Lunasol_Blood Moon_Cover

Exclusive Album Premiere: Luna Sol - Blood Moon

Even if it wasn’t for the guest spots from Nick Oliveri (Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age) and John Garcia (Kyuss, Vista Chino), we’d still be excited for Luna Sols debut LP Blood Moon, which drops on 4/20 (surprised?). In my opinion, the stoner music world has flat lined lately without a lead band at the helm, without some flagship releases and without a whole lot of growth in the genre for some time (although we at Invisible Oranges were excited to learn that a new High on Fire album Luminiferous will drop June 23).

This song, “Bridges,” features the work of Denver musicians Pat Gill (The Feds, ’76 Pinto) on drums, guitarist and vocalist Shanda Kolberg (The Swanks), and bassist/vocalist Shannon Fahnestock (The Swindlers) along with guitarist David Angstrom, who plays in Hermano with John Garcia. Dean Smith of Supafuzz provides guest bass on this song. The new album will breathe some life into the stoner genre as it is not only riff-heavy but has some unexpected touches, namely Angstrom, Kolberg and Fanhestock’s harmony-heavy vocal style.

Angstrom moved to the mountains near Denver in 2012 and the PR for this album says he was inspired to write by the news and folklore. I don’t know what kind of folklore there is in Denver nowadays but maybe it’s about the Cannabis Bunny that delivers buds to happy stoners on Sunday mornings.

The album was recorded at Sierra Estates in Colorado, and the album artwork was designed by well-known Denver tattoo artist Christel Perkins of Sol Tribe. In addition to the band proper, John Garcia adds vocals on “December,” Dandy Brown (Hermano, Orquestra del Desierto) plays bass on “Death Mountain,” Nick Oliveri plays bass on “Pretty Rotten,” Greg Martin (The Kentucky Headhunters) contributes slide guitar on “Death Mountain,” Jason Groves (Supafuzz, Asylum on the Hill) plays bass on “In the Shadows,” and Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Roses) delivers a Hammond B3 performance on “Your War.”

The album is being released by, and up for pre-order at Slush Fund Recordings. Get your burnt offerings to the stoner gods ready and fire up this smoking album.

—Vanessa Salvia


The look way too happy. Luna Sol [L-R]: Pat Gill, Shanda Kolberg, Shannon Fahnestock, Dave Angstrom. Photo by Colin Farrell
They look way too happy. Luna Sol [L-R]: Pat Gill, Shanda Kolberg, Shannon Fahnestock, Dave Angstrom. Photo by Colin Farrell