Caution: there is some language not suitable for kids in this post
As all of you may have heard, the Jonas Brothers are no more. The New Jersey natives and brothers have decided to go their separate ways and break up.
The break up of the band was a long time coming. Earlier this month, the trio announce that they had cancelled their 19-date tour due to a "deep rift in the band". Also this month, the Jonas Brothers twitter handle disappeared, with no explanation, causing concern that the boys had broken up; their individual Twitters were also silent. However, on October 22, Nick posted on his Twitter a simple "bear with us" and Joe posted "please hold while we get our shit together," also on the same day. Kevin, however, has not posted since October 1st.
Earlier this month, rumors arose the Joe had a problem with addiction, which was the cause of the rift and his missing of band meetings. These rumors are, of course, false.
In August, Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, announced that they were expecting their first child (a girl), but Kevin added that the impending arrival of his child was not the cause of the break up.
Nick was the first to speak out on the issue, telling his brothers that he felt "trapped."
In an interview with People Magazine, the brothers said that nothing is set in stone, and that they are just closing a chapter in their lives, also adding that it was a unanimous decision.
Because the Jonas Brothers have decided to break up, we have decided to close the blog. This decision was up in the air for about a year, due to the Jonas Brothers trying to release new work. Today, however, we have decided to close it. It is not definite, however, it may end up turning out that way. We are both so busy with school and work that we cannot find the time to update a blog on a band that is no longer together. We will try to keep updating our Twitter with events that happen with the Jonas Brothers, but we will no longer continue with the blog or fan site.
We are sorry for the closure.
If you are interested in running the site, or want to send us information on the Jonas Brothers, please email us at jonasbrosponed@ymail.com.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
It's Been Fun
Monday, August 13, 2012
'Married to Jonas' Premiere Episode Sneak Peek
Joe Jonas Talks 'The Next'
Friday, July 13, 2012
'Married to Jonas' Promo
Here is a promo clip of Kevin Jonas and wife Danielle's new E! reality series Married to Jonas.
The show, premiering August 19th, follows the couple as they balance fame with every day life.
Joe and Nick Jonas will be making appearances, as well as Danielle's Italian family.
Jonas Brothers New Video Message---Watch Now
Check out this video of the Jonas Brothers as they work on their upcoming album in New York City!
Kevin, Nick, and Joe decided to send out a special message to their fans and give them a little sneak peek about what they’ve been up to lately.
“We’re just in the studio here,” Nick told fans. “Just wanted to give you an update.”
Joe added, “We’ve been busy recording. We miss you guys. We love you guys. We hope you guys are doing well.”
How excited are YOU for the Jonas Brothers’ next album?
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Joe Jonas Covers Garage Magazine
In this issue, the 22-year-old heartthrob talked about his current singing projects and his collaboration with the popular Philippine clothing brand Bench.
Joe also dished to the mag about why he’d like the Jonas Brothers to all visit the Philippines together. Last week, Joe was spotted out and about in London.
Joe‘s Garage issue is now available!
Friday, June 8, 2012
Joe Jonas is Coming to Your Doorstep
Joe Jonas is literally bringing fame to your doorstep with the new CW series The Next: Fame is At Your Doorstep.
The 22-year-old musician will just be one of the mentors that will travel to where the talent is, immersing themselves in the lives and towns of these local performers and preparing them for the chance to represent their home city on stage, live, in front of America.
“I’m really excited about it,” Joe tells Ryan Seacrest. “I’m going to be moving in with someone. The judges will be going to different cities in the states. There will be four people auditioning in each city and these artists are going to be either people that had a chance in the past, maybe they possibly got dropped from a record label. Also there will be people that are local stars or local celebrities.”
Gloria Estefan, Nelly and John Rich round out the mentors.
The Next: Fame is At Your Doorstep will premiere on August 16th @ 9PM ET/PT.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Upcoming Jonas Dates
June 3rd-Joe Jonas will judge the Miss USA contest
June 10-Nick Jonas will be introducing Newsies on the Tony Awards
June 23-Joe Jonas will be performing at the Big 623 Concert
'Punk'd' on GMA: Nick Jonas Ruins iPad
Nick Jonas made a special appearance on Good Morning America to help Lara Spencer punk her co-host Josh Elliot. Check out the video here.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Sorry.
