Lua Flora is a beach-folk infused band out of Asheville, North Carolina, with members Evan Button, Tom Ventura, Hinton Edgerton, and Andy Redmond (not present for interview). This is meant to be a platform where these guys can talk about some of their personal connections with music, as well as their individual contributions to the overall project that is Lua Flora. I hope you enjoy getting to know them because these guys are truly worth taking the time to explore.
Who are you guys, how did you get into playing music?
Evan: My name is Evan. I’m from Virginia Beach, Virginia. I got into music because I wanted to play drums and bang on things, but my parents wouldn’t let me. They wanted me to play guitar instead, so I did that, and then I just kept doing that. And, yeah. I just have fun with it.
Tom: My name’s Tom. I am from from the Boston area. My mom played piano for me as a kid, and those are some of my oldest memories. But what really got me into it is…my cousin Dave was the man and would play Stairway to Heaven on guitar, and then I was like ten years old and wanted to play classical guitar. Which I later quit.
Hinton: My name’s Hinton. I am 25 years young. I am from the booming metropolis of Clayton, North Carolina. I got into music because my mom is a musician of the bluegrass variety primarily and she signed me up for violin lessons when I was five, against my will. But, yunno, you don’t really have a will when you’re five. That’s kinda where it started, got into blue grass, started playing other instruments in middle school—drums, bass, mandolin…and, uh, I’m just happy to be here, man.
What instruments do you play?
Evan: I play guitar and I sing and I write and I’ve been doing that since I was seven. I’m 23, so that’s a certain amount of years.
Hinton: Sixteen.
Evan: Sixteen years doing this. I originally wanted to do it because I wanted to be in KISS, but I realized that wasn’t a realistic opportunity for me, so I changed the course there a little bit, but yeah.
Tom: I play big guitar. I like to think I’ve always played big guitar, the big guitar just finally found me, and I was putting my thoughts to the big guitar and realized I was always playing big guitar. But I started classical guitar when I was ten, but I’m a failed guitar player, so, yeah I play bass in this band, but I also play other instruments and I produce music as well.
Hinton: I play big guitar too, but in this band I play mandolin, violin, guitar, drums, little bit of keyboard. I play trombone and tuba as well; that was like a middle school band thing, but I’ve been playing violin since I was five. I started playing guitar and all that stuff in high school—so fourteen, fifteen. Yeah. I sing too.
“...it’s becoming much more of a textural music rather than something that sticks to a full genre. We have this texture now that represents us...it sounds like a lot of things, but it is none of those things.”
Are you in any other bands?
Evan: I am not in any other bands. Because what I do is write songs and you can only write songs for one thing.
Tom: I am not in any other bands. I’m trying to start teaching a little bit, and I have a solo project that I produce that’s been dormant for a year and a half called RFTAPE on Spotify. When I uploaded my music it split the albums into two different artists, so now there’s two RFTAPEs but both of them are me.
Hinton: I’m in four active bands: Lua Flora, Jack Marion and The Pear Snap Prophets, Shabudikah, and Boat Command. In each of which I play a different instrument. I also have a solo project called Bill’s Garage, that’s kinda just me dickin’ around in my bedroom/studio, just recording stuff for fun. I just kinda play whenever I can ‘cause it’s fun.
How did you meet each other?
Evan: So, I met Hinton through a buddy and the original bass player of the band…no, actually I was playing a gig with a band Hinton was in at Appalachian State, and Hinton was just like “hey, could I play drums during your set,” and I was like “yeah, sure,” and then we didn’t really know each other after that. Then we met through Sean, who was just like “cool, yeah come play." Then we found Tom on Craigslist.
Tom: I also found my girlfriend on the internet, I found this band on the internet, I also found my girlfriend on the internet.
Hinton: Didn’t we find Andy through Craigslist as well? Unfortunately Andy cannot be here with us, may he rest in peace…for the time being. He’s not dead, but we’re thinking about him. Shout out to Craigslist, uh, yeah. This story is very, completely true.
Who came up with the name lua flora, what does it mean?
Evan: It was a collaborative effort that took many weeks. We had like a list of 30 band names, and we couldn’t figure anything out, and then we were just sitting around the table after practice, figured it out. Then of course when you come up with a band name you have to make sure you’re not Google fucked. Yunno, you have to make sure when people search you they’ll actually find you. So we did that, and confirmed that we were clear, so we went with it. Lua is Portuguese for moon, flora is Spanish for flower. So it basically means moon flower but is a much more interesting way to say it.
Hinton: We weren’t sitting around a table, I remember, we were actually standing in my driveway, standing in a circle—me you and Sean, the original bass player and…the rest is history.
