Off Air

003: Lucca Dohr

Lucca Dohr loves you and isn’t afraid to say it
Words by Ava Mills
Photography by Adam Dowling

Earlier this month on October 6th, Lucca Dohr heled an album release concert at Heaven Can Wait in New York City, featuring performances by fellow artist Graham Riley and Lauren Juzang, in celebration of his new EP June Bug which came out just the day before. Here, after catching the final one and a half songs of his live performance, I interrogated Lucca about music, film, youth, love, and Jeff Buckley.

Who is Lucca Dohr?

Lucca Dohr is a twenty one year old musician from Los Angeles, California now studying Film and Video at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York (where I’m currently writing this piece from).

Here's what you need to know:
Full name: Lucca William Dohr
Star sign: Aries
Celebrity crush: Jessica Alba
Favorite album right now: “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles
Turn on: Talent
Turn off: Playing with your food at the dinner table (a little Demon at the Dinner Table for any pre existing Lucca Dohr fans who may be reading this)


What’s your favorite song off the new album? And most importantly, what’s your least favorite song off the new album?

L: My favorite song off the EP is a song called Never Told. It’s my favorite because I made it in 2021 and it’s the only track that’s fully self produced on the EP. There’s a lot of producers on the project that I’m really grateful for, but Never Told is my favorite just because it’s all me you know. Just me in my room with my guitar and my interface. It's really special and I feel like it’s the most authentic to who I am as a person.

In regards to his least favorite song Lucca said:

L: I think the emotional content of All That We Have is difficult to listen to. I wrote it during a time when I was very much in love with a person who I’m no longer in love with, so it’s hard to listen to that one.

What is the scariest part about sharing your art publicly? I really appreciate how vulnerable you are throughout the entire album, would you say this is your most personal piece to date? “Never told anyone” *I quote from Lucca’s song Never Told*, you’re telling us now.

L: This is my most refined project to date. I try to be personal about everything, but I think because of the aspect of having six songs in one section it makes it more personal. It’s a journey, an emotional journey. It’s not like one song and I move on with my day, it’s like if you want to sit with it, you really can and there’s a lot to dig into. 

It really is a story, like a linear story, which I thought was really cool.

L: If you follow the story then yeah, it’s definitely more vulnerable then I think anything else has been.

What does the title “June Bug” represent?

L: So June Bug is a couple different things, kind of like a triple entendre. Primarily, I dedicated it to my dog, who’s real name is June, who’s turning fifteen this year.

Oh my God, what type of dog is she?

L: She’s a mut, she’s a lot of things, but she’s an angel and she’s been there since I was seven. You know, dogs have short lives and I wanted to immortalize her in some sense.

Also I wrote all these songs during summer, most of them during summer last year of 2022, and I was experiencing emotions that weren't supposed to be happening in Summer, you know? The preparation of losing someone. Summer is supposed to be so vibrant and fun. So I figured like a stomach bug, right? So June Bug like the bug of summer.

There’s another personal reason, that I don’t know if I can exactly say, but there's an element to it that relates to just health in a relationship as well. Whether that's metaphorical or real.

What are the pros and cons of being in college, or even Pratt specifically, in regards to sharing art and music?

L: Everyone at Pratt is so talented, so in touch with their own creativity, and so supportive of creatives in general. I think tonight is proof in the pudding. Pratt kids want to support artists because they’re artists themselves. I couldn’t ask for more and I know for my friends it goes the same way. Supporting their creative endeavors is so essential to being a creative as well.

What was the moment when you realized you wanted to make music? You’re a Film major, you're a musician, what came first the chicken or the egg?

L: When I was a kid I played drums a lot. My Dad’s a musician so he put a drum kit in my room when I was like six and I just started playing. I enjoyed it, so music became a big part of my life from a really young age. It was until I was like fifteen or fourteen where I was just expressing myself through music and I didn’t tell anybody for like three years.

So honestly it wasn’t about sharing music, there was just a certain emotion I could only express through lyrics and through melodies, and I went with it. It really wasn’t until my friends, like Graham Riley who played tonight, was like “dude, you should share this” and I was like “what?” I never thought I would share my music. It honestly never occurred to me. Now it’s something I will continue, but really it’s just another way to express inner conflict.

When did you start sharing music?

L: I started sharing music when I was seventeen. I released my first couple of singles when I was a senior in High School.

For those who do not already, I would highly suggest giving Lucca Dohr a follow on instagram @luccadohr for updates on his music releases and upcoming shows like the one I attended here. He is also known to often share his film work and visual art, which I reference in my next question:

What's your art direction like? You make these illustrations, you post them on your instagram story, I see them all the time, but every single album cover has a picture of your face on it?

L: Stay tuned. There’s a pseudonym called “STK” which stands for “Sheerman Thunder Knuckles” and that character is very inclined to share his illustrations. I think with the illustrations, it’s a different sound.

As an Illustration major and graphic designer, I am highly critical of album artwork.



At this point in the interview, after moving to the outside of Heaven Can Wait, we were interrupted by fellow concert goers.

“Is this a recording device?” asks someone. 

“Yeah we’re doing an interview.” says Lucca.  

“I could either ask you a question or you ask me a question.” they joke to one another.

“You gotta book him before man, like this is my time” I say.

This was their question to Lucca Dohr:
If you were to define Heaven, regardless of whether or not you believe in it, what would it be? Like what is Heaven?

