Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Lora G, a Hollywood, California - based composer, guitarist and keyboardist, co-founder of Lunden Reign. Hello Lora G!
Lora G: Hi Monika, thank you for reaching out to me.
Monika: When did you decide that music would be your way of life?
Lora G: I started performing at the age of 13 in Orange County, California. By 16 I
started performing on the Sunset Strip scene in Hollywood. The amazing Matt Sorum
(Velvet Revolver, Guns N’ Roses, The Cult) was my drummer in high school. By 18, I
had the luck to be involved in finding guitar sounds for Stevie Wonder’s album “Secret
Life of Plants.”
However, at 19 I left music to go to college. I didn’t return to music
until after an amazing Emmy winning career in television and radio including
working for Disney over 14 years. I returned to music about 7 years ago after
realizing how much I missed it.
Monika: You are a very prolific artist. Where do you get your inspiration
from?
Lora G: Thank you. From what many get inspiration… abusive childhood and coming
from a broken family, taunted for being Mexican-American and later LGBT. Writing
music is therapy for me as it is for many who had similar upbringings!
Monika: How would you define your music?
Lora G: We define our sound as: “Big Beat Progressive Rock.” We want to keep an upbeat sound big and forward on our songs and then lay memorable guitar
riffs and melodies throughout. However, I am most proud of the lyrics, I spend 5 times
the energy on lyrics compared to the music. Every song has to have a life, meaning,
message and purpose.
Monika: First you founded your band The Lora G Band …
Lora G: When I first came back to music I formed the band “Blind Dog Wanders.”
Later it became “The Lora G Band.”
Monika: Then you joined forces with Nikki Lunden and formed Lunden
Reign…
Lora G: Nikki opened for our band in 2013 at a club in LA. We were blown away with
her vocals, her original songs and her guitar playing. We joined together shortly after
that show. While recording at Abbey Road in London, we made the decision to rename the band: Lunden Reign.
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| Nikki Lunden. |
Monika: You toured extensively in the United Kingdom. Do you plan to
visit other European countries?
Lora G: Oh yes. We are developing a fan base in France, Scandinavia, Germany,
Netherlands and Denmark. Our hope is to get invites for summer festivals in those
countries and the UK.
However, it will depend on people from these countries
contacting festival organizers and requesting us. We loved performing at The Fringe
Festival in Scotland and it’s a major goal of ours to play there again in 2015. I hope
the wonderful Edinburgh folks who heard and saw us reach out to bring us back, we
miss you!
Monika: Your group consists of strong rock and roll ladies. I may be
wrong but it seems it is difficult for female artists to become rock and roll
stars …
Lora G: I think it’s difficult for anyone who writes non-sampled, non-synth created
music and without a cute teen-age inserted singer or singers. It reminds me of the
music business before The Beatles broke through or The Knack did over disco, then
NIRVANA did later. I was hoping Muse, Manic Street Preachers or Imagine Dragons
could break the “factory produced-music spell” this time around, but it just isn’t
happening.
All the radio stations are run by a handful of corporations who don’t like
risk and since they are beholden to the quarterly financial reports it’s unlikely that
mentality will change anytime soon. It will take a major effort by fans of performers
who write, record and perform their own music to create such a change. Until then at
least we have the internet even if it’s incredibly fragmented.
Monika: What does it mean to be a transgender artist? Is your music
influenced by your transgender experience?
Lora G: We don’t promote ourselves exclusively as an LGBT band (3 of the 5 members
are straight, Nikki and I are the LGBT members of the band. Of course I’m a member
of both the L and the T in that acronym. However, I am and have been an activist in
the LGBT community for over 7 years and Lunden Reign performs for events to help
the community in any way it can including 6 Pride festivals this year.
Several of my
songs are directly related to being transgender, particularly “Hear Me” and a new
song “Hush & Whispers.” I hope you get time to read the lyrics. FYI, we just found out we are headlining “The Palm Springs Pride Festival” Saturday, Nov. 8th at 9PM on the outdoor stage. This is a great festival.
Monika: At that time of your transition, did you have any transgender
role models that you could follow?
Lora G: No, but wish I did.
