The Stranded Local Q&A: The Luxury

Not only is Dave "Duncan" Virr an awesome Planetary staffer, he is also apparently a matchmaker. No, he's not a whiz with creating cute couples (or at least that i know of) but he is the one who was responsible for suggesting the original line-up of The Luxury.

Their newest album This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things is out now and was described by The Boston Herald as, "ambititous in its sweeping, majestic grandiosity ... a sound that echoes the grandest elements of U2, Coldplay and Stereophonics."

The biggest element separating The Luxury from the many, many other local bands is that not many times do you come across groups that are actually a functioning recording studio in addition to playing and singing. Whether for fun or working towards a project, Jason Dunn (vocals, guitar) and Steve Foster (drums, vocals) have been recording other artists for over two years. The new EP from The Lights Out will be Jason's fifth released project. Not to be outdone, Steve recorded the incredible "Steve Foster and His Christma Chickens" this winter, featuring 13 brilliantly produced sing-a-long holiday carols, re-written about befriending or eating chikens.

Jason took a few minutes to answer the same five questions SIS always asks local bands.

Hailing from Boston, makes us better than all those non-Boston bands because
The tap water helps you develop an immunity to spolied food. Seriously, we can eat anything. Also, our vans are driven by the most aggressive drivers on the road, whether necessary or not, so we always get to the show on time. Usually early.

Name at least three bands that are still around and touring that you'd love to be on a bill with, and think it fits well
Kasabian, Mute Math, Richard Ashcroft, Foo Fighters, Marillion and Portishead. Would it ever work? Probably not. But that would make for a great tour, and even if you put all of that together and it DIDN'T sound like us, it'd still be one hell of a band. We'd tour with that band, in fact.

Your favorite Boston venue to perform in is
TT The Bear's Place. They've hosted our debut show, our CD Release party, and several of the best sets we've played. There are a lot of great clubs here, but once you prove that you know what you're doing putting a show together, it's a lot more fun than throwing four random groups on a bill. When we play Boston, we like to think of it as an over-the-top bash with all of our friends, some of whom happen to play their songs for everyone, and TT's trusts us enough to let us get away with that.


Are there any genres that influence your music conceptually, rather than sonically? (In that you can't hear from simply listening to the music, but from getting into the structure or mathematics of the song-writing, etc.)
We carry around some classical, progressive and electronica influence that isn't necessarily on the surface. You'll hear it in chord changes and inversions, and in Steve's drumming, but only if you listen very, very closely. Which you should, of course.

Your favorite local bar to hit up when not doing the whole band deal is
The Common Ground in Allston hosts a mean 80's night on Thursdays, so that's Jason's favorite, but Steve prefers the Avenue for their cheap wings and Daanen's all about the dollar drafts at The Draft. So we are, if nothing else, diverse in our selection of local taps.

[Myspace] http://www.myspace.com/theluxury