There’s no question to how amazing Bonnaroo was this year. The lineup was stacked, featuring Eminem, Muse, The Killers as the headliners, followed by dynamic acts like Kaskade, Bassnectar, Khalid, and arguably one of the best bands around, LANY. They’ve coined quite the iconic sound over the past two years, driven by 80’s esque drum & synth patterns, and of course the irresistible voice of Paul Klein that has created this electrifying atmosphere around everything they do.
Their self-titled debut album has enjoyed immense success, featuring hits like “ILYSB,” “Super Far,” and “Good Girls,” that has kept them touring the world over the past year and a half. 2018 has been quite the year for these guys, as they’ve headlined the biggest festivals, including Coachella, and recently enjoyed their very first performance on Bonnaroo’s main stage that was nothing short of spectacular.
We got to sit down with them right before they got on stage to talk about their highly anticipated sophomore album, ‘Malibu Nights.’ It was a very inspiring conversation and we think you’ll really get a lot from it too. Enjoy!
You guys posted about these next couple of shows being the “the end of the Rose.” Can you explain what you meant by that?
“We believe it’s a new era coming up. We love art, we kind of consider everything we do art, whether that’s the music we make, or the symbolism that we can weave in and out of what we do. For the longest time, the rose was symbolic of the first season/era of LANY. That era is coming to an end because we’ve been working on album 2 and it’s time to step into a new season.”
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Who are some artists you look up to or have had an influence on you as you’ve created ‘Malibu Nights’?
“We look up to bands like Coldplay and U2 because they’re bands that have always been able to stick around for a really long time. They always progress and evolve and those are the kinds of acts that we aspire to be like.
Most importantly, we never want to make the same album twice. We always want to grow and progress, which is what we hope we achieve with ‘Malibu Nights.'”
Is there anything (for example a person, a book, a podcast) that has inspired you guys right while working on this album?
“Right now we’re just devouring interviews. We love to listen to the way people think and talk, and love hearing their stories. We’ve also been really digging into podcasts, especially songwriter podcasts like “And The Writer Is.”
We’ve also gone on Youtube to watch old concerts, interviews, which has been very inspiring. There’s a lot to be inspired by.”
Can we expect any collaborations on this next album?
“Nope! Haha It’s just going to be us.”
How do you think Malibu Nights will progress you even further than your debut album?
“We just dug really deep. The songwriting is better. We are trying new things and new sounds. Jake actually plays so many drums on this album (laughs). Overall, we have been trying new stuff and we really believe this album is gonna be great. We feel like our reach is going to expand drastically. But we will talk more about it once we start releasing the songs.”
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photo via @Hannahmichelleweeks
