Interview conducted on July 15, 2006 at the State Theatre in St. Petersburg, FL.  Interview with Logan of You in Series by Matt Steinhauer and Nick Zimmer.

First off can you state your name and what you do in the band?
My name is Logan and I play guitar in You in Series.

Where does the name You in Series come from?

It came from a piece that I wrote in a creative writing course in college. So its just like post it notes and the way we live right now and don’t carry too much of your past with you.

What did you go to college for?
I was in college for initially for business which I think everyone goes for. I think if I went back now it would be more for non fictional writing.

Where did you go?
I went to UNLV. I live in in Las Vegas so it was like a half hour from my house.

What’s it like living in Vegas?
It’s like every other town. Like I never really go to the strip that much unless I have relatives in town.

How was the recording process for Outside We Are Fine?
It was awesome. We wrote the album in like three months we got home from tour and we just started writing. So it was right from September til the end of December, so I guess that’s four months. We did the recording process the entire month of January and we did that at solid day studies . It was awesome, really cool

Do you have any specific writing methods?
No, I think that like we write differently than most bands where melodies come after lyrics are written and you kind of blend it in. sometimes me and critter, the other guitar player will jam, but a lot of the times someone will just come up with a riff and then base off that. On this record, we’ve never written a record before. Like we had demos out before with like five or six songs. I think we tried everything. Like what kind of songs we wanted to write and to make each song unique so we didn’t write the same songs and same structure. We tried to switch it up a little.

Have you done a video yet?
Yeah we just did. We just got the first cut. We shot it in upstate New York. We did it with Fashion Bleeds, they did Straylight Run. It was like a thirteen hour day. It was tiring.

How did you guys hook up with Equal Vision?
We played a show March 4th. I always remember this, March 4, 2005 with Versus the Mirror who are on Equal Vision and a guy from EVR was there watching them and I guess he was interested. We were talking with other labels but EVR was what we wanted. They’re great people.

How is this tour going so far?
It’s fucking awesome. No show has been a disappointment. Everyone in every band is amazing. They’re all great guys and performers. I think if I was a person going to shows I would be stoked about this show. It’s a really good line up. Every band has there own elements but it’s fucking good.

What is the meaning behind Outside We Are Fine?

The simple way to put it is that we all have issues. This album is about like six months of my life. I like albums that are time bases because your never the person you were six months ago. If you are, then you’re not progressing. Then you need to reevaluate things.

Who has been your favorite band to share the stage with so far?
Circa Survive. If anyone has seen them on a tour where they’re the supporting act, it’s amazing. It’s seriously like watching The Grateful Dead or Zeppelin with the way they do their lights and how they play. It’s something special and I’m psyched to be part of it.

Coming out of Vegas are there any bands that we should be looking for?
There’s this band called Away Station. They sound kind of Keane-ish. I don’t really listen to a lot of new music. I guess a lot of people think it’s a thriving scene because of The Killers, who supposedly came out from here and got big and then Panic at the Disco. There’s a band called The Higher. They just signed to Epitaph Records. It’s more like pop rock.

If you could play a show with any three artists, past or present, who would they be?
Radiohead, Death Cab For Cutie, and probably Muse. Radiohead and Death Cab are my two favorite bands by far.

The artwork for the cd is sweet. Who did the design for that?
Actually some guy. He did some of our shirts. Right when we got done recording he got into it. We gave him a couple of tracks and then we went to his house for like a week and just worked on it. It was kind of rushed at the end and I wish it wasn’t. It’s just some guy. His name is Jake. I don’t even know his last name.

What are your plans for after this tour?
After this tour we go home for like five days and then do the last ten days of Warped Tour. After that we’re going out with Brazil and As Tall As Lions for like three weeks. Then hopefully we’ll be on tour with Mute Math. That will take us into November. December is like a dead month for music.

Have you ever done anything like Warped Tour before?
There’s this thing in Vegas that we always do called Extreme Thing. It’s a huge festival, like this year they had Hoobastank, Avenged Sevenfold, and Eighteen Visions play. We played like this soul music festival in San Francisco and I think it’s actually called Soul Fest. We played that two years ago. Those are really the only festivals that we’ve played.

When you guys aren’t on tour what do you do for fun?
I’m writing a book. I read a lot. I was never a big family person. I’m always off doing my own thing. My parents were very lenient. I have been hanging out with my mom a lot though. I don’t know why. It sounds lame but I hang out with my mom and my girlfriend. Those are my two rocks in my life.

Before you did this did you have any other jobs?
I worked for the government for like three years. I worked at Hooker Dam. I was an independent contractor. I was working with people like three times my age and I don’t want to be that. We were going on tour, doing DIY tours playing like two hundred shows a year. We were always out, so when we started to play bigger shows I was done. I didn’t even give my two weeks notice. It came down to doing what I want to do or working here. I just had it one day and said I’m done.

Where did you grow up and how did you guys hook up for the band?
I grew up in Ohio. I lived in Medina. I grew up there for thirteen years. One member is from Texas, one is from Hawaii or California. Our singer is the one the only one who’s lived in Vegas his entire life. Under this line up we’ve only been together a year. We have been together for the most part for two and a half, three years and had a different name and we toured a lot. We were in other bands but we formed in Vegas.

Do you have any religious affiliations or other strong beliefs?
I wouldn’t consider myself Agnostic. If someone wants to teach me how they feel about it I’m down to listen. Other than that I don’t really know. I have a really good connection with myself. I am trying to guide myself.

How would you describe the rest of your band?
Goof balls. We’re just in our own little world. I’d say Cheyne our drummer is in his own little world. More so than anyone else I’ve ever met in my life. Critter is pretty reserved. Jacob is too forward. I’m too honest and Kyle is somewhere between all of that.

Are there any shocking values about yourself or the band?
I used to play national tennis. I think Cheyne is one of the most musical people I have ever met. He’s a drummer but he can do anything. Construction makes sense to him. He builds everything of ours. He’ll build cases in like an hour.

Do you have any last words to the readers?
Thanks a lot for doing this. I think we’re really new to the interview thing. We’re a very fresh band. I could see doing interviews getting old but can’t see getting sick of doing something you believe in so much. I think what you guys do is awesome. You get the insight on it. Thanks a lot. It really means a lot, it’s fucking awesome that you want to take the time to do this.

 

                                            

 

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