“You can also answer if you want” the concert goer said to me, during my interview.

“I think my Heaven would be like floating in a river of chocolate, staring at the sun, with all the people I love around me, and I’m just there eating the chocolate.” says Lucca. This then proceeded into a conversation about a chocolate Heaven until I began to proceed with my interview.

Do you want them here for this?

L: I don't care, they can hear what I have to say

One thing I gathered off my first listen to your album is your comfortability with the word love-

This is when the concert goer begins to interrupt me once more. “My heaven is a world where people respect women journalists” I say enthusiastically. “So if you want to ask me or him questions our instagrams will be linked in the bio and you can book a time” they begin to apologize “It was great to meet you, but I am in the middle of something” I say. We were not interrupted again following this. I was encouraged to include this exchange in this piece.

Would you consider any of these to be love songs? I’d argue that the entire album itself is a love letter to a dead relationship, would you agree?

L: For the first question with my comfortability with the word love, hey! When you’re in love use the word because it’s true, when you’re not in love maybe don’t use the word in your song because you’re not in love. I’ve been in love and love is great, but it also has its complications. It’s definitely a love letter to a relationship that went in a different direction. At the same time it's a bittersweet acceptance of it all. At the end of the day we’re young and being open to independence is important. I’m grateful for all the experiences I’ve had. At the same time, what's new is exciting.

Well, would you consider any of these to be love songs?

L: Absolutely, I think that We May Never Know is the most like love-y. Like hey, I’ll never know what this could’ve been, you know? That’s real because I think everyone feels that way with any connection, even if it’s like a month long thing, it’s like aw man what would’ve happened? They’re all love songs.



Do you think your Film work ties into your music? Do you think they have any relation at all? Which one do you honestly care more about?

L:  I think in regards to film, film is a medium that people are willing to listen to and watch when the artist has been working in the medium for thirtyfive, fourty, fifty, sixty years. So, I see film as a long long journey, and I see music as a long journey too, but unfortunately when it comes to being an artist in music in today’s industry, whether you want to admit it or not, there is an age range that I think labels and distribution companies and generally popular music favor.

Ah, that’s why you put your face on the album covers.

L: Yeah, sure!

(He responds while laughing.)

So it’s a little bit strange in that regard feeling a pressure to be like “oh I’m young therefore I should be releasing music as an artist” producing and songwriting that’s lifelong, but the reality is how many fifty year old artists emerge out of the blue? Not that many in the music world, but how many fifty year old filmmakers emerge, who have never been heard about, have a career that goes on? A lot.

So, I think my perspective is that both are so meaningful to me. Music I feel a bit more tapped into at the moment because I know there is an inherent sensitivity to time, but that doesn’t mean I will ever stop making music. That also doesn’t mean that I don’t care about film. They express two different parts of myself, you know? Some things that can be expressed through images can’t be expressed through words and some things that can be expressed through chords can’t be expressed through movies.

Have you ever incorporated your own music with your film?

L: I would like to score more of my work. I’ve done it a few times and am definitely interested in exploring that further.

In regards to the song Made Your Mind, why paris?

Lucca’s new song off June Bug entitled Made Your Mind includes the lyrics “We’ll meet again in the streets of Paris, on and off again, I can’t stand it”.

L: A lot of the EP is about finalization and unrealistic expectations. All That We Have, that tracks basically pointing out the fallacy of everything, about how these people, your first love or whatever, you think that you’re going to spend the rest of your lifetime together and you’re not going to unfortunately. So, Paris is romantic and it’s idealized and it’s the city of love. Why not amp up the sappiness, right? And also you know, I wanna go to Paris, why not?!

What I’ve been telling everyone Lucca Dohr, is that I think you need to lean more into the Jeff Buckley thing.

L: Jeff Buckley is a huge influence of mine. Rest in Peace Jeff Buckley. I would totally lean in some more. A lot of the songs that I’ve been writing recently I have been messing around with some structures chord wise that are definitely more in that vein.

What do you think was left unsaid on the album, if anything at all?

L: What was left unsaid is for the next project.

Do you have anything else you’d like to say to the people reading at home? Your last testament?

L: Here’s my truth: I make this music or film or illustrations like we talked about, I make it for other people at the end of the day. At the end of the day it’s really not for myself. At the end of the day, it’s just an opportunity to share some form of inner conflict or love and to share it with you guys. For you guys to resonate and to escape into it. That’s it, it’s really nothing more than wanting to connect with everybody who's willing to take the time. I think that speaks for a lot of artists in general and a lot of Pratt kids and I’m so grateful to have an opportunity to be an artist, to express myself, to share my work, and if people like it? Great! If they don’t like it? That’s okay. At the end of the day we’re all just yearning for some form of expression and some form of connection.”.

This final statement from Lucca surprised me, as he had earlier described his origins in making music were more personal and to himself. I think that truly says something about what it means to be so deeply integrated into an artist community, such as Pratt, and being encouraged and motivated by those around you to share your work. I’m glad that Lucca has found that community and I’m honored to be a part of it. That night, Heaven Can Wait was filled with friends and fellow film students showing up to support, enjoy, and celebrate. June Bug is beautiful, raw, hopeful, heartbreaking, and a true time capsule of feeling that Lucca has now solidified into history that is almost horribly relatable and honest. I want to sincerely thank Lucca for being so compliant, open, and kind in allowing me to pick his brain for the evening.

So until his next release, all I have to say is Good, Goodbye.