Q&A: Luna Luna Talks Newest Track “Talk Too Much” & Homecoming Show
A CHANGE IN SCENERY WAS THE CATALYST — for indie-pop band Luna Luna’s eventful fall season. After playing house parties across Texas during their start, Kevin “Kaavi” González, Danny Bonilla, Kaylin Martínez, and Ryan Gordon made the move from Dallas, Texas to Austin this year. One headlining fall tour and two stellar ACL performances later — including opening for Omar Apollo — the band released their upbeat and exciting new track, “Talk Too Much.” The song comes out of their first writing session since relocating, and it has quickly become a fan favorite.
After marketing themselves flawlessly on TikTok in 2020, Luna Luna has cemented themselves as a stalwart in the growing roster of diverse indie acts. Each member has roots in different parts of Latin America: Colombia, El Salvador, and Mexico. These influences come through in the irresistible beats, melodies, and bilingual lyrics, inspired by new Spanish projects from Bad Bunny and Rosalía. Luna Luna joins together with an old-school, John Hughes movie vibe, creating a perfect storm that lures everyone in.
The band sat down for a virtual conversation with Luna ahead of returning to Dallas for their homecoming show this weekend. Keep reading below to learn more about their new song, how the band is inspired by their Latinx heritage, and their goals for the new year.
LUNA: First, congratulations on the release of “Talk Too Much.” Now that it’s been a few weeks since it came out, how has the fan reception been?
GONZÁLEZ: Pretty good. Yeah, they were like, “Uh, finally another song to spin,” stuff like that. That's kind of why we did it too — I feel like people have been asking for it, and it was the right time.
GORDON: Yeah, it was pretty fun to make, honestly. It's just the vibe, and it seems like people are vibing with it, you know? We worked really hard. Everyone just had their flair and a good attitude, and it was so fun. That's what we're trying to spread, you know?
LUNA: Can you tell us a little bit of what making the song was like, and what it’s about?
GONZÁLEZ: First, we worked on the rhythm. I think the vibe of the song was just getting together and having fun. And as far as the chorus, we did it so the crowd can chant back at you, so I'm excited for us to play that in Dallas. We have one more show before the year's over — our first show with the song out. So the chorus line, we wrote it to say, “Yeah, fall in love,” but we wrote it in a way so that the crowd can chant it back [to us], like, “Talk too much.” I remember when I was like showing the band that part … it was everybody singing those parts back. I think we just write songs in a way where we want the crowd to join in a little bit.
LUNA: What kind of concepts are you all generally drawn to when it comes to creating a new song?
GONZÁLEZ: I think it's whatever we want to explore.
GORDON: Yeah, I mean … our songs generally have a lot of emotions, whether it's the high of the crowd and everything that comes your way. Yeah, honestly it's just us interpreting those feelings as a craft. Everyone brings something to the table for sure… their own energy. This past single is definitely a reflection of that for everyone.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, going off what Ryan said, when we're on tour we're always spending more and more time with each other, so we always influence each other.
LUNA: You are known to sing in English and Spanish. How does your Latinx heritage inspire your music?
GONZÁLEZ: I was just running into some old Spanish songs that my mom used to show me when I was little. She listened to a lot of it growing up — on her side of my family, she has eight brothers and they all play instruments. Now that I was rediscovering those songs, I just noticed how it's so melodic, so that's definitely what I gravitate towards as a songwriter. It's just … melody, melody, melody… That definitely comes first for me.
LUNA: You recently wrapped up a headlining tour. What were each of your favorite moments from touring?
GORDON: (Laughs) God, there's so many… I'd say just seeing all the fans. We just did a quick West Coast tour coming back to LA. I always tell people this: it's our home away from home. Out there it was so welcoming, and it's just a whole vibe, too. Playing in Las Vegas, in bigger venues… and playing at The Ford was one of the best moments ever.
BONILLA: I got to play a 10-foot piano — that was my favorite moment.
MARTÍNEZ: I looked over at Danny and I was just so proud. We knew how special that was.
BONILLA: And that thing was like $25,000!
MARTÍNEZ: Probably $30,000!
BONILLA: I wish they let us keep it.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, just put it back in the van (laughs).
LUNA: Congrats also on “Commitment” hitting 10M streams! How do you feel looking back now on when it first went viral on TikTok two years ago?
GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, I don't know, I remember that day was crazy. I was together with Danny that day when it happened; we were working on a song — I don't remember what song it was — but I just remember seeing that it was going crazy online, and I guess I didn't know what was gonna happen after… Like, okay, they're following us more, and then… yeah. The crowds doubled when we started to get back on the road again, so … just being more known in general. I'm just glad that more people got an opportunity to get exposed to [“Commitment”]. We think it's a cool song. We're just glad that we got to do it.
