Charlie Black is coming home, and he’s bringing a bunch of friends to celebrate.
The rhythm guitarist, who graduated Park City High School in 2018, and his San Diego-based band Saint Luna will perform Friday, Aug. 23, at Premiere Park City, 268 Main St.
The band — Black, lead singer and guitarist Bradyn Jace, lead guitarist Wick Hauser and drummer Paarsa Heidari — who formed a few months after COVID-19 hit the country, will introduce a new bassist, Tanner Lampugnale, who replaced original four-stringer Max Katz a year and half ago.
“There is that ongoing joke about bass players that they’re boring or they can’t move or shine like a singer or drummer,” Black said. “But this guy is the complete opposite. He can be the most silent, calm, down-to-earth guy off stage. But as soon as he gets on stage, he is the entertainment. He’s the one doing the craziest dance moves, pulling faces and joking in the microphone. We’re lucky to have him.”
The last time Saint Luna played in Black’s hometown was in 2022 at Park City Brewing, and since then the band has gone through changes only time could bring.
“We started out as a broke, starving college band, and how we’re a broke, starving working band,” Black said with a laugh.
In all seriousness, the guitarist said the band’s work ethic is more focused.
“While it was pretty easy to sit in a studio for four or five hours a day and play music with your friends when we first got together, it’s harder now.,” he said. “I work a corporate eight-to-five job. Some of the guys do construction, and some of us are waiting tables. So, instead of practicing for four hours every single day, we practice twice a week for two hours.”
And when the band members aren’t practicing together, they all are working on individual parts alone, according to Black.
“It’s our way of utilizing our time the best we can,” he said.
In addition, the band is trying to find gigs in bigger markets.
“San Diego isn’t the biggest city, and we’ve played all of the largest venues multiple times,” Black said. “So I’ve been trying to break us into L.A. more. And while that city may be an oversaturated market, there are a-thousand-and-one super iconic and lively venues that simply attract people through their names.”
The band has even taken a couple of bookings in San Francisco.
“It’s tough now because we all work during the week, and we only have maybe eight free days a month on the weekends,” he said. “So, it’s harder to coordinate time, but we’ve been able to make it work with the maturity that we’ve grown into over the past couple of years.”
In addition to playing more gigs outside of San Diego, Saint Luna has been working on making new music.
“All of us have digital workspaces on our computer, so instead of meeting at a studio, we’ve all been tracking demos to send out to producers to see who might be the best fit for our heavier and softer songs,” Black said.
Speaking of recordings, Saint Luna released its debut full-length album in January.
“That was a longtime coming,” Black said. “We know that singles are the mood these days, and it’s cheaper and easier to pop them out. But we decided we’re not about the commercial success as much as it is to do something just for us. I mean, the band came from a fun place and our absolute passion for music. So why not take that fire going and put out our own little project.”
The self-titled album signified a change for the band, Black said.
“We started out as a more indie, groovy soft-alt rock band, but we’re trying to coin a new thing called Desert Rock, which is not metal or hard rock,” he said. “It’s incorporating the indie, alt-rock and classic-rock tones with a little bit of blues and other classic influences. As we mature, we’re not just playing just fun and happy music. We want some swagger. We want some character and just a little bit of an edge.”
Along with the album, Saint Luna also dropped a cover of Tame Impala’s “Half Full Glass of Wine” it recorded in the desert during a live session a few weeks ago, Black said.
“We also plan to release an EP later in the year and another one in the spring,” he said.
Black’s love affair with music started when he was in grade school.
“I’m the youngest of three brothers,” he said. “They are 18 months apart, and I’m four years younger than they are, so it was always a bit of a fight for attention in my family.”
To feed the need for attention, Black would put on a concert during the holidays.
“I would make my family sit around the fire at Christmas while I sang Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire,’” he said.
As Black got older, he discovered punk rock, which led him to the guitar.
“My brothers and I had a computer with a speaker set up in the basement, and I would look up punk rock songs and found that the guitar had a flash to it,” he said. “It fits every mood. It could be melodic. It can be driving. It can be the groove. If I’m pissed I’ll play guitar. If I’m sad I’ll play guitar. It does everything, and that versatility was a big part of it.”
Things came to a head when Black’s family moved cross country from the east to Park City.
“I was 16, and we stopped at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, (Ohio),” he said. “Seeing all the history and artifacts was really cool, but the thing that was most relatable was seeing the lyrics of ‘American idiot’ on a yellow scrap of paper written by Billie Joe Armstong from Green Day, who was my favorite growing up. There were lines cut out and this crappy chicken-scratch handwriting all over it, and I realized I could try to do that, too. And that lit a fire in me.”
During his time at Park City High School, Black played lacrosse, his favorite sport, and enrolled in the now-defunct Granger School of Music to hone his creative chops.
“Creativity, I think, is just as important as eating or drinking water,” he said. “Everyone, even if they don’t consider themselves creative, are creative. I mean, your thing is accounting, you have a specific way in your brain to get the numbers to line up at the bottom of the Excel spreadsheet.”
Creativity is also how humans progress and explore new territory in thought and experiences, Black said.
“It’s always been in me, whether it was a new move or dodge in lacrosse or a different way trying to finesse a sleepover at a friend’s house growing up,” he said. “So, for me, it’s been so fun to go from me sitting for hours alone in my room daydreaming about being on stage and inspiring other people to doing it with a group of people who chose to come together.”
Coming home to play a gig in Park City is one of Black’s favorite things to do as a musician.
“The last time we did it was in 2022, and it was really for my mom’s birthday,” he said. “She is the biggest Saint Luna fan, and she swears it’s not because I’m her son. So, I’ll choose to believe her on that.”
This time, Black is looking forward to playing for fans who have never had the chance to see the band live.
“There are a lot of people who have been following us online but haven’t been to one of our shows,” he said. “So it will be really fun.”
Of course, Black can’t wait to reconnect with friends and fans who have already seen Saint Luna live.
“It’s special to me to create memories in my hometown and mesh that with some of my best friends from high school,” he said.
Saint Luna and Mashalluv
- When: 7 p.m., Friday, Aug. 23
- Where: Premiere Park City, 268 Main St
- Tickets and information: linktr.ee/saintlunaband
- Web: instagram.com/saintlunaband