One last homecountry stop before a busy summer

With Luna Kills about to play one last homecountry club show in Helsinki before kicking off a busy run of European festivals, we caught up with Lotta to talk about what’s shaping up to become a huge summer for the band. Despite the packed schedule that lies ahead, the past few months have actually been relatively quiet on the live front. That wasn’t by accident though. Rather than constantly being on the road, Luna Kills have been pouring their energy into writing new material.

That work will soon make way for stages all across Europe, with stops at festivals like Wacken Open Air, Summer Breeze and Belgium’s Alcatraz Festival. The latter is a particularly exciting one, as the Finns will have the honour of opening the Main Stage on the festival’s final day.

Built for the festival stage

It’s a setting Lotta is genuinely looking forward to. Heavy-focused festivals simply feel like home for Luna Kills. While the band doesn’t really change its setlist depending on where it plays, there is one small adjustment they sometimes make when hitting up a festival that is more commercial or pop oriented. If they’re performing for a crowd that might not necessarily expect screaming from the very first minute, they may ease people into the set with one of their more melodic songs before letting everything loose. “No need to traumatize people straight away,” she joked.

Playing the biggest stage of their career so far at Alcatraz isn’t something that seems to make the band nervous either. On the contrary, Lotta mainly sees opportunities. More space means more room to move, more room for the band’s energetic performance, and hopefully enough room to wake up everyone making their way to the festival grounds early on that Sunday morning—or to keep the party going for those who somehow never stopped.

Although the biggest festivals are still ahead, the summer has already delivered memorable moments. Looking back, Lotta immediately points to Luna Kills‘ appearance at Provinssi, where everything simply seemed to click. Sometimes you can’t quite explain why a show feels special, but when the audience responds from the very first song, the atmosphere takes on a life of its own.

A natural evolution

We also briefly stepped away from touring to talk about ‘LOWER’, Luna Kills‘ latest single. While the song unmistakably carries the band’s signature sound, it also explores new territory, moving between atmospheric passages and some of the heaviest material they’ve released so far. According to Lotta, that evolution happened naturally during the writing process, and it’s a direction that feels increasingly right for the band.

Looking back at ‘DEATHMATCH’, she admits the response to the debut album still caught them by surprise. They never really felt they were reinventing modern metal, yet listeners consistently described the record as fresh and original—something the band certainly wasn’t expecting when they first released it.

Ready to conquer Europe

Summer won’t be the end of Luna Kills‘ travels either. This autumn they’ll embark on their first extensive European tour as support for Future Palace, joined by As Everything Unfolds and Defences. For Lotta, it’s exactly the kind of package tour she loves seeing. All four bands occupy a similar musical landscape, yet each has developed its own identity. Sharing a stage with artists you genuinely enjoy watching yourself certainly doesn’t sound like a bad way to spend several weeks crossing Europe.

A quick festival round

Before wrapping up, we couldn’t resist putting Lotta through a quick festival questionnaire…

• Morning or evening slot?
  Evening slot. I’m definitely not a morning person, so evening slot for sure. Though not at midnight eather, in that sweet spot between late afternoon and late night.
• Rain or 35°C?
  Rain. At least you can still breathe when it rains compared to when it’s so hot and you need to be able to breathe when singing.
• Biggest festival essential?
  As a performing artist, our gear. And water. You need to hydrate, people.
• First thing after leaving the stage?
  Oh, I can’t tell you that (cheeky laugh). Let’s say that I get to more water to properly hydrate after sweating everything out. And gathering our gear, I guess.
• Band you’ve been hoping to catch this summer?
  I’m really looking forward to catch Northlane at one of the events we’re also playing. Don Broco is another one I had hoped to see, but things simply didn’t line up to get that to happen.

See you at the front of the stage

With Luna Kills opening the final day at Alcatraz, we finished by asking why people should make the effort to get in front of the Main Stage that early (or at any other festival for that matter). Lotta didn’t hesitate. The band is ready to bring plenty of energy, put on one hell of a show and make sure everyone starts the final festival day exactly as it should be started. It should get everyone going for sure!

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