Who writes the songs?
Evan: I write most of the songs, lyrically and structurally. We all collaborate on how the different parts work within each other. There’s a few songs where Hinton has helped write the lyrics, and there’s a song or two where Hinton has written the whole song. But yeah. 95% of the catalogue is my song writing.
Tom: Yeah. Evan writes everything.
Hinton: Evan writes all the music, but at the end of the day it is a band, and we all add our little creative flare to it and that’s what makes it unique I think.
Booneshine, November 7, 2021
What is your song writing process?
Evan: I write the lyrics and the melodies and the chords at home in singer songwriter fashion, then bring that to the band and everyone adds their own elements. That’s a really important part of it. Like, I am not a better bass player than Tom, and he’s not a better song writer than me, so it’s very important to have their balance in there. But ultimately the person that plays that instrument is gonna have a better idea of it.
Tom: That kinda gets in the way of what I’m saying, but I kinda feel like more so everyone has been pretty receptive when someone has an idea for someone else’s instrument, I think when we come to the table and write songs everybody is just about the song writing process. If Hinton or Evan has a bass idea, I’m gonna listen to that, and sometimes it’s a good idea. Like one time we were recording piano in the studio and Hinton was doing something, and I was like “no, do more of what you were just doing,” and in the end we all thought that sounded the best. That’s what I like best about writing for this band. Everybody is trying to make the best song possible.
Hinton: Like Tom was saying, all of us being from different influences and backgrounds and music styles it kind of all comes together in a unique way. Like, Evan is from the beach, he’s a beach bum, yunno…he’s really influenced by reggae and folksy songwriting. I have a background in bluegrass, folksy stuff, as well, and indie rock, just a bunch of different spheres of songwriting. And Tom is really into funk, and soul and stuff like that. Andy is into whatever he’s into, so. We all bring our own elements to the table and blend them together into something fresh. It, like, elevates the song to a new level.
“Lua is Portuguese for moon, flora is Spanish for flower. So it basically means moon flower, but is a much more interesting way to say it. ”
What is your stage presence like?
Evan: I think the overall vibe of the show is chill, but still fun. Like what you would listen to on the beach or at the lake with your friends. It’s not crazy happy and upbeat, but it’s also not too mellow. The vibe that we try to radiate shows that we’re just there to have a good time and share this music, and we hope that other people enjoy the music, and feel welcomed in by that.
Tom: I think for myself, personally, I’m still working on my stage presence. Like I’ll think I’m dancing, but a lot of times I’m just teetering from side to side when I look back on camera. I also think the live show is something that is still, and will always be evolving. We’ve got some really cool ideas, so it should be fun.
Hinton: As a whole, our chemistry as a band is pretty good. We’re all friends, we’re all good at what we do, and it translates when we’re on stage. It’s a very song driven band, so we have to take that and make it fun for the audience. There are videos of me as like a four year old child in the choir at church, and everybody else is standing super still, hands by their sides, singing Jesus Loves Me. And I’m over there fucking moving my arms around, waving to my mom—so I feel like I still kinda do that. I have a tendency to use the space as much as I can because I’m just having so much fun up there. As a soloist, as well, I get pretty expressive. It adds a little bit of life to the mix. We’re all seasoned performers, so I think it comes across when we’re out there.
INtermission
At this point we all took a break to grab refills and order food. Somehow we ended up at the only Irish pub in downtown Asheville the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day to record the interview, so needless to say we were all a little more buzzed by the middle of the interview than intended.
The second half of the interview is meant to showcase some of the newer music Lua has been working on, as well as to allow these guys to be themselves a little bit. Hanging out with the group of them you can definitely see that their dynamic is fun and fluid. They’re always willing to be flexible, and know how to enjoy the little details in the chaos. Their go-with-flow attitude definitely comes through in their music.
Newest release: I am your friend
Hinton: This latest song that we’ve come out with is called I am Your Friend, and it’s the one song we have so far that is primarily written by me. So I’m pretty proud of it. It was originally going to be used for my solo project, but I figured it would be a better fit for this—for our sound. It’s got a very positive uplifting message.
“So, the background is that I was doing my laundry at a laundry mat. I was there all alone, and I watched this really crazy video that was supposed to simulate a bad acid trip for some reason, and then I started feeling anxious, like on a bad acid trip. So I thought about it, and then the song just came to my head as a way to self soothe during that, trying to bring myself out of that weird headspace. Basically, its the perfect song if you or a friend are having a bad trip on some sort of substance. Yunno, this will be over soon, I’m your friend, don’t worry about it. ”
But it can also be applicable if you just really love someone in your life and you’ll be there for them no matter what. It’s kinda got that bluegrass influence from me mixed with the reggae beat.
