AJR Discuss Touring and Their Single “I’m Ready!”
AJR is a band consisting of brothers Adam, Jack, and Ryan Met. The band has opened for artists including Fifth Harmony and Demi Lovato, and most recently they chatted with us about their influences and future as musicians!
Adam, Jack, and Ryan come from an incredibly artistic family. When they were young, their father introduced them to music from the 1950s and 60s.
Their parents are both architects who always encouraged their sons to experiment with different forms of art. They started playing music by doing street performances in New York City parks.
"We would play covers of artists like Michael Jackson, The Beatles, etc. and people were really receptive to it," they said. "This developed into writing our own music, and ultimately creating AJR."
Growing up, the boys listened to a lot of classic songwriters, including the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Billy Joel, and Bob Dylan.
"When we write and produce music, we focus on combining the styles of those songwriters with the innovative ideas of contemporary artists like Fun., Imagine Dragons, and Kanye—just to name a few," they said.
23-year-old Adam is the oldest in the band. He writes, sings, and plays the bass guitar. He also handles a lot of the band's social media and marketing.
Ryan is 19. He writes, produces, and mixes the band's music. Onstage he plays the keyboards and the ukulele.
The youngest, Jack is 16 years old and is the band's lead singer. He also plays the ukulele, melodica and drums.
"We each bring a different energy to creating music, so when we write together it feels like a mix of our personalities," they explained.
AJR recently finished a summer tour beginning at the Highline Ballroom in New York supporting Alex Goot, and ending at the L.A. County Fair to open for Demi Lovato!
"We have had an awesome time performing over the last few months," the band said. "Opening for Demi Lovato in California was incredible. Seeing a stadium of 10,000 people digging our music was exactly what we dreamed of when we started writing."
The band have also been enjoying their performances at smaller venues.
"We really found ourselves connecting to individual members of the audience," they said, "and those types of shows have a more intimate and personal vibe."
In the beginning of September, the brothers also played three shows across England alongside hip-hop artist Hoodie Allen.
"Before we played, we were a little worried that the fans would not take to our music, but they were incredibly receptive— including the guys," they said. "These cool British kids in tank tops were singing along and cheering."
The U.K. crowd also were loyal fans, searching online for the band after the shows to buy their single, "I'm Ready."
AJR have managed to make a name for themselves from the ground up. They focus on being original and making it on their own.
"After working at this for seven years, we've truly figured out the type of band we want to be," the band said.
Their single is picking up steam on satellite radio, and they've managed to achieve everything they've done so far without joining a record label.
AJR has always admired musicians, such as Macklemore and The Lumineers, who have managed to make it to the top without the help of corporations.
"We feel like we can take that attitude to the next level by writing, producing, recording, and mixing all our music ourselves in our own living room," they said. "We like the idea that no other hands have touched the music you hear on the radio, and we'd love to keep that as long as we can!"
The band recently released their single "I'm Ready" on iTunes, and they released a lyric video for the video 3 weeks ago. The official music video will release mid-October!
They've also been releasing a new song each Tuesday. You can listen to their latest, "Livin' On Love" here!
We're looking forward to the new music every week, plus their awesome upcoming video.
Also interested in AJR? Check out their social pages to follow them!
AJR stands for Adam, Jack, and Ryan, but here are a few other things the band said it might stand for!
- Australian Jester's Revenge
- Apple Jam Restaurant
- Adam Jack and Rupert
Tell us your suggestions for the acronym below!