Sunday, July 1, 2018
LUNDEN REIGN The Love Affair Collaboration that Spawned Musical Bliss
LUNDEN REIGN The Love Affair Collaboration that Spawned Musical Bliss
Nikki Lunden and Lora G.
of The Progressive- Rock- Powerhouse LUNDEN REIGN
By Ray Shasho
Interviewed on January 7th 2015
It�s a rare phenomenon that I write and boast about a new rock band, but L.A. based newcomers, Lunden Reign, packed such a punch with its debut album � an extraordinary- high-energy- esoteric rock gem, integrated with profound lyrical content, that I felt compelled to applause this exciting new progressive-rock powerhouse.
LUNDEN REIGN�s nucleus is ... guitarist/songwriter/keyboardist �
Lora G. (Espinoza-Lunden)
and lead singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist � Nikki Lunden.
The bands current lineup
also includes...
Matthew Denis (bass),
Steve Ornest (guitar)
and Morgan Young (drums).
But Lora and Nikki are not just bandmates; they are also engaged to become married. It�s a fascinating love affair that began when Lora received an unanticipated kiss from Nikki while she performed with her band onstage at a popular club in Tarzana (San Fernando Valley region of the city of L.A.) called Petie�s Place. Nikki was hosting a jam session there with some local musicians. Lora G. lives a transgender lifestyle, which is certainly nothing new in the world of rock and roll. But Nikki and Lora�s inspiring musical association, unified by a genuine respect and love for one another is exclusive.
LORA G. (Espinoza-Lunden): is Mexican-American. She began performing with her band at age 16 on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. Lora�s drummer in high school was Matt Sorum (Velvet Revolver, Guns N� Roses, The Cult). Lora left music and developed an amazing Emmy winning career in television and radio including working for Disney over 14 years. Lora and Nikki joined forces in the spring of 2013, and now she begins a new chapter in her life as lead guitarist and songwriter for Lunden Reign. Lora defines the band�s sound as �Big Beat Progressive Rock.�
NIKKI LUNDEN: grew up in Iowa City, Iowa and became lead singer & songwriter for a band called The Trollies, before becoming an acoustic artist. Lunden enjoyed a 15 year career of performing for live audiences before moving to Los Angeles in September of 2012. After arriving in L.A. she immediately entered the Musician�s Institute where she graduated in 2013. Nikki says one of her most gratifying professional experiences so far has been to record at Abbey Road Studios in London.
AMERICAN STRANGER: is the incredible debut album from Lunden Reign. The album was recorded at Capitol Records in Hollywood, Abbey Road (Studio 2) in London and Stagg Street Studios. Luis Maldonado produced, played guitar and co-wrote with
Lora G. on various tracks. Maldonado is a platinum-selling songwriter & recording artist who has collaborated with John Waite, Patrick Monahan (Train), Lisa Marie Presley, Glen Hughes, Michael Schenker, UFO, and with his own band, Into the Presence. Other album credits include mix engineer Geoff Pearlman (Linda Perry), Morgan Young on drums, Hector Maldonado (bassist for Train) and Cellist Ana Lenchantin (Queens of the Stone Age, The Eels).
The albums concept is a complete story from end to end. It was designed to be a sort of rock opera about intolerance and those willing to stand up to it as well as those its destroying. Lunden Reign has also signed a distribution deal for American Stranger with Cleopatra Records in Los Angeles.
You can pre-order Lunden Reigns debut CDAmerican Stranger
at www.lundenreign.com or Amazon.com
-Watch for the official release March 17th.
American Stranger is a magnificent and seasoned debut production � every track is commanding while emphatically seductive �the album has it all, but also entices the listener to cry out for more � Lunden Reign validates musical fortitude and secures the elements needed to develop into a colossal rock group (5) Stars!
-Ray Shasho
Lunden Reign�s music is now playing on over 50 radio/internet stations through Europe, the U.S., Australia and Japan.
I had the great pleasure of chatting with Lora G. and Nikki Lunden about the band�s new release American Stranger �Their musical collaboration and how they fell in love � My infamous �Field of Dreams� wish question � And much-much more!
Here�s my interview with /lead guitarist/songwriter/keyboardist/ Lora G. and lead singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/Nikki Lunden of � LUNDEN REIGN.
Ray Shasho: Lora, you wrote �The Savage Line� which was dedicated to the families and soldiers of �The Chosen Company� who bravely fought at the deadly �Battle of Wanat� on July 13, 2008.
