The Lürxx are an antispeciesist hard rock band with roots in Hollywood, California. They describe their music as Nature Warrior Rock! The Lürxx are a nucleus of two artists, Xavi & Sabú, who have been together and making music together ever since they were 13 years old. They hit the Sunset Strip with the Lürxx in 1996, living on the streets, emulating the tough life and rock’n’roll hardship of their heroes. In the year 2000, after years of working as professional musicians, they felt the need for different input – as high school drop-outs, they went back to school and ended up studying Classics. Vocalist and guitarist Xavi then went on to study environmental sciences and is now working with a focus on integrating the arts into the climate crisis discourse to enable people to connect on a more emotional level to nature. In 2020, now based in the UK, they got back together as a band with original drummer Joe and are once again ready to take on the world! With unusual and relevant lyrics, amazing hooks and an experimental mindset they create a positive and powerful soundtrack to the revolution that we need to save our planet!

In this interview spotlight, I chat with the Lürxx about the latest music, favorite songs, dream collabs and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Are you able to choose a favorite song of all time? Or would you label this an impossible task? If yes, what’s the song? If no, what’s your current Top 3?

XAVI: Definitely an impossible task! But I do have songs that I keep coming back to. My current top 3 are probably Saints of Los Angeles (Mötley Crüe), Youth Gone Wild (Skid Row) and I’m Sick (Sixx:A.M.).

SABÚ: I’d rather list my current Top 3, but some inner pull I cannot resist makes me list “Ferry Cross the Mersey” by Gerry and the Pacemakers as my all time favorite. I don’t listen to it often at all. But it has this deeply peaceful overall sound. Also, it stands for our connection to Liverpool. Our musical journey started with Liverpool – we were insane Beatles fans when we were kids. No, we WERE the Beatles, when we were kids. We went to school wearing school uniforms (not required at our school) and signed tests with “John Lennon” and “Paul McCartney” and “1956”. I fell in love with “Ferry Cross the Mersey” as a Beatles fan kid who dreamed he was growing up in 1950’s Liverpool. To this day we keep coming back to Liverpool; during COVID, we recorded our recent album “Music for the Planet – the Liverpool Sessions” there.

…To me, the only comparably peaceful beautiful sound is the way Ian McLagan comes in on organ in Izzy Stradlin’s “Shuffle it All”, which beside Mötley Crüe’s “Danger” is the third hymn about our lives…
XAVI: Oh yeah, We’ve shuffled it all many times, moving from London to Los Angeles to Helsinki to Hamburg to Barcelona to the Isle of Anglesey… Partly immersing ourselves in very extreme experiences, like living on the streets of Hollywood for a while when we were just 18 and trying to make it (https://youtu.be/oLWSXk5BuJ0) – this is where “Danger” fits in as a hymn about our lives, the song we actually listened to on the way to the plane that took us from Europe to Hollywood. I’ve curated a whole playlist of songs which were super important to us during this formative time of our life and career: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4UggLKDS74BmYOMJN0SfRy?si=ab1d7b26d25f4bc5

What about this project makes you most proud? Was there a specific goal you were trying to accomplish with this release?

SABÚ: All our releases have a very specific goal: We want to share the way we experience nature with others in order to help them feel the connection they have with it. Obviously, we all are part of nature – humans are just as much part of the web of life as any other being on this planet. We want to help people realize this. We believe that music about nature and music about humans as part of nature can help people form an emotional connection to nature and a sense of belonging into nature, because music triggers emotion. We believe that once people realize they are part of nature they will fight for its protection. That’s what we want.

The blue face paint we wear on stage is our symbol for all life’s connection to the water. We want to draw attention to the fact that all life shares the same origin, water, meaning it is all connected. We are all connected.

XAVI: I’m extremely proud that we took the plunge to get back into music (semi)professionally after a long hiatus (over 20 years!!). It feels incredibly good to be putting out music again. What I love about our 2022 releases “Music for the Planet” and “Jellyfish Moon” is that they incorporate both new material and songs that we wrote back in the late 90s and that just never ended up being recorded back then. It gives me great joy and satisfaction to know that these songs are now out there, being listened to! I’m also very proud of the extremely positive feedback we’ve been getting from listeners and concert goers who pick up on our message of a positive fighting spirit – it feels great to achieve what we want to achieve with our music! On a personal level, I’m happy with my recent progress both as a singer and a guitarist – I was late diagnosed with dyspraxia and this diagnosis has empowered me so much in my approach to playing guitar! I’m having more fun with it than ever before, so that’s awesome!

SABÚ: On our album “Music for the Planet – the Liverpool Sessions” I personally am most proud of the lead guitar on the track “El Dorado”: https://youtu.be/zWrCpLJinsU

I’ve not played guitar for long – when we recorded “El Dorado” I had been playing for about 8 months after falling in love head over heels with the guitar playing of Dj Ashba (before that I had “only” been our recorder player and bass player) – the first time I heard him play I was buzzing for three weeks and then I started to play guitar. So on “El Dorado” I did something that is not typical for me: I just went all in, totally unconcerned about how rough around the edges it was gonna be, just painting this musical picture as best as I could, telling the same story the lyrics tell, only without words. I just switched off my brain that could have told me I’m not good enough yet, and instead just played, played, played, trying to come as close as I could to the way I heard it in my head, drawing from the inspiration I got from Dj about how to use sounds to paint a story.

So, “El Dorado” for me personally didn’t only end up being about gathering all strength and kicking greedy capitalists out of the rainforest to protect this wonder (which is what the lyrics are about) but it is also about my personal victory of beating my insecurity. I’m proud of that and of the way the song sounds.