Tom: It’s a straight bluegrass tune, dude.
Hinton: It’s pretty bluegrassy. Shout out to Karl from Satsang for producing and recording that sick slide guitar solo on there.
Where is your music headed?
Evan: I feel like “I Am Your Friend” kinda starts to lead us in this different direction where our music is becoming more rootsy and folksy. The Afro-Caribbean influences are still there, but it’s becoming much more of a textural music rather than something that sticks to a full genre. We have this texture now that represents us. These new songs we’ve got coming out there’s a little bit of the reggae thing, there’s a lot of the folk thing, and it just kind of creates this happy sound when it all comes together. I’m super excited for the direction in which this is heading and the kind of music we’re going to create. It sounds like a lot of things, but it is none of those, and that’s really fun.
Hinton: Like Evan said, we’re kind of transitioning over from more of the reggae/rock influenced kinds of things. We still have things like that and it’s still really fun to play live, but Evan’s song writing, as a whole, is moving more towards the Lumineers and Mumford and Sons and folk revival stuff like that. But at the same time, it’s that blended with a bunch of other stuff. It’s like if the beach and the mountains had a baby.
Evan: Then they would have the piedmont.
Hinton: They would have the piedmont region, which is where I’m from!
Tom: Before we started recording this album I got Covid, so Hinton and Evan recorded tracks and I playing to those jams from home. I was listening to Night Glow, and I kinda heard some keys on it and kinda just came up with it. I originally sent it to Evan and thought it sounded a little busy, but Evan thought it was really good. So that’s what I meant earlier when I said everyone is receptive to what’s going to be best for the song. And Night Glow is just a cool example of a song that kind of comes together last minute, and ends up being really great. That’s what’s ironic—I don’t know if that’s the right word—about song writing. A lot of the songs you put so much time into don’t end up being the ones that are amazing. A lot of these songs that just kind of come to you in like two minutes end up being bangers.
Evan at One World in West Asheville, Summer 2021
Evan: So we have a full year basically of releases coming up. We just dropped I Am your Friend, and that’s gonna lead us into five other releases that we’re gonna put out this year. All six of these were produced by Karl from Satsang. It’s really cool because the four of us in the studio, Hinton, myself, Tom, and Andy, we have these concepts and the general idea of what we’re going for, and then we bring it to this fifth person who is able to add their element and their perspective and really help us get to the next level. A couple releases are more reggae inspired or soca inspired, that’s what the rhythm is doing. But on top of that there’s a folk vibe. So yeah, out of these five songs they touch on topics like love, life, death, reminiscing, just because that’s where I’m at in my life trying to comprehend those feelings. And they all kind of take on a different direction musically and lyrically speaking.
And like we were talking about earlier about how everyone adds their own elements, Tom came up with this melody before the bridge on the last single we’re planning to release (Night Glow) that completely brings it in a different direction than from what I head in my head, but it adds so much to the song and really elevates it.
Hinton playing bass for Shabudikah at Salvage Station
Who are some of your big influences?
Evan: For the past like eight years all I’ve listened to is reggae. I started off on reggae rock bands like Soja, and then started getting into Roots, then Steel Pulse, Culture, and during that time the Lumineers were blowing up. I got into that for awhile, and would listen to that and Of Monsters and Men, and then switch it to Steel Pulse. More so now, I’m listening to pop that I think is well written. Like Julia Michaels, Noah Kahan. It’s not necessarily my kind of music but the lyrical concepts they present in those songs is absolutely crazy. There’s a lot of inspiration to pull from there. I still listen to reggae a bit, but what it comes down to for me is just a well written song. It doesn’t matter if it’s a pop country song, or a hard rock song. If the lyrics hit home for me it really works.
Tom: Should I talk about my whole musical journey? I think I was listening to like ACDC in fifth grade. I think the first song I ever pirated on LimeWire was Animal by Three Days Grace. I think I found it by accident too. I think I was probably trying to find some porn and that came with it. But I grew up liking the Foo Fighters and Nirvana and other 90’s bands. At some point I made some friends that had better music taste than me. Then I got into Sublime and Pepper and Slightly Stoopid and some pop punk. My final stage of evolution was when I was 15 stoned in the back of my buddy’s car and he played A Live One by Phish, the album. And that’s when I, as a young impressionable young man, went down the Phish to jam band pipeline. It’s a dangerous and scary, slippery slope. You start listening to Phish, all of the sudden you’re listening to bands like Lespecial and Kung Fu and Umphree’s McGee and the Disco Biscuits. It’s a seriously dangerous pipeline.
