About “230313 BIO V4”
Hi, I’m Sam — I am currently writing you in the spring of 2023. What you’re about to read is a current reflection of my life through music. Thanks for visiting.
I am an artist from Battle Creek, MI. I write pop music with the intentions of creating art for a living, and I hope to use my talents and skills to do good things in my communities and, hopefully, the world. While I haven’t been able to support myself in music yet, I have a skill for video editing and I work remotely for a Digital Production Company out of Los Angeles, CA.
At the age of 10, I took an interest in music and was deeply influenced by music my dad would play and bands he was in. This inspired me to pick up the drums, then shortly after the guitar. Through my teen years and into my twenties, I played drums in a band at 13; gained the courage to busk at 15; started another band with high school friends at 18; and then another with my dad, my friend Sage Castleberry and his dad, and our rocket football coach from middle school.
In 2021 at the age of 20 I drive down to Spring Hill, TN to record my first EP, “Days in Delusion,” produced by my friend Carter Frodge. This album is the culmination of songs and demos I made over a span of 3 years. The album captures my identity at the time: an indecisive artist inundated with ideas. It came time to name the album and I felt delusional after hearing the songs and how (at the time) I failed to achieve the level of originality and polish I was shooting for. Thus spawning the name Days In Delusion. (These songs have grown on me in time)
The release of the EP led to a lot of promoting at live shows that took me around (mostly southwest) Michigan with my band, a string of gigs that grew my guitar playing skills tremendously and taught me how to be the leader of a band and a performer. One of our most notable stops was at a Battle of the Bands called the Potency Test, where we tied first place with V.A.S.E and bonded with other representative Michigan acts like Grace Theisen and Kwaj.
In the fall of 2021 I met (my now FIANCE) Emma Hecht. Together we wrote and released a song by ourselves called “Right to You” by ivysea. This is such a special song to me because we wrote it together in one night, fueled by feelings that we felt for each other but at the time could only express discreetly through song. I was overwhelmed at how easy it was to write a song using feelings I truly felt and how we equally contributed to every aspect of the song.
After the release of this song, I began to recognize that I had fallen into a monotony in my own career — I wasn’t taking my music and art seriously and overall just felt directionless. It wasn’t until I met Emma that I realized I had only been doing music for my own personal gain and chasing dreams that were rooted in self-glorification and nothing else. I have recently been inspired to pursue success in music with new goals:
Play shows for a reason: I would like to start playing shows that benefit others more than just attending the event. I don’t know what that means yet but I hope to make shows more meaningful.
Relate to others: Whether I am writing music or making a video, I want to make content that shows my character, my upbringing, and my influences in hopes that I can make deeper connections with people.
Make an impact in my communities: Easier said than done. When I achieve the level of supporting myself as an artist. I hope that I can continue to inspire others to do good things, and give back to people and meaningful causes.
I am eager to continue making art with this new outlook. I hope to release music, content, and merchandise with the intent to tell stories, inspire, relate to people, and understand who I am. I hope that if you made it this far, you would join me on this journey.
All the best,
Sam Luna