What inspires you to create music? What motivates you to keep going?

XAVI: Life inspires me to create music and I don’t really feel that I need any motivation to keep going – I just fuckin’ go! I’m just driven by a massive desire to create stuff and make this world a better place any way I can. It’s not a choice, it’s a calling. A very LOUD calling… We’ve been making music together ever since we were 13 years old!

SABÚ: If you’re an artist, you do art.

If you could collaborate with anyone – dead or alive, famous or unknown – who would it be and why? If it’s an indie/DIY artist, please include a link so readers can check them out.

Definitely not with Desmond Child. We call him Desmond, child of Satan, hehehe! When we were younger, we never cared about our audience at all and made art only for ourselves. In 1997 – we were 20 – we were offered a record deal with Sony Records and turned it down because they, obviously, wanted to strongly influence (i.e. CHANGE) our music.  We were never easily impressed by money.

We have changed since – by now we also do think about our audience, because communicating our message has moved to the forefront of our art. Still, we are completely uninterested in taking all the edge out of our art. While Desmond Child may see his role in identifying what is special about an artist and bringing it into the commercially most appealing form possible, to us, he turns individuals into Borgs. But natural imperfection is beautiful. We try to find that sweet spot where edgy art can be appealing to an audience. We like to think of our music as Nature Rock. And nature needs to flow freely.

We’re always keen to collaborate with other musicians – if anyone feels like collaborating, please get in touch! 🙂.

What was the last song you listened to? Favorite all-time bands/artists?

XAVI: The last song we listened to was actually Melissa Harding’s Christmas song “He Was Here”. https://youtu.be/WrqCqg8XM_c

She is our vocal coach; a great person and it’s been a real treat working with her! We’re always looking to improve and explore more possibilities of vocal expression and she is a great inspiration. Thanks to her, on our next album we’re experimenting with falsetto and spoken word, and with richer dynamics.

As for favorite all-time artists – taking this question out of the box: I love the nature paintings of the Fauves, like for example Braque or Friesz. The way the Fauves paint nature is a lot like the way we write songs about nature. What the intense colors are to the Fauves are the colorful and intense melodies decorating our songs, giving the beholder direct emotional access. Matisse said of his teacher Moreau: “He did not set us on the right roads, but off the roads. He disturbed our complacency.” – that’s exactly what we strive to do with our music! We aim to tear down the artificial barriers that mankind has erected between ourselves and the natural world and open the floodgates of a deep emotional connection. This positive yet raw and powerful energy that we bring to the stage and to our recording is something I find in these paintings, which seemed so wild to the critics at the time that they called the artists “fauves” (wild beasts). This fits in perfectly with our vision to rewild ourselves and also to rewild the music – our music is handmade, and 100% real, not autotuned perfection. And that’s how we like it!

SABÚ: Favorite bands: Sixx:A.M. – for several reasons: they are – just like us – a rock band with a purpose. They don’t “just wanna rock” but reach out to their audience with an important message.  Secondly, Dj Ashba on guitar. Sonic seducer, I cannot stop listening. Not that he’s perfect or anything, and I don’t even like all his melodies, but he plays with so much heart, so directly. I hope that someday I can express myself like that on guitar.

A Catalan band, Txarango. Catalonia is one of the six countries in which we have lived so far, it’s an important puzzle piece in our international identity. Catalonia has a vibrant literature scene and Txarango’s songs are musical poetry about being passionate about hope and finding safe spaces in yourself. All painted in beautiful pictures full of mermaids and traveling circus folk. We actually plan our upcoming releases using an album template we came up withto make sure we cover all that we’re about on every album. Us spanning different cultures is important to us, and we mix in different languages in our lyrics. Catalan is an important one for us.

And I also must mention Guns’n’Roses. When we were 18, they were the main reason why we moved out to Hollywood, so they had a huge impact on our lives. Izzy and Axl had moved out to Hollywood, so why shouldn’t we? (Maybe, because they were from the US whereas we were gonna be illegal immigrants on the other side of the globe but so fucking what 😀 😀 😀 )

Where is the best place to find you and stay connected?

Instagram or Facebook @thelurxx or even better subscribe to our website (www.the-lurxx.com) for regular news updates and exclusive access to cool stuff. We write a weekly blog here: https://www.the-lurxx.com/blog and we have an active YouTube channel as well, so there are plenty of ways to stay connected. We very much value all our supporters and we love getting to know them personally! We’re still in touch with some fans/friends from our Hollywood days! We’re always excited to hear from people who connect to our art!

I appreciate Your time. Want to say or plug any other projects before we part ways?

SABÚ: I could still add that we’re the only rock band I’m aware of that has a recorder player. (Any other ones out there? Get in touch!!) With us, the recorder is a rock instrument, we don’t only use it in ballads. When people see me blow into things, they tend to associate Jethro Tull. But Jethro Tull is actually not an influence on me at all. Even on recorder, I am mainly influenced by guitarists – my most long-standing influences are Jeff Beck and Slash. Secondary to that, my technique is inspired by Scottish pipers, Irish tin whistlers, Chinese Dizi players and a little bit of blues harp. Off our current releases, you probably hear that best on “Blue Fish”: https://youtu.be/zokMCYrxmgo

XAVI: We’re already busy working on our next release while we keep pushing the 2022 releases and we’re super excited about the new stuff we’re writing! You can already check out preliminary versions of some of the songs, I’d like to draw special attention to “Leopard Slugs”, a song about the cute spotted leopard slugs who sometimes pop up in our living room 🙂: https://www.the-lurxx.com/leopardslugs