaker 1: family that had any interests. So I started playing drums
Speaker 1: and then throughout my life I started playing it throughout
Speaker 1: church and whatnot, and that kind of, you know, led
Speaker 1: me into starting to play live much more and with
Speaker 1: bands and stuff.
Speaker 4: I'm around Gordon, but I also go by Gorda. I
Speaker 4: played bass.
Speaker 6: So I too, am from Plano, Texas, grew up there,
Speaker 6: born and raised. I think my initial connection to music,
Speaker 6: that perception of it being really beautiful, was when.
Speaker 4: I went to Mass Sunday Mass.
Speaker 6: You know, I grew up Catholic, and I remember being
Speaker 6: in the service and just listening to everybody, you know,
Speaker 6: singing together and live band and you know, everything just
Speaker 6: got It was really moving to me. And I think
Speaker 6: I was like four or five at the time, but
Speaker 6: I just remember being really touched by that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like I too cried.
Speaker 6: This is the music that was like making me tear up.
Speaker 6: That was a new feeling for me.
Speaker 4: At the time.
Speaker 6: I was like, that was weird, but it was also
Speaker 6: like a good weird, and so pretty much then on,
Speaker 6: I always like to look after that sort of lump
Speaker 6: you get in your throat and you hear a song
Speaker 6: so beautiful.
Speaker 1: So I'm in a band with Ryan called Digital Candy,
Speaker 1: and I meet the lead singer of that band because
Speaker 1: I just pull a number off an ad looking for
Speaker 1: a band. I think this is twenty seventeen, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to start playing music again. And so I
Speaker 1: contact that guy, and then that guy somehow gets in
Speaker 1: touch with Ryan eventually, and so yeah, I met. We're
Speaker 1: in a pop punk band, and Kevin finds that out
Speaker 1: and then he's making music and I'm like seeing his stuff,
Speaker 1: I know that it's really cool, and I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: like I would loved to play that kind of music
Speaker 1: one day. And this band is coming out of Dallas.
Speaker 1: Like all the music in Denton is like, you know,
Speaker 1: emo pop punk, like thrash metal, all that. I don't know,
Speaker 1: Like I love listening to that, but that's not the
Speaker 1: kind of stuff that I really wanted to, you know,
Speaker 1: put myself in. But then one day he like messaged
Speaker 1: me and I was like, I remember tearing up when
Speaker 1: I saw it, like because it was just such a
Speaker 1: special moment, Like I was like he saw me and
Speaker 1: thought of me, and like I think this is just
Speaker 1: going to be huge, and I can't believe I'm the
Speaker 1: one that he asked. So the message that Kevin sent
Speaker 1: me like to join the band, it was it wasn't
Speaker 1: you know some that's something like too spectacular or anything,
Speaker 1: but it was just like, hey, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you know, but I'm I'm starting a new project called
Speaker 1: Lenda Luna, And yeah, I know that you played drums,
Speaker 1: and I was wondering if you wanted to be in
Speaker 1: the band. Eventually he was like, yeah, I need a basis.
Speaker 1: Sounds like I know the perfect guy. Then I think Kevin. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I took it from there.
Speaker 6: Kevin comes by and gets my number and saying, well,
Speaker 6: that's a good sign. Well, the fact that Kaylin was
Speaker 6: in the band before me, and I just knew like, oh,
Speaker 6: like I know if I'm in this band, I'm gonna
Speaker 6: click because we already clicked previously.
Speaker 4: And the sound was there and everything was just there.
Speaker 6: And to be quite honest, I didn't really like know
Speaker 6: like the far extent of their musical releases.
Speaker 4: And all that. You know, I've heard for you how long.
Speaker 4: But that was about it.
Speaker 6: But yeah, up until I was asked, you know, I was,
Speaker 6: I was kind of in the dark in some sense.
Speaker 6: But like once I was asked, I just saw, like,
Speaker 6: you know, Cloud's.
Speaker 4: Part and I was like, oh, my message is there.
