SMASH MAG

YouInSeries...on record about the record.

By: Homie

Take things back in the Las Vegas local music scene to 2003. The crop of local talent was tremendously promising…but oh so young. Older acts from the Negative Ponies to One More Weekend were in the process of changing the sound of local music while novice acts like Jr. Anti-Sex League, Rich Tradition, September Star, Yesterdays Tomorrow and Brown Eyed Deception were already seizing opportunities to perform at the famous Huntridge Theater, growing long tired of waiting for the veteran acts to pass the torch. Much to the dismay of many local music enthusiasts, that passing never occurred. Instead, the younger acts took to both the web and (more importantly) the road, in search of success only accomplished by a select few in Sin City. Long before the success of the Killers or Fall Out Boy’s discovery of Panic! At the Disco…this was the Las Vegas success story.

YouInSeries, originally named Brown Eyed Deception by front man Kyle Lobeck, was initially received with more smirks and smart comments spun off of the groups first name than with the open arms of a loving group of local musicians and supporters. After a rapid rise in popularity, the band left to Southern California’s LoveJuice studios where they recorded what are now referred to as the “Sway” demos. Fresh out of the studio, inspired by their new opus, the group took to the highways, finding the same truck stops, rest areas and presumably…car troubles, discovered by traveling acts every day.

Much has changed in today’s Las Vegas music scene. From the success of varying groups to the one off success stories of local musicians who’ve found success playing in already established national acts, the stories and thought process of the Vegas valley today is a far cry from the place that birthed Brown Eyed Deception. But with time comes change for both the city and the band. Upon signing to EVR, the group felt a name change was necessary after no more than 2 original members were still with the group, hence the name change to YouInSeries. “We just wanted a fresh start after signing to Equalvision.” Lanning continues, “I think that YouInSeries is to live in the moment. Too many people look too far ahead or too far back. Put yourself in a series of events. As cliché as that sounds, that’s how I got to YouInSeries. It’s kind of a post-it note to live in the moment for me.” Says guitarist Logan Lanning as he goes hellomoto with Smash on the new record, and how things are going down for YIS.

“Right now we’re doing mostly out of state stuff. We’re trying to get people to pre-order the cd,” says Lanning. The group’s debut full length “Outside We Are Fine” comes out on May 30 th, but the group is working as though it’s already product to move. “We’re playing a few shows, mostly out of town, then Extreme Thing.” But wait there’s more, “then we’re waiting to hear back on playing in a few months with bigger named acts like Anberlin. We are confirmed though for the Circa Survive, Receiving End of Sirens, and Days Away tour that starts June 30 th in Jersey and then it goes all the way down to Texas.” Excited for what’s to come, Lanning takes note of what has gone by the wayside in order to get to where the group is today. “Just to be honest, we were really blessed by our parents. They bought us food. But any jobs, any school anyone was gonna go to-this was like 3 months. We were just like ‘this is what we’re gonna do right now.’”

The group made their way from Las Vegas all the way to the Atlantic and back but it was one show in particular that would change the stories the group will tell their grandkids years from now. YouInSeries had made friends with many groups in many of the cities they’d played. One such band happened to be the group Versus The Mirror who was in the midst of their negotiations with Equalvision records the night they asked YouInSeries to open for them in Arizona. “It was weird cause we played, and the entire time I was trying to find somebody and I don’t know what the typical record label guy looks like. I don’t know who’s who but Courtney (Morgan, the groups Manager) knew who it was. We played and he (Equalvision’s Dan Sandshaw) liked it.” Sandshaw was particularly interested in the group’s first two songs of the set, Zeus and Time to Point Fingers, two songs that oddly enough, have never been released on cd. The group and the label continued to stay in touch, finally signing paperwork and making the union official in November of 2005.

“We’ve always been such big fans of EVR and the bands they put out. We’ve always heard good things and we still hear good things about those guys.” Lanning and co. are still very much in control of their own destiny though as the label and those that surround the group continue to make sure that they’re in the know of all operations YouInSeries. “The thing I learned this week is how much a publicist can help you. I mean, when you think about it, there’s the band, the label and your manager and your booking agent you know? But then there’s all these other people that are a part of your team like internet networking, publicity, TV marketing, there’s just all this stuff. Now we’re talking about doing a video in June. It’s just awesome because then you get a full taste for the business instead of just playing the show. You begin to learn where the money goes, how much you owe, what you’re achieving, when its all laid out on paper its nice to look at. At an indie level we can still continue to make money.”

YouInSeries is a success story by all measures in their hometown and in just a few short months, the latest Las Vegas export will be in the hot hands and on the sharp tongues of rock fans everywhere. Asked about what’s gone into the new record, Lanning says “I know everybody’s musical influences and tastes have changed completely like 180. I know Radiohead was a huge influence on me through this writing process. I just love minor to major changes, key changes and the mood. I think that’s what we really wanted to convey was a really moody record. It’s not like a concept or themed album where you feel like you go through part of the person that wrote it, but more along the lines where at the end of it I’d rather you feel like you went through an experience rather than just 10 songs.”

While Smash Magazine has had the pleasure of hearing the entire record (see the assessment in our review section) you can log on to both the groups myspace and purevolume pages or their website youinseries.com and check out a handful of the latest tracks online before the records release. “I hope our album grows on people as well as other albums have grown on me and keeps us able to do this. I really like this record and I hope it reaches a lot of people.”