{"id":747,"date":"2003-01-23T05:11:00","date_gmt":"2003-01-23T05:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/?p=747"},"modified":"2024-03-28T05:12:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T05:12:36","slug":"mark-of-the-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/?p=747","title":{"rendered":"Mark of the Beast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Media-savvy Luxt aims for the title of hardest-working band in local show business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Luxt,
Luxt, with Anna Christine (obviously not Anna Nicole) on the left and Frost, Erie Loch, David H. and Crash on the right, from top to bottom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

CD-release party 7 p.m. Saturday, January 25; at the Colonial Theatre, 3522 Stockton Blvd.; all ages, $10. With Beat Officers, Simplistic and Lowboy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few short years ago, bands were nipping at the <\/strong>heels of major-label A&R weasels, hoping to land that all-important, self-indulgent record deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, bands are taking back from the now-moribund record industry what is rightfully theirs, realizing that most of the resources to make a good, nationally distributed album are just a mouse click away. Though the Internet may have given away too much\u2014take Napster or Kazaa, for instance\u2014some of the info transferred over the wires managed to enlighten and teach the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luxt, Sacramento\u2019s largest consistently drawing hard-rock act since the Deftones, just released its newest album through Blackliner Records, a label run by Lynn and Sonny Mayugba, best known for their local bands the Skirts and Daycare, respectively. Luxt\u2019s new record, American Beast<\/em>, is distributed nationally though indie-label distributor IDN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current lineup of Luxt\u2014Anna Christine on vocals, Erie Loch on guitar and keyboards, David H on guitars, Crash on bass and Frost on drums\u2014is easily the band\u2019s strongest. As evidenced on American Beast<\/em>\u2019s standout tracks\u2014\u201cCease\u201d; \u201cInfinite\u201d; and \u201cDeath,\u201d which closes the album\u2014the band\u2019s influences are far and reaching. Imagine a juncture where early Garbage, Lacuna Coil, the Gathering, KMFDM and White Zombie meet, and you\u2019re ready for the Luxt experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as Luxt\u2019s members\u2019 ages go, let\u2019s just say that they\u2019re experienced. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna have to fistfight Anna for that info,\u201d Loch joked. \u201cWe\u2019re all about 19, spiritually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Touring is integral to a band\u2019s success. Without a live show to promote and sell music, most record labels won\u2019t touch an act. Fortunately, Luxt is a self-contained touring machine. Besides having a fully functional van-trailer combination, the band has a very impressive merchandise booth, one that puts even major-label-funded ones to shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to tour 366 days a year,\u201d Loch said, \u201cbut we\u2019ll do as much as we possibly can. There\u2019s nothing better than having the ability to promote your own CD instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you. Between recording, re-recording, releasing an album\u2014we started the process back in October\u2014and politics, we were only able to play 60 shows in 2002. The two previous years, we had done about 100 a year, so we\u2019re really champing at the bit to be playing a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, though most bands don\u2019t understand what goes into making a successful record, Luxt\u2019s members have the inside scoop. Because the band was signed to indie labels early on, it\u2019s attained quite a savvy and has learned from its mistakes. As Loch puts it, \u201cMetropolis Records only functioned as a distributor for us, so I can\u2019t speak for them. But, as for [former labels] 21st Circuitry and Knight Records, yes, we\u2019ve learned that good intentions don\u2019t usually materialize into actions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Luxt has a game plan now, and the band\u2019s singer and businesswoman is leading the charge. \u201cAnna is our shark,\u201d an enthusiastic Loch said. \u201cShe takes care of business and is the reason this band is not only still afloat, but prospering.\u201d Although signed to an indie, Luxt is positioning itself alongside major-label bands by taking part in the radio and marketing game. Once a costly proposition that was out of reach for indie labels, costs for national advertising and marketing have changed with the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs for promotion, we\u2019ve secured radio through the Syndicate in New Jersey, who work with acts like Tori Amos and Mudvayne down to small metal and indie bands. We\u2019re part of the Music Monitor Network [a coalition of indie retail stores] for retail support, which means we\u2019re included in a lot of listening stations and end caps [typically, paid-for placement in record-store end racks],\u201d Loch said. \u201cThat, coupled with advertising, touring, a good publicist and just an assload of really hard work by the whole band, the label and other people in our camp should give us the push we need to move forward in a big way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time for this\u00a0American Beast<\/em>\u00a0to leave its mark, no?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(SN&R)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media-savvy Luxt aims for the title of hardest-working band in local show business CD-release party 7 p.m. Saturday, January 25; at the Colonial Theatre, 3522 Stockton Blvd.; all ages, $10. With Beat Officers, Simplistic and Lowboy. A few short years ago, bands were nipping at the heels of major-label A&R weasels, hoping to land that all-important, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":748,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}