What attracted you to covering both 'Indian Summers'?
Britta: Dean picked all of the covers.
Dean: The Doors one is easily the best thing on Morrison Hotel. A nice lyric and very nice playing by Robbie Krieger. Both songs are elegantly simple.

'Night Nurse', the lead track off L'Avventura, is obviously heavily influenced by the old Lee Hazlewood song 'Your Sweet Love'. Can you take us through how 'Night Nurse' came about - did you start with the string sample and go from there?
Britta: The strings were not sampled, they were played on a keyboard and then doubled by Scorchio String Quartet. We started with the drums. Dean and I played bass and guitar along with Matt Johnson, but we ended up replacing our parts. Then Dean added the Omnichord and Tony added the strings. It ended up sounding a lot like a hi-fi version of Dean's home demo.

It seems that Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazlewood and Serge Gainsbourg/Jane Birkin were the leaping off point for L'Avventura. Or were there other duet records that inspired you? Glen Campbell & Bobbie Gentry?
Dean: My parents had the Glen Campbell & Bobbie Gentry album when I was a kid, I'm very fond of it, it's quite similar to the Nancy & Lee sound. Hazlewood actually recorded a version of 'Ode to Billie Joe.'

Have you heard the new Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood record - Nancy and Lee 3?
Dean: I haven't heard it yet, I think it's only been released in Australia. She has another new album of duets out right now. I did get to meet Lee Hazlewood a few years ago, I interviewed him for a U.S. magazine, that was very exciting. I flew down to his place near Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida, and we drank wine and smoked a lot of cigarettes. People told me he would be grumpy, but he wasn't at all.

How did you decide to make your own LP? Were you writing songs that you thought couldn't be done in Luna or was it more a case of the other members saying, 'hey, Wareham ... Phillips - get a room will ya!'
Britta: Dean had decided to do a solo album of covers, for fun. I had signed on to play bass. Then one day he had the idea that we could share the vocals and do a couple of duets. We had tried one of my songs, 'Out Walking,' with Luna when we were recording Romantica but the guys thought it just sounded like too much of a departure from the LUNA sound, which it did.
Dean: Sometimes it is easier to realize an idea like L'Avventura if you're not constrained by a band situation, it's more of a vocal record than a guitar record (though there is guitar on every song).

A record like this invites questions of a personal nature, about your relationship etc ... how do you feel about this? the both of you seem like private people but it's a very public declaration...
Dean: It wasn't meant to be a public declaration, but I can see why it might appear that way. If you put out a record like this, then I suppose you can't pretend to be offended by the questions.

Dean - your vocal style's been likened to Kermit D. Frog's. Do you appreciate the similarities?
Dean: I think I'm a better singer than Kermit, I know that may sound boastful.

Is it hard being green?
Dean: Again with the Kermit thing...

Why are there so many songs about rainbows and what's on the other side?
Dean: Because life is nasty, brutish and short?

What attracted you to re-designing Madonna's 'I Deserve It'?
Dean: That song by Madonna and Mirwais has several great elements, one of which is a great drum machine pattern. I am a fan of Ray of Light and Music. Though the lyrics can be a little hard to take.

What did producer Tony Visconti bring to the table that no one could've/would've?
Britta: Well, every producer does bring something a little different. Tony is very capable, positive and easy to work with. Dean always says he's like a scientist in the way he solves problems. He worked very quickly which is always great for morale. And he was great at hearing and compiling vocal takes.
Dean: All I can say is that our record was a bit of a mess before we brought it to him, and in three weeks he turned it into something great.

Sonic Boom's re-mixes of the songs are amazing. The original record is already dreamy and laidback but his remixes delve even deeper in that direction; bringing out the bliss. Can you tell us how you came about asking him to do those re-mixes?
Britta: He offered and we were very happy to have him do it.
Dean: He asked us if he could do the re-mixes. I had sent him a copy of the album, didn't think he would like it, but he loved it, and offered to do some mixes for free. He did a really cool job, usually I don't like re-mix records, but this one seems to make sense thematically, it's not just a hodge-podge.

What are your favourite re-mixes and why?
Britta: 'Your Baby' and 'Bavaria.' I really love how different they are. I like the added drones and the removal of the drums. And the rain is cool.

I read somewhere Sonic Boom made you guys a mix cd - what were some of the revelations on there for you?
Britta: The word "revelation" is a bit grand, but I guess I was pleasantly surprised by some things like Xavier Cugat and Evie Sands.
Dean: He put a lot of the songs on there that are now available on a CD called Spacelines. It's available from the Spanish label Munster. A bunch of songs that influenced the Spacemen 3. Including a great early Rolf Harris track called 'Sun Arise'. Plus the Staples Singers, Marlene Dietrich, the Animals.

What's your feeling about chart music at the moment because it kinda feels like we're going through a golden age of pop. The production techniques on things like Outkast, Beyonce, Britney, Prince, Missy Elliott etc. are brilliant. Everyone seems to be tapping into ropey Eastern sounds and general wigginess associated with more underground rock bands. What's your feeling?
Britta: I don't pay much attention to chart music. I'm much more excited by the production on old records most of the time. A lot of it isn't even really production, it's just the sounds that came from the technical limitations and studio gear of the time. I find the musicianship on most pop records today to be quite sterile, compared to older records, as well. It's solid and perfect and dull.There are always exceptions, of course, but I'm not familiar enough with any of the bands listed above to comment. I do like that one Beyonce single ('Crazy in Love'), though, at least the retro horn riff.
Dean: Maybe you can make me some recommendations, I confess I don't listen to that sort of thing very often, though I have a few Prince records.

Are you planning to do another duet record?
Britta: Yes.
Dean: Hopefully in 2005.

What would you do differently with your next duet record?
Dean: I'd be happy if it could be much the same, only different. More duets might be a good idea. We haven't really formulated a plan.

In Luna you've utilised some of the great guitarist of all time - Tom Verlaine of Television and Sterling Morrison of the Velvet Underground. Two distinct characters?
Dean: They are both such great "stylists", that is, they don't sound like anyone else, which you realize when you are sitting in the control room and they start playing. Tom Verlaine played two memorable guitar solos on our Penthouse album. Sterling played a long guitar solo on 'Friendly Advice' on our Bewitched album, and I think that was his last studio recording, he was diagnosed with cancer soon after. He was a lot of fun to be around, had lots of stories to tell.

Luna is just about to release a new LP Rendezvous. How will it differ from other Luna outings?
Britta: We recorded it live in one room together and kept most of the live bass and guitars. And Sean is singing two songs.

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