La Luz (band)


La Luz is an American rock band from Los Angeles, founded in 2012 by Shana Cleveland, Marian Li Pino, Alice Sandahl, and Lena Simon. La Luz has received critical acclaim following the release of three studio albums It's Alive, Weirdo Shrine, and Floating Features on Hardly Art.
La Luz is known for their "surf noir" style with layered vocal harmonies. Their energetic live shows often include Soul Train-inspired dance contests and crowd surfing.

History

and Marian Li Pino formed La Luz in Seattle, Washington with Alice Sandahl and bassist Abbey Blackwell after being inspired by surf and rock and roll acts like Link Wray, The Ventures, and Dick Dale, as well as girl groups like The Shirelles. Cleveland has cited Japanese guitar player Takeshi Terauchi as her biggest guitar influence. After releasing an EP titled Damp Face in 2012, La Luz signed with Hardly Art and released their first full-length album titled It's Alive in October 2013.
While on tour supporting of Montreal on November 5, 2013, La Luz was involved in a serious automobile accident on the road traveling from Boise, ID to Seattle, WA as their tour van slipped on black ice. After crashing into a highway divider, their van was then hit by a semi-trailer truck. Band members sustained injuries, and all of the instruments and merchandise were destroyed with the tour van and trailer, forcing them to cancel the remainder of the tour.
In February 2014, bassist Abbey Blackwell left the group, and was replaced by Lena Simon. La Luz released their second album, Weirdo Shrine, in August 2015, again through Hardly Art. Produced by Ty Segall, the album was a more live-sounding recording than previous efforts, and featured heavy fuzz guitar. Weirdo Shrine received positive reviews in The Guardian, Pitchfork and The New York Times, and the group embarked on an international tour to support its release. They went on to move from Seattle to Los Angeles later that year.

Band members

;Current members
;Former members

Albums