Monika: What was the hardest thing about your coming out?
Lora G: Three of my sisters decided to use it against me on my mother’s deathbed.
Although my mom knew, she just sort of ignored it because she loved me so much, so
that is how she dealt with it. We were extremely close and I think these 3 sisters were
jealous of that. While my mother lay dying, they made me out to her to be something
evil and freakish. It was extremely hard on her, my daughter and me because she was already dealing with
knowing she was about to die. I never knew until after she passed if she overcame their
hateful talk.
However, my one accepting sister Nicole, told me later that, just before
my mother passed, she told her to “back me and support me from them.” To be sure,
she made me executor and administrator of her will. Guess that said it all, but it was
still unbelievably hurtful and it crushes me still to this day; I really miss her.
Monika: What do you think about the present situation of transgender
women in the American society?
Lora G: It is amazingly become accepted in the major cities and the coastal states. I’m
not sure about the south and middle American, those areas are so influenced by the
intolerant right-wing despots. It’s sad because they are the most needy people right
now in the U.S. and they are being exploited just for their political votes and certain
religious financial contributions!
Monika: Could transgenderism be the new frontier for human rights?
Lora G: It’s the frontline now!
Monika: Are you active in politics? Do you participate in any lobbying
campaigns? Do you think transgender women can make a difference in
politics?
Lora G: I started out in political activism at the age of 8. My family was on the
frontline of the civil rights movement for Mexican-Americans (then called the Chicano
Movement) in the late 60’s and early 70’s. I was tear-gassed during one of the riots in
LA and hit hard on the shoulder by an LAPD billy club.
Although a young kid, I
actually took 8mm film of one of the riots and later used it on a documentary.
Unfortunately, my brother (an aspiring law student at Loyola) was severely beaten by
the LA Sheriff’s Department and received permanent brain damage. I continued fighting for Mexican-American rights and equality as a journalist and about 7 years ago also became an activist for the LGBT community including going to DC and
lobbying congress to support ENDA and fighting against provisions in DSM-5!
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| Lunden Reign. |
Monika: Could you tell me about the importance of love in your life?
Lora G: We all need it, especially those that suffer from intolerance and rejection most
of their life. I’m so blessed that Nikki Lunden proposed to me during our recording
session in Studio 2, Abbey Road. They even got it on video tape!
Monika: Are you working on any new projects now?
Lora G: Mainly the release of Lunden Reign’s debut album: “American Stranger” (It’s done and already in shrink-wrap but we can’t release until we partner with a distributor.) We
are also working on adding live acting, sync’d video, lights and other elements for a
special live show we hope to debut in Hollywood. It will be sort of like a modern
version of what The Who did with “Tommy.” We hope to perform it once a month and
then hopefully once a week or more if ticket sales grow or if we get an investor. Let me
know if you’d like to know more!
Monika: Many transgender ladies write their memoirs. Have you ever
thought about writing such a book yourself?
Lora G: No, and probably won’t. There’s so many better stories out there than mine!
Monika: My pen friend Gina Grahame wrote to me once that we should not
limit our potential because of how we were born or by what we see other
transsexuals and transgender people doing. Our dreams should not end on
an operating table; that’s where they begin. Would you agree?
Lora G: I’ve never really thought about it that way, but that’s a good attitude to have.
For me, I started working on my creative dreams and career at the age of 9 and been
in the entertainment business ever since. It didn’t occur to me that my personal gender
issue would stop me from it, however I knew it would cause hardships and it did. But
when you face intolerance, prejudice and rejection most of your life, it almost seemed
par for the course to me. I feel lucky that I even had the chance to transition.
I’ve never
carried a chip on my shoulder and never ever compared myself to those who have
much harder challenges in life… like veterans injured or disabled in combat, children
born to parents on crack or heroin or women brutalized and without any rights in
some middle-east countries. If you think about it, just to be talking about this issue…
we are truly lucky and blessed. We all need to make the most of it and help those who
don’t have such opportunities. Thank you Monika!
Monika: Thank you for the interview!
All the photos: courtesy of Lora G.
© 2014 - Monika Kowalska
