LANY – if you haven’t heard of them, you might falter at the name. Lanee? Lahny?
Paul Klein, Charles Leslie and Jake Goss make up the band, which is an acronym for Los Angeles New York.
We had the pleasure of catching up with Klein as he was finishing up some final touches on merch, which he designs himself on a very outdated version of Photoshop. It’s important to the band that they stay genuine, so they write all their own songs, create their own designs and handle their social media accounts.
“When people are fans of LANY, they know that LANY is LANY,” Klein says. “I think that’s an essential part of the culture that we’re building.”
Although every band has a long, deep-rooted origination story, LANY’s popularity truly took off in 2015 when they began tours supporting artists like X Ambassadors, Troye Sivan and Halsey. Their debut album LANY spurred them further into the spotlight, with beats like “Super Far”, “Good Girls” and “ILYSB” quickly becoming quintessential bops no one could bring themselves to skip on Spotify.
LANY created Malibu Nights in a mere month or so, as Klein was going through the turmoil of a bad breakup.
“Life happens, shit happens,” Klein says on the album’s painful inspiration. “The best way I could come out of that would be to have a good body of work and art to show for it - I was determined to make the best out of a pretty terrible situation.”
Of course, Klein knows that when people listen to their album, it’s not all about his heartbreak and experiences.
“They’re not thinking ‘Oh Paul was thinking this or feeling that,’ they’re attaching their own story to what I’m saying, because everyone has gone through something like that before.”
Where their first album LANY was made in the middle of a kitchen on a Dell computer, the boys were determined to make something different the second time around. The band made a pact that they were not going to make the same album twice – and it certainly wasn’t going to be made on another Dell.
Just about every aspect of the album is completely different, in the approach, method and technique.
“In the first album, most of the songs started with a beat, that Jake or Les had built,” Klein
says. “Songs on Malibu Nights all started with piano.”
Klein is proud of how far they’ve come as songwriters and producers, determined to grow and get better. And with growth comes learning from those in the music community, who are now acknowledging LANY’s success and offering collaborations. Their newest single, set to come out late April, is with female popstar Julia Michaels.
“We’re starting to make more friends,” Klein laughs, a little giddy. “Some more people want to take sessions with me as a songwriter, I’m open to it all. I’m inspired by everybody.”
His dream collaborations include producing with Disclosure and inviting John Mayer to hop on guitar.
“I’d also just love to sit in a room with Frank Ocean, to be honest,” Klein admits.
From our conversation, it’s clear that though there are big things in LANY’s future, they’re planning on staying true to themselves. The only thing we can count on changing is Klein’s hair, which he most recently bleached platinum blonde on a whim and is now debating switching it up yet again.
“I just get so bored with hair,” Klein groans. “I hopped off a plane and was like, ‘Should I bleach my hair?’ and two hours later I was in a chair – foil everywhere.”
When he’s not making split-decisions in a hair salon, Klein is always writing – creating a new album that journals life as it comes along. He gave no hints as to what story their next album will tell, just that it’s going to be real.
“I think the fans that we have now trust that I’ll write from the heart,” Klein says. “Whatever that means or looks like, that’ll be where the songs come from.”
LANY is coming to EXPRES LIVE! on May 28 and is expected to attract a huge crowd.
It’s clear through Klein's work grind and constant dedication, this music isn’t just a way to climb the latter to fame. The culture he’s created around their music is something he holds fast to.
“You make time for the things you love, and I love LANY more than I love myself,” Klein says soundly. “I’ll always make time for it - that will never ever change.”
Mallory Arnold is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at marnold@cityscenemediagroup.com.
