Luca is a singer songwriter based in Cheshire, just breaking out into the industry. Cutting her teeth on smalltown cover slots in bars, Luca is now tackling the festival scene and heading for bigger gigs. With a wealth of experience in music and coming from a musical family, Luca is well placed to ride the industry waves and see how far she can fly.
After a last-minute Zoom update – we’ve all been there, running late with no seconds to spare and your laptop decides that it’s the time for a ten-minute update – Luca joined me online for a catch up all about her path to becoming a musician, her creative process and her new music that is coming out this year.
Fresh off a holiday to Sorrento, the Italian sun still glowing off her skin, Luca joins me from her house, all smiles and lustre - you’d never know she’d got back to her home during the early hours of the morning after a flight delay. She tells me she’s been living off pizza and Aperol Spritz for the week and I know instantly that we’ll get along.
I first came across Luca at an intimate gig in our hometown where she played at a lovely little wine bar to a cosy room of about 20 people. I’d sat on the sofas, medium glass of a white wine I couldn’t pronounce in hand and had, unknowingly, positioned myself next to the biggest Luca fan group ever – her family. The pride emanating from them all was palpable and made the intimate gig even more special.
There’s music in Luca’s DNA – her mum and dad were both been musicians while they raised her. “It was instilled in me from a kid,” she says about remembering the music in their home as she grew up, “it was just in my roots from birth, really. Music was always on in the house, there was always a guitar out, so I was dead interested from an early age.” Luca’s dad was in a band playing Simon and Garfunkel style music while her Mum played and sang.
“I started playing seriously when I was about, I’d say 11 or 12…I started off learning Bob Dylan tunes and I think the one song that really made me want to do it was ‘Travelling Soldier’ by The Chicks.” With her first full song that she could play and perform under her belt, Luca had ignited a passion for something that would drive the rest of her career.
“It’s always been there,” she says as I ask about writing and performing her own music, “but I think when I first started off, I was much younger…being onstage and performing and interacting with an audience doing covers, you get a nice feel when they know what you’re singing, and you get a really nice vibe and interaction.” Luca spent a lot of time covering well known artists and building up relationships with fans before she started to introduce her own original music into her sets. “I think a lot of it is perhaps a confidence thing when you’re a bit younger and you think, ‘do I have the clout…are my songs good enough to play live?’”
Writing on her own for the most part, Luca works a melody around her lyrics to bring life to a new song. “I’d say that’s probably, you know, 80% of the time, that’s how it’ll work for me, and it grows from there.” For the past few years, Luca has been working with a friend and ex-bandmate to write and produce her music. “He’s one of those musicians that can play anything and he’s an amazing writer and song writer as well. We work really closely now so I’ll tend to go to him with an initial idea…and then we’ll work together to bring the instrumentation to life.”
Luca’s new song, ‘The Poet’, is out today (Friday 17th May). Written from the point of view of a ‘character’ in a couple, Luca explores the dynamics of a relationship with a ‘poet’ and a ‘writer’. “You’ve got the poet,” she says about the story behind her lyrics, “they’re the ones who romanticise everything and then you’ve got the writer that is perhaps the driving force…the one who calls the shots.” The lyrics are beautifully clever and immerse the listener into a relationship of conflicting energies, diving deeper under the layers of pretence.
We talk about how, when I first listened to it, I could picture myself riding a horse down a dusty track – not that I own a horse or can even ride one for that matter – and how the song really locks into that outlaw folk style of music. “That is exactly the kind of vibe I was looking for…on a journey somewhere.”
Luca is ready to ride the industry wave and see where she can land: “it’s always been the ultimate goal”. She goes on to talk about the difficulties of being an independent artist, especially when the artist is wearing more than one hat. “You're a marketing exec, social media guru and performer all in one. So, it's tough. It's a tough industry to do it, but you know, I'm just going to keep chipping away and ploughing away and see where it takes me...”
I couldn’t resist asking who did it first, Luca or Taylor Swift? She laughs, “this is what I thought as soon as I realised she was bringing that out – I was like, oh no, it’s going to look like I’m doing some sort of spin off!” (Swift has just released her album, ‘The Tortured Poet’s Society’.)
‘The Poet’ is the first single of Luca’s next EP, with another single on the horizon before the EP comes out later this year. Luca is playing at the Folk and Boat festival in Middlewich 14th-15th June (day and time TBA) and you can catch her at local bars around Sandbach including Bar Six and The Lower Chequer for smaller gigs. Keep up to date with her music via her X or Instagram.
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