LUNA: How was performing at ACL this year?
MARTÍNEZ: It was so cool, we did two performances. We opened up for Omar Apollo, then we did the big show. It was awesome! I got to look out there — we saw some of our family members. Yeah, it was a very special, surreal moment.
GORDON: Yeah, it was crazy! When we got the news, we thought, “Uh oh, we're not gonna get a lot of people out” or “I don't know how many people are gonna come out,” but no, people showed up! We were still setting up and [there was] a crowd with us. I'm sure [there were] a lot of fans there, but a lot of people were just like, “Oh, let's see what they got.” They just really, really vibed with us. It was great — the crowd was awesome. It was a beautiful sight, honestly. Seeing our logo up on the screen, too. It was one of the best days.
GONZÁLEZ: Yeah. When we moved to Austin, that was definitely a goal, to play at ACL, and it happened the first year.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, it was really special — we moved down here and then the Austin Chronicle interview exploded. That's just a really special feeling to know that we took a chance on Austin, and it's really starting to feel like we came to the right place.
LUNA: Is there another festival or venue you would love to play one day?
GORDON: I think I think one venue we would love to play — we all talk about this — Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado.
GONZÁLEZ: I wanna do Lollapalooza, and Tyler's one, Camp Flog Gnaw.
MARTÍNEZ: Vans Warped Tour.
LUNA: What is the process of preparing for a festival versus a headlining show?
MARTÍNEZ: It's interesting because for this past tour, we used it to kind of prepare for the festival. We were performing songs and we really perfected our set. By the time we were at the festival, we were able to deliver a set we felt good about.
GONZÁLEZ: I would say a difference is whenever we're on tour and it's our show, the people are there because they liked us already. But when we go play a festival, we're running into half the people that already know us and like us and the half that don't know us, so I think we gotta be more on our toes because we're playing for a different kind of crowd.
GORDON: Yeah, we're all big on crowd interaction and connecting with our crowd. It doesn't matter where we're at or how many people are there, and that's so big for us. It's like a feedback loop. We all have something to say, then Danny runs through the crowd, and they lose their minds… It's awesome.
GONZÁLEZ: Once he was in the crowd and he accidentally took someone's watch (laughs).
GORDON: (Laughs) “Did someone lose their watch?”
BONILLA: Look over there! (Laughs)
GONZÁLEZ: A lot of treasure we've picked up!
LUNA: What can fans expect from your upcoming homecoming show in Dallas?
GORDON: It's gonna be packed. We're going to be shoulder to shoulder with each other and the crowd.
MARTÍNEZ: It's gonna be like a house show vibe.
GORDON: Yeah, a house show. It feels like we're kind of going back to our roots.
GONZÁLEZ: I think it's gonna be the last chance for Dallas to get an intimate show from us, for sure. Because we haven't played a venue that size in a while in Dallas. It'll be an up close and personal night with Luna Luna.
LUNA: Myself and other writers and editors here at The Luna Collective thought it was very cute that Luna Luna and the name of our publication have similar names! How did you come up with the name Luna Luna?
GONZÁLEZ: We just saw The Luna Collective and we were like, “Alright, well we can't be named The Luna Collective, so let's just be Luna Luna.”
GORDON: (Laughs) Yes!
GONZÁLEZ: (Laughs) Nah, we just wanted a name that was in Spanish, but I guess [still] catchy. Probably one that's still easy to pronounce in Spanish, even if you don't speak Spanish. I think it's catchy, and that's like what we want from our songs. You say it once, and people will remember it.
GORDON: It's honestly funny how some people don't get our name. Sometimes they're like, “Wait, what's that?” and then I'm like, “It's just ‘moon moon’ in Spanish.”
GONZÁLEZ: Now we're educating them, one person at a time.
LUNA: Last question: What are you each looking forward to in 2023?
MARTÍNEZ: I think getting on the road again. I think we're gonna play some more shows. I wanna do it all year round.
GORDON: Yeah, get us in front of more people, more crowds, different venues, festivals. We have to put out new music and then put out more content — just having more interactions with fans. Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of that going on for 2023.
GONZÁLEZ: New music. I want to tour all of America at once. We always split up the east and west coast, but I just want to do everything at once.
MARTÍNEZ: North America tour!
GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, and Canada and Mexico.
BONILLA: Bro, I lost my passport!
GONZÁLEZ: Oh, go get it! (Laughs) You got time!
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