Speaker 4: Oh well, stumbled upon something beautiful.
Speaker 6: So I just kind of ran with it from there
Speaker 6: and it's been a crazy journey since.
Speaker 1: Like I don't know, this whole situation is kind of
Speaker 1: like fateful. I don't know, it's all not yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just like it's just destiny, you know. Like I'm really
Speaker 1: excited to just keep playing. I actually just quit my job.
Speaker 1: I love music and this is the first time I've
Speaker 1: ever tried to do this full time, so touring will
Speaker 1: help with that. And then I'm also playing music outside
Speaker 1: of you know, Luna Luna as well, so I'm going
Speaker 1: to be doing that. I'm really grateful to be playing
Speaker 1: with these wonderful people. They've helped me like create a
Speaker 1: family away from my own.
Speaker 4: Going back on tour like it. It's very rewarding.
Speaker 6: Yeah, very tiring, but it's so refreshing to be back
Speaker 6: out there seeing you know, our fans.
Speaker 4: I mean, we have the best fans. I feel so.
Speaker 6: Lucky to have such wonderful people coming to our shows.
Speaker 4: Fans have come up and told us like, oh my god,
Speaker 4: your your music got me through my breakup. The music
Speaker 4: got us. We met each other through your music. We
Speaker 4: connected with each other through.
Speaker 6: Your music, and you know, we hear that a lot,
Speaker 6: and so that's just reassuring, like, Wow, we're really onto
Speaker 6: something as a group, as a collective, as the vision
Speaker 6: being there, and so that's just a it's just a
Speaker 6: beautiful thing to see that, that's resonating, like that you
Speaker 6: call me out.
Speaker 5: I just want to say thank you to the big Man,
Speaker 5: Kevin for giving me an opportunity to showcase all my skills.
Speaker 5: I want to say thank you to a beautiful drummer
Speaker 5: Kaylin holding it down Ryan being like the big brother
Speaker 5: never had craziest faces. I feel like right now is
Speaker 5: the should is the most finely tuned we've been and
Speaker 5: I think we're great at what we do now. At
Speaker 5: the beginning, we were definitely just kids haven't thought of,
Speaker 5: but now it's we're professionals trying to change the world
Speaker 5: one melody at a time.
Speaker 7: Sununund.
Speaker 3: I think we started, you know, it's kind of like
Speaker 3: a romantic, like hopeless romantic sound that kind of got
Speaker 3: our foot in the door in the music industry. And
Speaker 3: then I think with the last album, we're kind of
Speaker 3: trying to branch out a little maybe get a little
Speaker 3: more popped in there, and so far that's where we're at.
Speaker 3: I think the sound that's going to come out of
Speaker 3: Lunar Later is going to be like a mix of both,
Speaker 3: and I think it's going to be evolving, and I
Speaker 3: think it will be better than anything we've had before.
Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Renaldo Lanos Junior. It was
Speaker 2: mixed by J. J. Carubin. The Latino USA team also
Speaker 2: includes Victoria Estrada and Relo, Quees Crusado, Doriman Marquez, Marta Martinez,
Speaker 2: Mike Sargent, Nor Saudi, and Nancy Trujillo. Nile Ramirez is
Speaker 2: our co executive producer. Our director of Engineering is Stephanie Lebau.
Speaker 2: Our senior engineer is Julia Caruso. Our marketing manager is Luis.
Speaker 2: Our theme music was composed by Xenia Rubinos. I'm your
Speaker 2: host and executive producer Bydieno Kosa. Join us again on
Speaker 2: our next episode, and in the meantime, I'll see you
Speaker 2: on all of our social media.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 7: Baye Latino USA is supported by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative,
Speaker 7: the Tao Foundation and Michelle Mercer and Bruce Golden. You're
Speaker 7: still the.
Speaker 5: One that that's some of your christ of art. That
Speaker 5: was my streamlined the conscience in the Shania Twain and
Speaker 5: Phil Collins