by Ida Griesemer
I talked to Luka (of Fluffy Lumbers and No Demons Here) on Saturday, April 3rd. This is the second half of a 2 part interview.
View: Part 1
LL: Does Liam [the Younger] play in a band, or is he always solo?
LU: He has a band. We're actually playing at Swarthmore. I play bass with him, I think at this point.
LL: What is it called?
LU: It's just, Liam the Younger. I think he comes up with a new name every time, so I don't want to say anything in case it's wrong. My friend Ian Dykstra usually plays drums, but he's in Italy right now so Sam's playing drums for Liam for the time being.
We were all going to go down to South by Southwest, a bunch of us, but it ended up just being Fluffy Lumbers and Big Troubles.
At this point, with this generation who is four years younger than Real Estate and Titus, it's just like, everyone has their own band, and we all play in each other's bands.
LL: That's similar to what they're doing too.
LU: Yeah, that’s true. Fluffy Lumbers and Big Troubles, and then the few times that I've played with a full band, it's the same people. It's Fluffy Lumbers and Big Troubles, with us switched around. Now this new lineup that Liam has, it's two guys from Fluffy Lumbers, and his other guitarist has played in Fluffy Lumbers numerous times, so it's a just a rearranging.
LL: Who are the other similar members between Fluffy Lumbers and Big Troubles, besides you?
LU: Alex Craig plays guitar.
LL: Is he coming tonight?
LU: I don't know. Because there's a Big Troubles show tonight. Hopefully he will come up. My friend Ian Drennan is also in Big Troubles, he's the other half. He usually plays guitar with us, but he lives in Boston, so it's hard for him to come down for shows a lot, so we have my friend Sebastian to fill in for him. And then my friend Ian Dykstra who plays with Liam, used to play drums for us, but he lives in Pennsylvania when he's in school, and now he's in Italy, so we're currently without a drummer. But our friend Andrew came down from Massachusetts to drum for us tonight.
LL: So there's a lot of shuffling happening because everyone's in different places.
LU: Yeah. They're not really bands. They're just projects that we all help out with. It's fun that way. To have a shuffle. To hear Fluffy Lumbers tonight might be different than hearing Fluffy Lumbers ever again.
LL: What was the dynamic like at South by Southwest with the two bands? Was it hard to coordinate?
LU: It wasn't hard to coordinate, because we only had 3 or 4 shows each. It was weird because we were supposed to have a drummer for South by Southwest for Fluffy Lumbers, but he got too high and got caught by the cops and had a lot of court dates, and just said, "I can't do it." So me and Sam tried to do a dual thing with a buttload of pedals. And according to Sam it worked, twice, in New York. And then for some reason it didn't work in Austin, and the shows were mediocre, to say the least. It was very last minute. We tried to organize what we would do, but I feel like it's very hit or miss for how long we practiced, which was not very long. I think we just lucked out the first two times, and the last few times were pretty bad.
LL: Do you think it was the setting too? Do you think there's more support in this area?
LU: Definitely not. I mean, there were a lot of people at the first show at South by Southwest, so I guess the “support” was there. I don't know, I don't find a lot of support in Brooklyn, or anything like that. They just look at you. So you just look back. It's fine.
LL: Was it a different feeling in Texas?
LU: No, not at all. If anything I liked the second show better because I think we played to three people. It was more interesting to watch three people watch us, like actually watch us, than to look at a dark room.
I liked playing shows when we were on tour. I liked playing in Memphis. As Big Troubles we were playing in Memphis, and the kids really like it when a band comes by. In Charleston - this is Fluffy Lumbers now - we played in a t.v. museum. A media museum. We played among old projectors and t.v.'s that they had from the 40s or earlier. We played to like, twenty kids, but all these Charleston kids always hang out. They were really nice. Those were some of the best crowds. They really come out for it.
LL: They're more attentive?
