FRET12 SESSIONS
Luggage
–Live Performance
Formed in 2016, the noisy, post-punk Chicago trio Luggage has spent the last eight years honing their moody, minimalistic sound to a razor’s edge. Stripped back and spartan, the band wields an expert sense of texture, space, and atmosphere — we got to experience it for ourselves when they stopped by the FRET12 shop for an exclusive performance.
Broadcasting from our shop at The Salt Shed, FRET12 Sessions invites musicians of all genres and styles to come in, perform, and share their work with the world.
FRET12 SESSIONS
Luggage – LIVE PERFORMANCE
Formed in 2016, the noisy, post-punk Chicago trio Luggage has spent the last eight years honing their moody, minimalistic sound to a razor’s edge. Stripped back and spartan, the band wields an expert sense of texture, space, and atmosphere — we got to experience it for ourselves when they stopped by the FRET12 shop for an exclusive performance.
Broadcasting from our shop at The Salt Shed, FRET12 Sessions invites musicians of all genres and styles to come in, perform, and share their work with the world.
F12-SESSION 009 // Luggage
Listening to a Luggage song can feel like being in an empty room filling up with smoke. Spacious, sure, but carrying a weight that pervades and remains long after the music stops. Maybe you chalk that up to guitarist and vocalist Michael Vallera’s background in the experimental/ambient scene, maybe it’s a uniquely Chicago sensibility — whatever you attribute it to, there’s no denying their minimalist sound is light on lyrics, rich in texture, and heavy with feeling.
After their performance, we sat down with the Chicago three-piece in our shop to talk about their always-changing writing process, how our environment shapes the music we make, and more.
“[We] feel a lot of kinship with a certain kind of sound that's synonymous with the place where we all live. And I think that’s a result of styles of music and genres having a lot to do with the environment that people live in, the geography of the place, the way the place functions, and the experience of living there. I think that this kind of music is really related to Chicago in particular. [We’re] interested in having a band that reflects the environment of a place where we all live and spend time.”
– Michael Vallera
“[We] feel a lot of kinship with a certain kind of sound that's synonymous with the place where we all live. And I think that’s a result of styles of music and genres having a lot to do with the environment that people live in, the geography of the place, the way the place functions, and the experience of living there. I think that this kind of music is really related to Chicago in particular. [We’re] interested in having a band that reflects the environment of a place where we all live and spend time.”
– Michael Vallera
“[Our writing process] is different every time. For “Shift,” we lived in that record, practicing three times a week for hours. For “Happiness,” it was the pandemic era, so we could barely practice. We still somehow wrote a record... so we kind of don't have like a set process. It kind of morphs with our lives as time goes by.”
— Luca Cimarusti
“[Our writing process] is different every time. For “Shift,” we lived in that record, practicing three times a week for hours. For “Happiness,” it was the pandemic era, so we could barely practice. We still somehow wrote a record... so we kind of don't have like a set process. It kind of morphs with our lives as time goes by.”
— Luca Cimarusti
“I think [we] push ourselves to be an uncomfortable place, which can be scary. but there's a lot of reward too....we'll finish a song and be like “that does not feel good,” but at the same time, it does.” — MJ Grant
“I think [we] push ourselves to be an uncomfortable place, which can be scary. but there's a lot of reward too....we'll finish a song and be like “that does not feel good,” but at the same time, it does.”
— MJ Grant
“This is my favorite pedal I've ever owned, the Reverberation Machine [by Death By Audio]. I started using it for guitar because I like this really cool, dusty kind of distorted reverb... there are a lot of songs in Ganser where I use distorted vocals. It’s just a sound I’ve always wanted for vocals and it’s much more fun to perform as well.”
— Sophie Sputnik
“This is my favorite pedal I've ever owned, the Reverberation Machine [by Death By Audio]. I started using it for guitar because I like this really cool, dusty kind of distorted reverb... there are a lot of songs in Ganser where I use distorted vocals. It’s just a sound I’ve always wanted for vocals and it’s much more fun to perform as well.”
— Sophie Sputnik
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FRET12 SESSIONS – Luggage
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All video and photos by FRET12.
Venue: FRET12 Shop, located in the main lobby of the Salt Shed - Chicago.
The views and opinions expressed by the band are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of FRET12 or associated entities.
FRET12 SESSIONS – GANSER
Chicago-based post-punk quartet Ganser performs “Lucky” and “Emergency Equipment and Exits."
