Ready for some Lights Out Dancing?

I think I have a weakness for colored skinny jeans, and I may not be the only one. The boys pulling off this awesome look are Kyle, Scott, Danny, Mike and Ryan, or, Lights Out Dancing. 

These Minneapolis boys have been playing sweet music together since 2007 and came together to make an awesome EP "All the Places You Will Go". Dr. Seuss reference anyone? And I love it! The album came around from people who worked with such class acts as All Time Low, Sing it Loud and several others, with nothing but great compliments for these guys!

I recently exchanged a few emails question and answer form with Mike, one of the two guitar players in the group, the other being Mr. Scott. The most random things were talked about from their favorite treats, and a few love obsessions for Riesens (I completely understand where they are coming from, they're addictive!) to some of the crazy venues they've played! These musicians are some very focused, determined guys and it is definitely paying off for them!

How did the name Lights Out Dancing come about? Has it ever changed before?

Oh god, well we always say it's a dirty joke. It really came from everyone in the basement of Ryan and Kyle's house picking three words off the news ticker, and whoever came up with the best explanation won. We like the name because to us, it represents the fear in everyone that they're horrible at dancing, so Lights Out Dancing would be not giving a damn anymore about expressing yourself in a way you might feel stupid about.

What is your favorite album of 2009 thus far?

I honestly don't even know what albums have come out in 2009, lemme google this. I hope me googling it makes the interview, man, google didn't even come back with anything. I'm sure Ryan would say Day To Remember, and I'll just say I'm excited  for upcoming releases!

How do you go about the song writing process? Does one person write the songs or is it more of a collective process?

Song writing really is a fun process for us. Normally there will be a catalyst, a great set of lyrics, an awesome rhythm, an undeniable melody, and then we'll all put in our own ingredients into the pot. Then we move thirty yards away and watch it explode, then we hash over the remains for a few weeks, and by the end, have a song. When we were writing 'Oh, the places You'll Go', we locked ourselves and the producer  in a room for 36 hours to rewrite all the lyrics to make them exactly what we were looking for. We left to go to the bathroom, food was delivered, and I left for two hours to quit my job, THAT WAS IT.

Who are your major musical influences?

We all have our own quirks and guilty pleasures, and the timeless bands we love. Scott and I are huge fans of the Eagles and Jimmy Buffett, Ryan and Kyle love Marvin Gaye and Danny would be upset if I didn't say The Format, but we all came from the same pop punk fueled background. We were raised on late nineties Warped Tour and bands like Blink, The Starting Line, Sugarcult, Midtown and as we got older, bands like Cartel, Motion City Soundtrack, The Rocket Summer, All Time Low, Mae, Hit the Lights, AVA and of course Honor Bright! 

If you could choose any three acts to tour with, who would they be?

That's an impossible question, do I go gigantic, because the answer, hands down is Doctor Dre, Blink 182 and Kiss. 

Who are you listening to at the moment?

Honestly? 'In The Air Tonight' by Phil Collins because I saw Mike Tyson playing air drums to it and had to listen to it.

Do you ever play covers? If so, which ones?

Funny you should ask, we JUST did our first cover EVER at the show on May 2nd. We did Love Story by Taylor Swift, look for it on YouTube.

Special note, definitely adding it at the bottom of this post! :)

What are you up to right now, music wise?

Right now, we've been writing a lot of new material, possibly for a new Cd? Who knows!

What's the most unusual place you have played or recorded at?

Well other than the fact our CD was recorded in Scott's basement, we have played a couple of house parties in dimly lit basements that smell like cat pee, a double wide trailer converted into a bar in the mountains of Tennessee, thanks Martin, and a roller rink, I really can't think of anything to answer this question with. 

Well it's an amazing answer, loved every bit of it! Some crazy places going on there!

What's your favorite snack/treat?

We're candy junkies! Danny and I have fought over Riesens before, people bring us funfetti cupcakes, blow pups, jolly ranchers and on this last tour, the most glorious thing I've ever seen,we bought a giant (like a one and a half gallon) Tupperware bin and filled it with sour patch kids...we're just beating the hell out of our pancreases!

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The guys just played a show last night with Honor Bright and will be playing again tomorrow night, they are definetly keeping busy and are playing some shows arount the area of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Chicago in the upcoming weeks!

Also, here's the video I talked about before when the guys did a cover of a definite guilty pleasure of mine, 'Love Story'. Come on, it's not just me! It's definetly come up a lot over time!