THEY say you miss 100 per cent of the shots you do not take: Luna the Professor are loading up.

But do not mistake them for complacent; this is a band who have the confidence and talent to seize their own moments. The Wishaw four-piece have been hard at work since making their breakthrough in 2018 and have followed-up with Sing for your Supper this month.

Every milestone they pass simply reiterates the importance of taking their shots. The band’s singer Johnny Irwin takes this mentality into the music.

“Nothing will happen if you don’t go for it,” he tells The Weekender. It is a philosophy which drives the young band and has already paid dividends.

Armed with this creed, there is no task too difficult and no goal too far from reach. It takes the pressure off; the band can concentrate on making music that means something to them without having to make compromises.

Growing up in the shadow of the old Ravenscraig steelworks has been formative. All those who lived through the downfall of the “Steelopolis” take nothing for granted in the battle to make ends meet. Here, there is little room for any sort of self-aggrandising and it is this authenticity that beats the heart of Luna the Professor.

Johnny continues: “We’re just boring, bland boys playing some music, to be honest. We’re not trying to be anything. Being real is important to us. Everyone knows where we are coming from and what we are saying – it’s not make-believe.

“We know how it is. A lot of people try to make their lives into something it’s not. That sort of thing is all over social media, especially during this lockdown. You look at Instagram and there’s folk making out their life is so much more than it is, and that makes other people feel bad about their lives. But it’s all about perception.”

Sing for your Supper enjoyed a few thousand streams in its first week with a video – which pays homage to the closure of Ravenscraig – released today (Friday, April 24). The track came together following a conversation between Irwin and his mother, after the young singer had wrapped up his studying.

He says: “I was doing music at college and when I finished, I turned to my mum and asked her what am I supposed to do now? She just told me: ‘Go and sing for your supper’.

“We were doing the band stuff and she meant that we should just go for it. When she said sing for your supper, I just thought that sounded alright, so I went upstairs and wrote a wee tune.

“That’s one part of it,” he adds. “The other side is that my papa used to work at the Ravenscraig Steelworks. Back in the day they all got paid off and there was a lot of unemployment in the local area, and there was a bit of saying going about – go sing for your supper.”

The track itself is not without its own sense of defiance. It pays tribute to all those who braced the economic fallout at that time and rose again. It is, in a sense, a call to arms – something that clearly resonates with many during the current pandemic.

Though still in its early stages, the band have been encouraged by the reaction to Sing for your Supper in recent days.

Irwin reflects: “Response to the track has been good. Those who were listening to the older stuff seem to like it and the people that are listening to us for the first time are giving good feedback as well.

“A few folk have been saying they love it and there’s nothing better than that – when people dig our songs, it’s a good buzz. So we are definitely happy with the response.”

Sing for your Supper is available to steam now, with the video now on YouTube.