LU: Well, you just feel like you're actually playing for people, as opposed to like, playing a show. I went to that show thinking, "I'm playing for these kids in Charleston," rather than, "I'm going to Brooklyn to play a show, and then I'm going home."
LL: So you feel more connected to the audience?
LU: Yeah. Especially when you're trying to get a place to stay that night. It works that way too.
LL: What do you think the show will be like tonight?
LU: I don't know. Last time I booked a show here, I had Fluffy Lumbers and Pants Yell! play, and no one came. It was a Wednesday though. I don't know. I don't have much faith in kids coming out here. I'm trying to get more shows here. I think I only see two shows a year here, tops. It's hard to get anything done here. People don't answer your emails.
LL: So your No Demons Here project, was that what you started recording on your own, and then you got involved in these other projects as people heard that music?
LU: I just started it on my own, planning it to be just on my own. I wrote a bunch of songs, and I was told that they were good, and I kept doing it.
LL: Who gave you that feedback?
LU: My friends. Liam and Sam. The Ians. I had a lot of support from them, so I kept doing it, and playing in Big Troubles and playing in Fluffy Lumbers has really- it changes the way you write a song, or the way you hear a song, being in a band. Sam writes really good pop songs. I wouldn't normally say my songs are pop, but I’ve tried to go into a mindset like that when I'm writing new songs. I try to think, Let me try to write a pop song, because this is what I hear a lot, playing his songs over and over again. And Big Troubles has a specific element to it, so I try to think, Let me try to do this. Let me see what they do, and let me try to do it too. Because playing those songs over and over again, it almost becomes second nature. Like, I'll play the song, but let me play it this way. Because I hear it so much. It turns into this weird, hybrid. From the pool that they're grabbing from, I start to grab from. None of this has been recorded yet, though. None of my new songs. We'll see how it translates on tape.
LL: When are you planning to record them?
LU: Over the summer. I'm too busy now.
LL: It's interesting that you said that they're not really bands, and more projects. What direction do you see them taking? Do see one group becoming more solidly like, "This is a band"?
LU: We're all friends, so I think we'll stick to each other. But if someone can't do it I don't think there are any hard feelings. I feel like I am comfortable to say, "I can't do this." I don't have to consider the band as a priority in my life. It's fun. I don't want it to become a job. I just think it's fun. As long I do it with friends. I mean, it's fun to play big shows, but I'd rather just have fun doing it, than stress out about it, or worry about making money off of it. So that's why I like it being a project and not a band. Even though I think some people like seeing a band. Looking at a group of people and knowing that it's a solid thing, a packaged thing almost.
I think it's nice to keep the same members sometimes, if anyone's paying attention.
There's a certain easiness to look at a band and say, "It's this." I feel like there's a weird mystery when you have one person doing it and everyone shuffles in the back. There are great bands that do that, and I find those bands interesting. I find the person interesting then. Like that band the Lilys just has the main guy and his backing band always changes. And I find that cool. It's his project and every record sounds really different, but it's still the Lilys. And Cass McCombs, every time I saw him he was playing with a different backing band. So that was cool to see.
The stasis is cool, though. You could go either way, now that I think about it. I like seeing the same people all the time.
LL: What about for your own project?
LU: I record songs and then if someone makes a suggestion and I usually go back and rerecord it and see what happens. I'm open to that. But I've never had the experience to actually sit down with a band like, "Let's write this song," or something like that. My songs definitely translate differently as a live band, which has only happened three times. I played with Sam and Alex and Ian from Big Troubles. I've never actually reached any content-ness with what I wanted the live band to sound like. But I'm in no rush. Everyone's busy with their stuff, and I'm content with just recording and not having to worry about it.
I've been trying to work out a solo set, which I'm trying out tonight. I'm opening.
LL: So it's you and then Fluffy Lumbers?
LU: Maybe.
LL: What do you mean, "Maybe?"
LU: Well, depending on when Alex gets here.
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