Glassboro’s music scene has been rising over the last few years, helping pave the way for aspiring musicians to begin their musical endeavors with open arms. Guitarist Liz Rohr is one of these musicians who has taken the scene by storm with her band Luna.
Rohr is a freshman here at Rowan majoring in Music Industry with a concentration in Music Technology. Outside of being a guitarist, she plays trumpet for the concert band here at Rowan, and she was a part of a jazz band, orchestra, wind ensemble, and marching band during her high school years at Cherry Hill East.
Rohr’s journey as a guitarist began in the fifth grade when she got her first guitar for Christmas that year.
“I harassed my parents about getting me a guitar for Christmas, and they got me one of those acoustic guitars from Target, which wasn’t the right size. I started trying to figure it out and then I was like ‘this sucks’ so I quit,” Rohr said. “Then I hit seventh grade and I was like ‘never mind, I’m going to learn guitar’ and I started learning through YouTube videos and stuff like that.”
She first discovered the music scene here through a friend, and she went to a show in the area during her senior year of high school. The conception of Luna came through Rohr and lead vocalist (and girlfriend) Maddie Reddy, who decided over the summer that they should start a band here on campus.
“We were talking a lot about how she wanted to start a band, how I wanted to start a band and we were like ‘We should start a band’, so we got to school and we met Jeremy (Vrablic) at a Rowan Alt Meeting and I met Matt (Venez) in class.”
Together, Luna has already performed at various shows around the Glassboro Area, and have already released their debut single REM, which is out on Spotify to stream. Rohr says that their next goal is to complete their first album, which has already begun development.
“I really want to get an album completed, maybe by the fall. I’m currently mixing another song that we recorded, and we’ve got a few more plans to record and write more,” Rohr said. “And we also want to play in more places, like Philadelphia or New Brunswick.”
Rohr’s end goal outside of Luna is to work as a mixing engineer, and her dream is to own her studio. As for Rohr’s guitar of choice, she plays both a Fender Stratocaster and Fender Esquire, but she wants a Rickenbacker. Her main inspiration is Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler.
Rohr’s passion to see others perform and be allowed to perform here in the Glassboro music scene and Luna’s breakout one of the shining examples that will help lead the way for more aspiring musicians to begin pursuing their passions, as the community is very inclusive and welcoming for all.
“I think it’s cool seeing how many bands there are, how many are being started like all the time. I think it’s just cool that everyone gets a chance to show off their making and what they’re playing.”
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