LANY: Soon To Be Your Latest Obsession

Lany - Best New Bands

Chicago – LA trio LANY creates catchy electro-pop with 80s vibes and hints of R&B. Catchy is perhaps an understatement; LANY is set to be your latest obsession! That is, unless you’ve already discovered the sexy, seductive tunes of LANY. Then you know and are in the know. When LANY first began releasing music online, in 2014, the secretive band became an underground sensation. The hype landed LANY on music blogs and sent record labels calling. The band got a manger, eventually signed with a label, and became a little less allusive.

LANY combines the cities of LA and NYC, complete with the long a. Lay-Nee. While NYC and LA have importance to the band’s frontman Paul Klein, LANY also symbolizes a band whose fresh sound stretches from coast to coast, appealing to fans from Cali to New York and all around the U.S. Not to say LANY’s music isn’t universal. Thanks to the good old internet, LANY has begun to grow a world-wide following, even selling out an upcoming show in London.

Paul Klein, Les Priest, and Jake Goss make up LANY. All three moved to Nashville to study music at Belmont University. Goss and Klein began their friendship after meeting in a YMCA gym. Goss introduced Klein to his roommate Les Priest. Eventually the three friends moved to Los Angeles, hence the LA, but Klein briefly moved to New York for modeling. He’s now back in LA, and all three are living together, making music in their apartment on Priest’s Dell. Though, given LANY’s current tour schedule, they’ll be calling the road home for most of 2016. 2015 did have the guys out on the road with Halsey and X Ambassadors, but this year brings even more touring, including a string of arena dates with Ellie Goulding and plenty of festival performances. In May, LANY will also be heading out across North America on The Make Out Tour, their very first headlining tour.

Last June LANY put out the self-released EP I Loved You, which caught the attention of Polydor Records. After signing with Polydor, LANY re-released all the songs that had been put out online, prior to I Loved You, added the hidden track “Kiss,” and recorded a stripped down version of “ILYSB,” which stands for “I love you so bad,” FYI. Klein contributed to the band’s album artwork, taking photos on film. Klein doesn’t consider himself a photographer but does see himself as a “visually driven and artistic” person. LANY puts a great deal of importance on visuals, feeling it enhances the music.

When it comes to the inspiration behind the music, lead vocalist Paul Klein isn’t one to explain his songwriting. Klein told Best New Bands he doesn’t like to “boil down” songs to his “singular experience because then it ruins it for everyone else.” However, Paul Klein has opened up about “Kiss,” calling it a song about liars: “It’s about people who don’t have the balls to tell you the legitimate truth. They’ll water it down, beat around the bush, spin it whatever way they have to. They’re probably scared to tell you what really happened or how they really feel because they ‘love you,’ but they actually just love themselves.” While Klein tends to tackle writing lyrics solo, the rest of the songwriting is collaborative, with Goss on drums and Klein and Priest working with multiple instruments. One the songs are done being recorded, Priest does all the mixing himself on his PC.

This March LANY will be supporting Ellie Goulding during her UK arena tour. This will be the first time the trio performs in such a large venue. The guys shared their excitement about playing on an arena tour with Best New Bands. Klein said playing in an arena is a dream come true, but he was quick to point out that “every show is important to us, no matter the size of the room.” All three give it their all, each and every performance. This is partly the reason LANY has amassed a devoted fan base in record time. In an iTunes review, one fan wrote: “The band played as if they sold out Wembley stadium.” Of course LANY’s online presence helps. The band has raked up an insane amount of SoundCloud plays. They have close to eighteen thousand followers on Twitter. This has lead to sold out shows, packed with fans singing along word for word.

LANY’s tour with Halsey taught the band “the power of a fan base.” Klein stressed how incredible Halsey’s fans are. He noted, “They were really good to her, but they were also really good to us” and “Obviously they are extremely loyal to Halsey, but they really embraced us.” Though LANY is still learning the in and outs of rising fame and fandom. According to Klein there are “two extremes: never talk to your fans or spend all day on Twitter, talking to your fans… We’re trying to live somewhere in between.” Given LANY’s talent, hard work, and dedication, it’s safe to say the trio will find a happy medium. It’s also safe to bet LANY will become your new musical infatuation.

LANY is currently on tour. A full list of LANY’s tour dates can be found on Facebook, including the U.K. arena tour with Ellie Goulding and The Make Out Tour. Make Out and I Loved You are available for purchase on iTunes.
Sarah Hess

Sarah Hess

At the age of six, Sarah Hess discovered True Blue by Madonna. This resulted in her spending hours in front of the bathroom mirror with a hairbrush microphone, belting out "La Isla Bonita" off key. Her love for music only intensified over the years thanks to her parents; her mother exposed Sarah to The Jackson Five and had her hustling to the Bee Gees, while her father would play her albums like 'Pet Sounds' and 'Some Girls' from start to finish, during which he'd lecture on and on about the history of rock & roll. Sarah would eventually stumble upon rap and hip-hop, then punk and alternative, and fall madly in love with Jeff Buckley and film photography.

After attending The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Sarah went on to study education at Dominican University, earning a degree in history. When not teaching, writing, or taking in a show, she is most likely to be found with a camera to her eye or hanging out in a darkroom.


You can follow Sarah Hess on twitter at @Sarahhasanh and view her music photography on her website: smhimaging.com.
Sarah Hess

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