“Bewitched was the first album when we were really a proper band, that we’d done as a quartet; we did Lunapark as a trio. Bewitched is the first record that really felt like Luna to me,” says Dean Wareham, founder and frontman of the legendary NYC band, who will be performing the sophomore album in its entirety next Tuesday, April 7th, at Union Transfer, where they performed their 1995 third LP, Penthouse, in its entirety in 2019. The show is part of a short run of unique dates from Luna (who I’m told will tour again in the fall): three sold-out nights at Bowery Ballroom, “Easter with Luna” in Kingston, New York, and a date at Alexandria, Virginia’s most famous listening room, The Birchmere, which boasts a full menu and picnic tables for “family style” dining.
During our most recent phone chat, Wareham – who I first met last year as he and wife/collaborator/Luna bassist Britta Phillips prepared to bring his sixth solo LP, That’s the Price of Loving Me, to World Café Live – tells me that all three Bowery Ballroom dates will feature a different setlist, and that while venues like The Birchmere can be a bit awkward for rock bands, they would also seem to have some benefits. “Well, yes, people are eating [laughs]. Some people hate that, some people love it… My friend Jeff tells me that’s what killed jazz,” he jokes, before going on to muse, “I think when people are standing, I feel like 90 minutes is the limit. If people are sitting, you can do like two-and-a-half/three hours…”
And while Philadelphia’s Bewitched show would seem to be a fairly straightforward endeavor, Wareham tells me he’s actually not entirely sure how it will go. “The thing about Bewitched that we’ve noticed is that Side A has a lot more energy than Side B, which can be tricky. Someone suggested we do it backwards,” he says laughing, but with a tone that implies the idea has at least piqued his interest. He also clarifies that the sophomore LP will make up half of the set, but admits that the band is yet to decide on the remaining 45 minutes: “We’re just compiling a list of like 40 songs. We’re thinking about a few covers. Britta put out a solo album with a cover of ‘Drive’ that we’re thinking of doing. We’ll meet in New York the day before the Bowery shows to figure out all of that.”
Those who caught the latest edition of Philthy Radio heard the most-played track off of Luna’s second full-length. “I don’t think there’s almost a single show when we didn’t play ‘Friendly Advice,’” says Wareham, who says that and the album’s title track are his two personal favorites from the release, but suspects “Friendly Advice” might not be Britta’s favorite: “It’s got a repetitive bassline that leaves Britta in agony after she plays it [laughs].” “That song comes from a place of jamming, but not in a Phish way,” he jokes of the most obvious association to the term “jamming,” suggesting he’s not exactly a fan of Trey Anastasio’s crew: “I dare say, we have better songs. Don’t crucify me, Phish fans [laughs]… I had a friend who went to see Phish and when they went they all took ecstasy, and I’m like, ‘That’s cheating!’”
In addition to Bewitched being the first Luna album as a quartet, the tour that followed was also the first run to feature them as the stars of the show: “I guess that would’ve been the first tour when we were headlining. For Lunapark, we did one tour opening for Screaming Trees and one opening for The Sundays and then later [just following Bewitched’s release] opening for Cocteau Twins in 1994.” 1994 saw Luna headlining The Trocadero twice, with an April show featuring our phriends Low playing the role of support, followed by an August date. “Being a band that was based in New York at the time, we could just pop down and play Philadelphia and DC on the weekend,” says Wareham, likening it to the period when The Velvet Underground refused to play New York itself, opting to stick to places like Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, and Philly…
Speaking of The Velvet Underground… Those who’ve grown up in the liner-notes-less (and soulless) era of streaming music may not realize that “Friendly Advice” actually features a very notable guest appearance. “Right before we made that album, we did a Europe tour with The Velvet Underground… and then they broke up [laughs]. For Sterling Morrison, that was his favorite, so we invited him to come play on it. We were quite surprised he did that, because I don’t think he’d done that before,” says Wareham, referencing The Velvet Underground guitarist’s seeming reluctancy to make guest appearances (According to Wikipedia, his appearance on Bewitched is the only non-Velvets-related portion of his discography.) However, Wareham says that the session with Morrison (who also played on “Great Jones Street”) felt effortless.
“He came into the studio and he played it once. It’s really just his own style… He’s sometimes overshadowed, but he has a style that when you hear it, it’s like, ‘Wow, that is the sound of that band right there!’ It’s like Ron Asheton from The Stooges. It’s like, ‘It’s that sound right there!’”
Considering that, between Bewitched and Galaxie 500’s On Fire, Dean Wareham is responsible for what could be argued to be two of the greatest sophomore albums of all-time, I’m curious if he has any favorite second LPs of music history, which he admits can be tricky: “Often the second album is not as good as the first album… I’m thinking of all of my favorite bands, and on the first few Stones albums they’re doing mostly covers, Television’s second one is not as good as their first one, and The Clash’s second one is a dud…” However, he does manage to come up with an unofficial trinity of favorite sophomore releases: “Public Image Ltd.’s second album is a great one. New Order’s Power, Corruption & Lies, I was stunned when it came out, but I love Movement, too. Spacemen 3’s The Perfect Prescription; that’s their best one!”
*Get your tickets here.