Lora G: �I thought we had to do something to preserve the memory of those guys, and that�s where we came up with that concept of �Savage Line�. My dad was a marine and used to tell me how lonely and cold it was in Korea, and he went over there twice, I can�t even imagine anyone going over there once. So I just wrote from what he told me and from what I read about �The Chosen Company�. This happened in the Nuristan Province of Afghanistan, I read about the description online, about what some of the people wrote about, how alone they felt and how they missed their families. The description of the battle is in the song, and is very specific to that battle. But I kept it somewhat vague so any soldier could relate to it, but the specifics were about that particular battle in Wanat. There�s a little bit of commentary in the beginning where � this wasn�t against our soldiers but against our government �because even though I am so pro- U.S.A., I felt horrible that we sent our troops to war without the support they needed. I�m not pro-war just pro-soldiers. There�s a line in the song that says � �Is it war or is it crime� and that�s my one commentary in the song.�
�We hear a lot of music today that is angry but not directed at anything, we wanted to not be angry but issue based and directed. That�s what we wanted to do, it�s nothing new, but it�s kind of been forgotten, and we�re trying to bring that back.�
Nikki Lunden: �The music you hear on radio today sounds like the same thing repeated over and over again but with different singers and we�re a little burned-out over the Top 40 stuff. We�re just trying to make a change in the music and trying to get people to start thinking again.�
Ray Shasho: Nikki and Lora, you both mesh so well together, musically and personally.
Nikki Lunden: �I�m very fortunate that Lora and I found each other, and in what I thought was a very huge city, turns out to be kind of a small town.�
Ray Shasho: How did you both meet, I know you had your own bands at the time, did one of you open for the other?
Nikki Lunden: I was hosting a jam session in Tarzana (Los Angeles) and Lora had brought in a couple of the singers that she had been working with at the time. We talked a little but I was pretty busy that night and wasn�t really able to sit down and chat with her. So a couple of days later I found her on ReverbNation, left her a message, and she called me. We were on the phone for probably two hours talking about music and what I was doing out here in Los Angeles. I had just moved here from Iowa City, Iowa and she invited me to one of the bands rehearsals, and the rest is history after that.�
Ray Shasho: Let�s get back to �Lunden Reign�s debut album �American Stranger� � the official release date is March 17th and some critics are already labeling the sound of the band as �Original Big Beat Progressive Rock� � But I�d like to characterize the group�s sound as � Progressive-Powerhouse-Rock! �Mary� was originally released as an EP � and �The Light� a heavy rocker with a very cool melody is definitely one of my favorite tracks.
Lora G: �Mary� and �The Light� were recorded with �The Lora G Band� and I wasn�t completely happy with them, but when we recorded the new album, and working with Luis Maldonado, we were able to remodify the tracks to fit the Lunden Reign sound. So several songs were reworked from previous periods when we were in other bands, and other tracks are brand new like �Hush and Whispers,� �American Stranger� etc. Once we nailed the sound we wanted for Lunden Reign, we realized we could go back and get some of our other material, and that has worked out really well for us.�
Ray Shasho: I find it remarkable that I couldn�t contrast the Lunden Reign sound to anyone else�s, and that�s a compliment in itself. I don�t give many new bands kudos, but Lunden Reign has all the right tools to become successful in this haphazard music world.
�Love in Free Fall,� another favorite could easily be a James Bond film intro-soundtrack!
Nikki Lunden: �We�ve been getting a lot of good responses on �Love in Free Fall,� when we were putting together the track order and we kept coming back to that one �then decided to use it as the opening track of �American Stranger,� and I think it�s a perfect fit because everyone�s been going crazy about that song, so we decided to shoot it straight out of the gate and not holding back anything, and just gets right to the point right away.�
Lora G: �That one really shows a lot of Luis Maldonado�s chunky guitar styles. I�m more of an open note kind of dreamy player. Dreamy notes and sort of things like that, the melodic chords, and I create the riff, but that really chunky heavy stuff is Luis. He�s a world class guitarist. He performed with John Waite for years, also Glenn Hughes, Michael Schenker, and he just finished a tour with Lisa Marie Presley and Bigelf. He�s also a demonstrator for the Rivera Amplifier Company and we got lucky because Hiwatt endorsed me, which was fantastic! When we found out that Hiwatt was going to endorse us � we were shocked and we quickly looked on their webpage and it had all these legendary acts from Nirvana to The Who. Then there was Lunden Reign and it was sort of like �Who? (All laughing)�
Ray Shasho: Talk about the track� �28 If� (Without, Which Not) which has sort of a Joan Jett & the Blackhearts tempo to it.
Nikki Lunden: �That song is geared towards the artists that we lost at the age of 27 � Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Richey Edwards � written mostly about Richey Edwards of the band Manic Street Preachers. Every time I get onstage I really enjoy singing it.�
Ray Shasho: Have you performed all the material from the new album onstage yet?
Lora G: �Every one! I think the toughest to perform live was �American Stranger.� We finally nailed it when I went to the twelve-six string double neck and that�s how we pulled it off. I switched to the twelve-string much like Jimmy Page did in �Stairway to Heaven� and it allowed the song to come through. Then I do six strings in combo with it on my guitar. It took us awhile to get that one ready for stage but now we can do them all onstage.�
Ray Shasho:
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