One evening three months ago, Paul Klein was riding his Vespa through the streets of Los Angeles.
When he woke up in an ambulance 20 minutes later, Klein found he had serious injuries.
I pretty much broke my face.
Klein onstage in Perth, Australia, on Sept. 17Matt Jelonek/Getty Images
Im thankful that Im not missing any fingers or any limbs, and that Im not paralyzed.
The first emotion I felt when I woke up was thinking that God loves me, Klein says.
LANY released their fifth album,A Beautiful Blur, last September.
He spoke about beating death, bouncing back quickly, and finding God again.
How are you feeling these days?Im feeling great.
I got cleared for physical therapy around 10 days ago.
Ive been on the StairMaster a lot trying to warm up the knee.
You havent said much about the accident other than what was in your Instagram post in June.
What actually happened that day?I go to a gym a couple miles down the road.
I did a little workout and was coming home.
It was a Thursday evening, June 6, like 8:45 p.m.
I was just coming through the intersection of La Brea and Santa Monica, going north on La Brea.
I remember squeezing my brakes.
Nothing is slowing down the way we need to.
At the last second I let go.
My dad rides a motorcycle; I always heard that people get pretty hurt when they brace for impact.
I was unconscious for maybe 20 minutes.
I dont know who called the cops.
I dont know who checked on me.
I just know that I woke up in the ambulance and got rushed to the hospital.
I broke my shin bone, tore my calf, and my shoulder was hanging on by one ligament.
Im thankful that Im not missing any fingers or any limbs, and that Im not paralyzed.
I dont have any memory loss other than that moment.
Its just a bizarre feeling.
I have helmets, but I wasnt wearing one.
I got really close to death, but nothing about my physical ability is going to be altered forever.
Im just so thankful that I lived through that.
How do you think youve changed?Obviously I have a very new perspective on life now.
I have a lot to be alive for, to stay alive for.
I cant do pushups, which really sucks, because my shoulder hurts so bad.
I know it sounds silly, but I cant do even 10 pounds.
I might need to have surgery eventually.
I feel like I was caught in midair and laid down.
A couple days after the accident, I had this bruise across my thighs, a straight purple line.
I was like, Oh, those are handlebars.
Im here for a reason, for purpose.
God still loves me.
Have you talked to the driver?I know who she is.
I havent spoken to her personally.
She had the bare-minimum policy with Geico.
Are you going to pursue any legal action?No.
I saw some artists and industry executives send their well wishes after the announcement.
Hes been like a big brother to me ever since we went on tour with him.
He was one of my heroes growing up.
He reached out to me.
Did you take him up on that?We had my manager reach out to other people, too.
I dont ever want John Mayer to be inconvenienced by me [chuckles].
Why did you go back to touring so quickly?Theres this guy Steve.
Hes worked with us for years, and hes my best friend.
He and Rupert, our manager, came the next day and sat by the bed.
We hung out, we cried.
There was a part of me that was so delusional.
We were supposed to leave for a tour in a week.
And I was like, Theres a chance we can do it.
And then we realized that we were out of our minds.
But were playing the biggest shows of our lives.
Festival sets are a little bit shorter than a headline show.
You said youre now doing physical therapy.
He said if youve got to do that, then go do that.
If it did, that would result in a surgery.
What was the recovery like this summer?I spent a lot of time alone.
I went to Kansas.
Theres a songwriter named Nicolle Galyon who lives out there in a small town called Sterling.
In my mind, this is our job.
You go to work every single day.
We play around 100 shows a year, put out five albums in 10 years.
So its like, but in my mind, that is, like, this is what we do.
We make music, then we go play the music, and we come home and we make more.
Ill listen to my body if I think Im pushing it too hard.