Hello fellow Jonas fans! We are so sorry that it has been over a year since we've posted! We also cannot believe that we haven't posted in that long. But there are reasons as to why we haven't posted. And here they are. First, the internet at our apartment went out and we could not afford to get it fixed, so we had to go to Starbucks, PJ's and random booksellers in order just to do homework! Once school was out, we both went in our separate directions for the summer; Rachel went to California with her boyfriend for the entire summer and I went to Europe with my family. When we both came back, it was time for school to start back up. We were slammed with work since day one and other things going on in our lives. Rachel's parents had to move and she was worried about that and my parents (mom and step-dad) were going through something also. We had to deal with all of that before we could worry about a website. We finally got the internet fixed in November, but by that time Rachel was working when she wasn't in school and with her boyfriend when she wasn't working. I was also working, but not as much, besides, I had other things going on. Well, Rachel and her boyfriend broke up and school is out for the summer. We both still work (Rachel more than I), so we still won't be posting as much, but we will still be posting. We have somethings planned for the summer with all of our fellow Jonas fans and we hope to soon reconnect with all of you the way we used to be. Until then, we will continue to fantasize about what the new Jonas Brothers album will sound like and when it will come out. But to keep us all talking, what do you all think of the Jonas Brothers leaving Hollywood Records?!?! --Jennifer PS: Skype us at jonasbrosponed and follow us on Twitter @jonasbrosponed
Review: Songs from How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying
I don’t like the current crop of Boy Bands. One Direction, The Wanted, JLS – they all leave me cold. I wasn’t much of a fan of the bands of my era (from The Osmonds to Take That), although I have come to like them in my ‘old age’, So, the last thing I expected to enjoy was an EP of songs from How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, featuring the current lead on Broadway, Nick Jonas from another ‘bubble gum pop’ band, The Jonas Brothers. But enjoy it I did. It’s not a show I have much knowledge of. I saw a bad (VERY) amateur production in the early ’90s, and I think it scarred me for life. I’ve never actually listened to the original Broadway cast for that reason, or the Matthew Broderick recording of a few years ago. The current Broadway production also spurned a cast recording, starring Daniel “Potter” Radcliffe in the lead role of J Pierrepoint Finch, a young window cleaner who begins a meteoric rise from the mailroom, to the Vice President of Advertising at the World Wide Wicket Company. Jonas, as I’ve said, is part of the boy band The Jonas Brothers, but has also had a foot on Broadway several times before, in Les Miserables, Beauty and The Beast and Annie Get Your Gun, all coming before he became famous with the JBs. Judging by this EP by Broadway Records, he should pop by more often. The EP is too short (5 tracks) – oh how I would have loved to have heard more. What is there is pure heaven. This guy can sing – REALLY sing – and his performances better those by Radcliffe on the full cast recording of this production. I’m assuming that the same orchestra tracks were used, but these also are top notch, and show off Besterman’s orchestrations to the max. Jonas isn’t alone on here vocally, we also get the chance to hear Rob Bartlett in the role of Mr Twimble and Rose Hemingway as Rosemary Pilkington, although both of these also appear on the aforementioned full cast recording, but never the less. shine here just as brightly. Jonas is totally at home with the style, melodies and lyrics of the piece, and is certainly one to watch in future Broadway productions. It would be great to hear him do a Broadway album, or songs from the Great American Songbook, as he clearly has the voice, and the intelligence, to give them the treatments they deserve. The CD design and production is top notch, and puts many full recordings to shame. It’s clear a lot of thought has gone into this release and it’s design, and Broadway Records should be pleased with the final product. I know I was. 10 Source: Review Graveyard
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Claude Kelly Talks Joe Jonas Project
You were in the studio with Joe Jonas recently. Can you talk about what you two have been working on?