Nah, I’m just kidding. I really listen to everything now, I’m really inspired by everything. Anything with a groove I like. I don’t really think about like “Oh, Katy Perry wrote this,” I think “Katy Perry wrote this, and it’s up to you to deal with that.” We’re really blessed to be in this country where there’s so many genres and subgenres. There’s some places that just have a much more homogenous “group” musical tastes.
Evan: Instead of an interview you should call this “a buzzed conversation with Lua Flora.”
Hinton: Yeah, it’s like you’re in the room with us.
Annnnd here we got a little side tracked for while goofing off, but that’s another reason I enjoy hanging out with these guys during this journey. They’re easy to talk to and fun to be around. I’ll keep all the recordings of this interview in a folder for when they get famous and people want to pay us to send the bloopers.
Hinton: Anyway, back to the question. Bluegrass; I like bluegrass. Mandolin is a very bluegrass instrument, through and through. I saw Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder in concert when I was a kid. Ricky Skaggs is a mandolin player, and, yunno, stuff like that. Doc Watson, Tim O’Brien, Sam Bush, Del McCoury, Alison Kraus—Alison Kraus especially, she writes some great songs. She’s a fiddle player and a singer, awesome. But I’m also really into 90’s rock. Ween is one of my favorite bands. I like 311, which also adds to the reggae vibe. I’m also into Fleet Foxes; Helplessness Blues is one of my favorite albums of all times. It’s really lush folk that draws from Irish folk, early American folk, Appalachian music—it’s largely influential to me. I also really like hip-hop a lot, which does not come through in the music we make, but just good song writing. I love Simon & Garfunkle. When I write I write with harmonies in mind, so there’s always like a second part going on, and I love stuff like that, I love vocal driven music. The Beatles, the Beach Boys, 60’s pop, the Mama’s and the Papa’s, just great songs. You can quote me on this, the 60’s and 70’s was the golden age of song writing, period. I love all that stuff.
Evan: Adding to what Hinton just said about the 60’s and 70’s, the other day I realized I heard something and realized how much modern music—by that I mean music from the 2000’s—quotes music from the 60’s and 70’s and I was like, damn. When you get 100 years down the line from now, people are still going to be remembering Queen and all of these bands that laid this foundation. A lot of music today isn’t doing that. It’s taking things and ideas. There’s this song, I like the song and saved it to my Spotify, but the sax player quotes another famous song and my first thought was “why didn’t you make your own line that could be quoted by somebody 50,60 years from now.”
Tom: I actually don’t have a problem with people who copy and paste beats and melodies because I think the people that stand out are gonna stand out. I don’t think music has to be this wholly creative thing. Like, if you make a house beat and people dance to it, it doesn’t matter if it’s an unoriginal beat. It matters more that people danced to it than it being completely original. I think it’s important to listen to what’s being offered, and the greats will stick out. Take building a building, for example. There’s a right way to do it, and it’s an extremely hard endeavor, and needs to be done right otherwise people will die. Music is not like building a building. Music—and, I think, all art—is about decorating space. Visual art decorates one kind of space and music decorates another space, and there’s no right way to decorate. When someone releases something that’s already been done, if it makes someone move I think that’s great. I think if someone wants to be the next Freddy Mercury or whatever, that’s what they have to offer.
“I don’t think music has to be this wholly creative thing. Like, if you make a house beat and people dance to it, it doesn’t matter if it’s an unoriginal beat. It matters more that people danced to it than it being completely original. I think it’s important to listen to what’s being offered, and the greats will stick out. Take building a building, for example. There’s a right way to do it, and it’s an extremely hard endeavor, and needs to be done right otherwise people will die. Music is not like building a building. Music—and, I think, all art—is about decorating space. Visual art decorates one kind of space and music decorates another space, and there’s no right way to decorate.”
Behind the Scenes!
I met Tom a little less than a year ago through a mutual friend. We hit it off right away talking about psychology or some shit, and then somehow (neither one of us can really recall exactly how) we started hanging out regularly. Eventually, hanging out lead to the inevitable expose of each other’s hobbies, which lead to involving each other in those hobbies. I was introduced to Lua after Tom mentioned they were playing a gig up in Boone. I used to live in Boone, so I offered to drive Tom up there with his girlfriend and another former Boonie we found. Through an ever growing friendship with Tom and his girlfriend, Amanda, I have gotten to know the band a bit better. Anyway, long story short, this is an informal interview with Lua Flora because I believe in them and want to support people I care about!