It may have taken Prince 15 years to change his name, but it only took three years for the local Lawrence band formerly known as “Volunteers” to take a page out of his book. The group’s name change to the Vols, part of the band’s new face lift, also includes new management and a re-release of the band’s self-titled album.

When management company Melonte Partners saw the band playing a showcase in New York City in March, it decided to partner with The Vols to provide radio promotion and broad album distribution. For fear of copyright infringement and sheer redundancy on the popular band name, the Volunteers, the band changed its name.

The Vols have retained their self-proclaimed “indie folk rock with pop sensibility,” the difference being their album will now be distributed by Universal Republic Records. And to help funding their recording, the band is hosting a dance party and music video shoot July 27 at the Eighth Street Tap Room, 801 New Hampshire St.

“The tap room is such a fun place, conducive to a dance party, and allowing for artistic creativity,” said Tyler Anderson, 2008 graduate, guitarist and lead singer. “We want to fundraise, but it’s more than that, we just want to have a good time. We encourage people to dress in crazy costumes, anyone who wants to go to a big dance party with burlesque dancers and face paint should check it out.”

The Vols plan to play a two-hour set, followed by a DJ to carry on the dance party, and three cameras will film the dance party for a music video of the song “American Picture Star.”

Nikki Mahoney, Kansas City, Mo., senior, is directing the video as part of a music video class.

“The class allows me to work with bands first hand and I love that,” Mahoney said. “I listened to the song the band chose and let the music influence me creatively. I started to envision scenes for the video, following a main character who dreams of becoming an American picture star.”

Mahoney said she enjoyed working with The Vols because of their professional sound and their fun attitude. In the two years she has known Anderson, Mahoney said she had noticed the band’s rise in popularity.

“The Vols have a strong following in Lawrence,” Mahoney said. “The band members are handsome, they’re young, talented and put together. With all those combined, people definitely notice them.”

Andrew Kissel, a 2007 graduate who plays piano, vocals and guitar, said he observed the same group of people out at most local shows. This made Lawrence unique, he said, because people made it their lifestyle to go out and listen to local music.

Anderson said he appreciated the local support not only from fans, but also from other bands as well.

“It’s fun to be a part of a musical community,” Anderson said. “We work with each other and that’s what’s cool about Lawrence. There are so many people trying to do similar things, trying to create music on a very serious level.”

Kissel said their music was a kaleidoscopic vision and they were trying to take everyone along for the ride, adding that there was nothing better than the joy of performing.

“When you play to an audience the combination of seeing people smiling and dancing around, having a good time based on what you’re doing makes you perform better,” Kissel said. “It’s like you’re having a conversation that everyone’s involved in. It’s a positive event. You go to a sports game but sometimes your team loses, everyone wins at a rock concert.”

The Vols drummer, Austin Sinkler, said the band switched up its style of music a lot to create a unique style that had a little something for everybody. Sinkler said that came from the band members all having different influences but appreciating each other’s music.

Rustine Leonard, 2008 graduate and bassist, said a reason the band worked so well together was because of the members common goals. He said their individual opinions didn’t stray too much on the direction of a song, and usually, the process just happened naturally.

Following the release of their album, The Vols will concentrate on building a fan base outside of Lawrence but stay in the Midwest region for a couple of years.

“We can go to towns that we can play once a month or once every two months so that way we can build a following,” Leonard said. “The benefit to playing live a lot is being able to adapt quickly to different set ups. It would be fun just to play anywhere all the time. Our main goal is to play as many places as we can.”

The band agrees none of this would be possible without persistence and friendship. Leonard said being friends helped because it made it fun. He said it had to be fun or else bands couldn’t play good music.

“We get to drive around the country with our best friends doing something we love,” Kissel said. “What could be better than that?”

— Edited by Rustin Dodd