He's obviously working on a solo album. And I went into the studio with him and DJ Hans. And our goal was to write singles. We did two up-tempo records, and my goal with him was to push him vocally and show the world that there's a voice there that they never heard before. Because you know when you're in a group, there isn't much a distinction because there's two other guys -- his brothers -- that were part of Jonas Brothers. So I really wanted to make some kind of thing where people would say, "Holy s---, he could really sing."
The chorus on one of them is really high and really shows that he could hit those notes and really control them. The lyrics are a little edgier, a little sexier. Everything is up-tempo, dark and fun, and he's selling it. He's really coming into that male sex symbol star that we're really missing right now. Obviously Usher is a big sex symbol and so is Justin Timberlake, but there hasn't been a new sex symbol that the girls scream over in a while. And I think he encompasses that a lot.
Read the whole article here.
No Thunderbolt for Joe Jonas and Ashley Greene
Ashley Greene admits she didn’t feel love at first sight with Joe Jonas.
The ‘Twilight Saga’ actress – who split from the Jonas Brothers star earlier this month after nine months together – believes friendship is the most important factor in starting a lasting relationship.
Asked if she felt love at first sight with Joe, Ashley said: “A friendship developed first, and that’s the most important thing for me. If you are going to be with someone all the time, they need to be your best friend.”
The 24-year-old beauty also admitted communication is important to her, but she isn’t interested in what has happened in the past to her boyfriends, particularly with their old relationships.
In an interview with America’s Glamour magazine conducted before she split from Joe, Ashley said: “You need to be able to talk about the difficult things. I don’t want us to talk about our ex-boyfriends or ex- girlfriends. The past is the past. As long as it’s not a mass-murderer past! You’re with the person who you’re with as they are now.”
Ashley is aware she is a role model for young people and doesn’t want to do anything in public that could tarnish her image.
She said: “I keep to the ground rules. I’m not going to get drunk at a bar. There are younger girls who look up to me. So I do my best not to stray too far.
“My parents are very proud because it’s a hard thing to not let Hollywood change you.” - Bang Showbiz
Nick Jonas Could Have DIED
Nick Jonas could have slipped into a coma and died if his diabetes diagnosis was delayed by just two days. Nick revealed: 'When I was diagnosed, if we had waited two days, I could've been in a coma. A week later, and I could've died,
So I'm very thankful that I've lived to see all of this.. There are moments when I think life would be a lot easier without it. But, then again, it's part of my DNA at this point, it's given me an outlook on life I think is very rare.' Via NickJOnline.
Joe Jonas Presenting at KCAs
Joe Jonas will be hitting the orange carpet for the 2011 Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday.
Joe was announced as a presenter for the show last night during EXTRA. He’ll be joining celebrities like Russell Brand, Jason Segal, Big Time Rush, Victoria Justice, Justin Timberlake, and many more at the annual awards show.
Check out the 2011 Kids Choice Awards TONIGHT at 8/7 central on Nick.
Joe Jonas Britney Spears Opener?
Enrique Iglesias has dropped out of Britney Spears' upcoming Femme Fatale tour and Joe Jonas is now a top candidate to replace him, reports Zap2It. Joe on his music: 'The dance element is where my heart is. Most of the songs are love-related, but I put the responsibility on myself to try to grab their ears again.'
The tour may be the perfect opportunity for Joe to reach a more adult audience. Joe's set would be more scaled back, focusing only on his solo material. Talks are in early stages. Joe's album expected to release late summer/ early fall.
Joe Jonas Talks "Who I Am"
Joe Jonas was inspired by his younger brother Nick Jonas to record a solo album after Nick released his CD “Who I Am.” Here’s what Joe had to say about Nick’s record:
It wasn’t really as big as…He wasn’t really hoping for it to be huge. It was more for himself. He wanted to do a record that he really believed in. And so I was like, ‘I would really like to make music that inspires me,’ ’cause with the Jonas Brothers stuff, we can be constricted in what we can and cannot do.
