Photo by: Guilty Visuals / Lucy Alienne Visuals

What was the inspiration and meaning behind your band’s name?

When we were coming up with name suggestions we had this kind of
an inside joke about Star Wars and Death Star in particular. In the
movie there is a line where they think Death Star is a moon before
they know it’s a space station. So: moon that kills – LUNA KILLS.

You once mentioned that mental health, particularly depression is an
energy for your music, how does this work?

Personally, writing down my feelings and the things that have
happened to me is a coping mechanism, a healthy way to process
and reflect on difficult subjects. I think it’s actually the other way
around: music is what gives back to me. It provides an outlet for
healing and also allows me to offer validation and support to others
who might be struggling with similar experiences.

Why is it important for you to cover these topics?

Like I mentioned above, there’s an element of introspection and just
trying to make sense of everything that you’ve been through. But it’s
also important to talk about mental health more broadly. The subject
still carries some stigma, and if I can help reduce that even a little, I
feel strongly about doing so. I want to offer support and
encouragement to others.

Who decides on the artwork for the albums?

We do as a band. I often have some sort of idea or a vision of what
the artworks for singles or album should be and I pitch it for others
and then we proceed on it.

You said that you are all gamers, what games influence you?

Mick Gordon is a composer we originally bonded over so his work
with DOOM and Wolfenstein reboot was definitely one of the biggest
influences music wise.

How did all four of you come together? Was it through online gaming?

Me and our guitarist Samuli are cousins so we knew each other from
basically the time we were born. Then we met Lassi (bass) and Jimi
(drums) through events so surprisingly not over online gaming.

As a Finnish band, how has your local music scene influenced your
sound?

Obviously Finland is known to be a metal country so all the heavier
elements come from the Finnish scene for sure. Where we grew up
the scene was really small, so most of our influences came abroad
from bands that are not Finnish based.

What are the key influences behind your debut album
DEATHMATCH/what’s the story behind it?

For this album we really had multiple influences, we like to listen to all
kinds of music and it varies depending whether it’s spring or fall and
the mood we’re generally in. For this album we really were into nu
metal because we literally discovered it for the first time and
obviously DEATHMATCH is really inspired by gaming and movie
soundtracks. There is no particular story behind the album, we just
wanted to make a good cohesive album filled with music that really
resonated with us and helped us to tell the stories we wanted people
to hear.
What would a Luna Kills-inspired video game look like, in terms of plot,
visuals and player experience?

LUNA KILLS- video game is most definitely a story-driven
RPG/survival horror set in cyberpunk -style world and it would feature
space travelling to different places. The plot should include a deeply
emotional, self-reflective storyline that unfolds through various events
and occurrences experienced by the main character as the game
progresses.

Can you walk us through your typical songwriting process?

We usually start by writing either chord progression, a riff or more
fleshed out song base, and start to add on it as well as arrange it
further. We write the songs at our homes straight into our DAW but
playing the demos live in our rehearsal space is mandatory for us, because we want to make sure every song is a good live song as well.

Which track on DEATHMATCH pushed you the furthest creatively or
technically? Why?

‘burn the world with me’ was definitely the song we worked on the
longest. We created so many strong versions that it was hard to
decide which direction to take it. When you get stuck on a song like
that, it’s actually pretty common to just abandon the track altogether.
But we were lucky to have the time to step back, reset, and finish the
song with a fresh mindset. So in the end, it all came together really
well.