If you’ve never heard of LA based band LANY, well now you have. After surprising Paul Klein, Les Priest and Jake Goss with a fresh packet of double chocolate Tim Tams all the way from Oz – which by the way they loved, even describing them as starting off “real buttery but then finishes with a nice buttery overtone” (watch out Masterchef) – the trio really opened up to us about their music and other such fun things about themselves.
We’re fresh off a 14-hour flight from Melbourne and feeling very jetlagged. Do you guys have any tips to conquer jetlag?
Paul Klein: We got really messed up, well I did, when we went to London so I don’t have any tips. I’m still trying to figure it out.
Jake Goss: If we land in the afternoon we try to stay and not sleep directly after, maybe take a nap but a short one.
What do you want your Australian fans to learn about you guys as individuals and also as a band?
PK: Recently we got a write up in Rolling Stone and that was pretty cool, but I don’t want people to think they’ve missed the boat like, ‘Oh they’re big now,’ ’cause we’re not. At the end of the day, we’re still very new and growing an audience. Everybody wants to know about a band and be a fan so I don’t want people to think we’re past that stage.
We’ve noticed a large growth in your music from your first EP to kinda. What was the choice behind that directional change? Genre fusion is obviously something that’s very highly used these days. Is that a way for you guys to expand your music to a wider audience?
Les Priest: I don’t know if we’ve put a lot of thought into it.
JG: We just kinda try stuff. If we have a new instrument we see what is or isn’t LANY. There’s a new song (I’m not gonna say what) but Paul wrote this guitar part when he was 17 and he played it for me one time and I was like, ‘That is the most legendary thing I’ve heard in my life.’
PK: I think from the beginning, we didn’t know what genre we were ’cause we could already hear so many differences in our music, but we didn’t let it bother us; we just sounded like a bunch of different kinds of stuff. We moved out of our first one bedroom apartment where we made our first two EPs and got a bigger house, where Jake could bring his drums up and we bought a couple of new keyboards and got the guitars out a little bit more.
How were the neighbours?
PK: Oh God. [Laughs] We live in a canyon in Malibu with about five or six homes. There’s a guy across the street, Kip, he’s a sweet guy, but he has a dog called Travis that actually makes more noise than us. He’s the worst. We have two little houses on the same property and I left my front door open cause I like to get some breeze coming through and I was in the shower and the dog came into my shower and I freaked out!! I was like, ‘Dude get out of here.’
Do you guys have pets?
PK: No we don’t.
JG: I grew up with them, though. Eventually yes, I’d love to. We do joke about hilarious dog names though like Travis, Todd and Kyle. Kyle is number one. [Laughs]
Back to your first EP, I Loved You. What is the proudest moment off that? What was the tone you wanted to set as your debut?
PK: We had just put out sets of songs; “Walk Away” then “ILYSB” and “BRB”.
LP: That was the first EP written in our apartment in Hollywood.
PK: It’s not that we don’t care but we just don’t get heady about it, we’re big on instincts.
Let’s talk tour. It’s a hectic European and US tour which is very exciting. What do you want to get out of it?
PK: I used to walk on the treadmill, which sounds hilarious, but it was my choice of fitness. [Laughs] I used to think about playing Paris and so now that’s kinda cool. I always imagined holding a French flag. I’m gonna do it.
JG: We work out at the same YMC and I’d be like, ‘What stage are you imagining right now?’, and we’d put ourselves there.
What would you guys be doing if you weren’t LANY or musos?
PK: In high school, I wanted to be an orthodontist. My mum was like, ‘Paul you like nice things, you’re great with children, you’re very smart; you should be a dentist or orthodontist’. I was like, ‘Yeah – that sounds great, Mum.’ I actually shadowed my orthodontist in my softmore year of high school. I did one day and I never went back.
JG: I’d keep playing drums. It’s what I did in Nashville. I’d always say my dream gig was John Mayer so I’d keep playing and the ultimate dream was to be in a band, so I’m living it.
LP: I’d probably still be delivering mail. I worked at the post office at the uni we went too for way too long.
PK: But Les is like, one of Nashville’s best kept secrets. He mixes and engineers everything for us. He’s been hiding so many good beats.
Now for some funsies! You’re about to go on tour. Who’s got the worst habit and what is it?
PK: It’s probably me. I’m the worst. I guess I used to wake Jake up.
JG: I didn’t need an alarm. All I’d hear was ‘bfffft’. [Laughing]
PK: It’s special, man.
JG: Sometimes I’d do call and response.
If you were a trio of dips, who would be what flavour?
JG: I’d crush guacamole.
LP: I’m chilli sauce.
PK: I’m salsa.
Do you guys have your eyes on any unearthed artists doing some great things right now?
PK: I love this kid Matt DiMona. He just did a remix of “Bad, Bad, Bad”.
LP: He’s really talented and awesome.
JG: My wife just put out some music. She’s unbelievable. Her name is Rye and the song is called “Wildlife”.
PK: It’s about how wild life is with Jake. [Laughs]
We’ve got some word play with your song titles. “You Are Fire” – have any of you burnt yourself in a bad way?
LP: I had this tough summer job once and I worked on roofs of old businesses, so we had to spread hot tar on the roof. I spilt hot tar on my hand and burnt it really, really badly.
“Quit” – first job you ever had?
PK: Grocery store. I was 14 years old.
JG: Walmart Pharmacy Warehouse job sorting stuff.
LP: Subway. Sandwich artist.
“Where The Hell Are My Friend’s” – worst place or a time when your friends bailed on you?
LP: My whole life. [Laughs]
PK: In high school. We got out of the car at a huge park and it was pitch dark. My friends just left me and I was freaking out. They came back half an hour later.
JG: No one’s ever really done that. I’ve got pretty good friends.
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Find out more about LANY on Facebook HERE or on their official website, HERE!
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