LANY is the young, fast-rising LA-based band making a huge name for themselves across the world, recognised for its infectious blend of pop and rock music. Paul Jason Klein and Jake Clifford Goss form the band, who recently performed in Bangkok for the fourth time: Vocalist Paul, 34, is on the left of the photo above, and drummer Jake, 35, is on the right.
Globe sat down with the duo on the first night of a two-concert run at Impact Arena. Their ‘A November To Remember’ tour was aptly named, with these two shows taking place on November 3 and 4 at the 11,000 capacity venue, packed full of fans who were desperate to hear hits such as ‘ILYSB’, ‘Malibu Nights’, and ‘Super Far’ being played live in Thailand.
During our exclusive interview Paul and Jake discussed their success, the band’s fame on social media, and their plans for the future. With more than 425 million streams of ‘ILYSB’ and 300 million ‘Malibu Nights’ streams on Spotify, LANY are destined for superstardom.
Paul – The food in Thailand is the best! We’ve played Bangkok a few times in the past but we have never really had an opportunity to go around and explore the city, just parts of it.
Jake – Today, we were able to visit some of the temples, see Wat Pho, and do some stuff we haven’t done before. The forthcoming shows are what we’re most looking forward to!
Paul – We followed our instincts from the very beginning when it comes to melodies…like tonight, I know that English isn’t anyone’s first language here, but it’s always surprising to us how many people make the effort to sing along during our shows all across the world.
Jake – We definitely keep in mind when we are writing songs that the melody should not only be memorable and have good vibes, but also be inviting for crowds to interact with.
Paul – Both myself and Jake have completely different influences, which helps us to be a bit unique. I grew up listening to John Mayer: his song ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room‘ might be one of the best tracks ever written from a lyrical standpoint. One band we both take huge inspiration from is Coldplay. The idea that they can go to any city anywhere in the world, and play to a stadium full of people, is something we find to be just incredible.
Paul – Oh yeah! It’s the fact that I can go into a grocery store 22 years later, check out my groceries, still hear their songs being played on speakers…well, that’s amazing! Hopefully it is a feat that LANY can achieve, with our most popular songs standing the test of time.
Paul – It wasn’t really meant to be a pandemic song. It actually came from one track titled ‘Til I Don’t’ which is also on ‘gg bb xx’ – while writing the song, we got to the bridge and I was like “Fly around the world, just to dance in the kitchen,” and it’s the final part to write. The guy I was working with started to lay down demos for a song, and he suggested we record ‘Dancing in the Kitchen’. This was the first time that I’d written two songs in a day.
Jake – ‘Super Far’ is the last song that we recorded for our debut album, and in reflection it was definitely a massive moment for us, to come across the finish line in the final hour.
Paul – I wrote this song with a guy named Ryan Tedder, the main vocalist of OneRepublic. Ryan Tedder and I are from the same place. Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ryan is like a big brother to me. It’s real interesting to have followed in his footsteps: he went to the same elementary school, high school and university that I did, and he’s someone I’ve always looked up to.
Paul – ‘ILYSB’ was the third song we ever wrote as a band. We’ll get asked questions like: “What’s our favorite song?” and it’s really hard to answer that. I think Jake and I are super aligned on the fact that ‘ILYSB’ is our most important song. It feels like it is a gateway into LANY – most of the time ‘I Love You So Bad’ was the first LANY song people got to hear.
Jake – So yeah it’s obviously very important, and it has been cool to see that in a span of 7 years it feels like a classic! We cannot imagine playing a show without having that song. It just fits in perfectly. So obviously, that kind of fell out of the sky, and it’s a great song to have in our catalogue. The reception from fans to it has been epic and we’re so thankful.
Paul – It feels awesome! You know, making music is not too dissimilar to buying someone a Christmas gift or writing a Christmas card and hoping that they like it. It would be a total lie to say that we don’t care if anyone likes it, or not. Of course, we make it with everyone in mind, hoping people connect with our songs so they’re a little less lonely in the world.
Jake – It’s crazy that we live in Los Angeles and we’re all the way in Bangkok, and people know who we are. That’s really cool and really mind-blowing for us! It’s a fantastic honor.
Paul – We were in the studio on any breaks from tour this year. There are about 27 songs which we wrote at the beginning of this year, before we chose the ones we thought were worth further consideration. Making new material with Mike Crossey has been great: he’s the tremendous producer who worked on our album ‘Malibu Nights’ from top to bottom.
Jake – So yeah, this is the first time back working with Mike on an album. It is great being in the studio with him again, and we feel it is a perfect match. We’ll spend December and January trying to finish the album, with the aim of dropping it late September next year.