Good thing Joe caught himself there!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Jonas Brothers Named #8 as Top Role Models for Kids
8.) Jonas Brothers – The All American boys who grew out of the Disney Channel have been nothing but family oriented and wholesome in their years of fame. Evangelical Christians, the brothers Joe, Kevin and Nick have never shied away from their faith, have reportedly abstained from alcohol, tobacco and drugs, as well as premarital sex. Beyond their views, they are known to have earned an estimated $12 million in 2007, 10% of which they donated to their charity, Change for the Children Foundation, a foundation that donates to children based organizations. When asked about the charity they wrote, “We started The Change for the Children Foundation to support programs that motivate and inspire children to face adversity with confidence, determination and a will to succeed. And we think the best people to help children are their peers – kids helping other kids who are a little less fortunate.”
Nick Jonas Surprises 'Idol' Finalist
Recently eliminated American Idol contestant Karen Rodriguez, visited “On Air With Ryan Seacrest” to discuss her whirlwind Idol journey and plans for her future. However, Ryan had a special surprise guest for her…none other then Nick Jonas!
In Karen’s last appearance on “American Idol,” she had mentioned her sister Karol’s infatuation with the youngest member of the Jonas Brothers. After leaving the stage Ryan promptly called Joe Jonas attempting to coordinate a meeting between his younger brother Nick and Karen.
Meanwhile, altogether unaware Karen continued her interview by discussing how her life has changed in these few short days since American Idol stating, “You never know how many fans you have, how many people are watching until you are eliminated. Thats when everything starts happening. All the tweets I’ve been getting. All the fans. You never know how much you impact people, and you touch people’s hearts.”
Karen went on to thank her supportive family for encouraging her to follow her dreams. Particularly her younger sister Karol who said, ‘You can go to ‘American Idol’ just so that I can meet Nick Jonas.’”
Then the unimaginable happened for Karen. After Ryan worked some of his magic, Nick Jonas walked into the studio to surprise her. “Oh, my God! This tops my ‘American Idol’ experience.”
Karen went on to serenade Nick with her own rendition of his hit “Burning Up,” and to describe the extent of her sister Karol’s admiration of Nick. The surprise visit truly helped make Karol’s dream come true. “This is the highlight of my life!” said Karen, after meeting Nick.
Nick then made a call to Karol at home, receiving a shocking reply of, “Oh my God! This is amazing!” At Karen’s request, Nick serenades Karol with his hit “When I Look You In The Eyes,” leading Karol to tears crying “you are a really beautiful person.”
This touching turn of events ends with Karen telling her sister, “I did it for you…I am so glad I made your dream come true. I love you!…This was my purpose, I fulfilled my purpose.”
'Joe Jonas is a True Artist, Not a Quitter'
What's your favorite thing about working with Joe Jonas? Claude Kelly blogged: i love his willing to try anything. he’s also NOT a quitter, he’ll stay in the vocal booth and work until he gets it perfect. thats the sign of a true artist. hes pretty damn funny too.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Joe Jonas Goes at it Alone
Joe Jonas is going grocery shopping, walking along a busy commercial section of Hollywood. No one notices him, no tween girls shriek, as he weaves through the sidewalk traffic. Joe doesn't much look like a Jonas Brother anymore. Gone is his telltale luxurious sweep of black hair. Now it's cropped in a look one of his handlers likes to call "Top Gun-Tom Cruise," and he's wearing a rakish beard and mustache, along with skinny jeans that hang low enough to reveal the pattern on his boxers. These signs of testosterone seem to defy the boy band's squeaky-clean image—the three brothers wore "purity rings," pledging chastity until marriage. Joe, 21, looks all grown up. And there isn't a purity ring in sight.
"'Does anyone ever tell you you look like Joe Jonas?' I get that a lot," Joe says in his mild, soft-spoken way. "Or they'll say, 'You're so much cuter in person.' Or 'Where are your brothers?'" He laughs. "It's not like we wake up in the same bed."
Joe moved out of the home he shared with his parents and his brothers, Kevin, 23, and Nick, 18, a year and a half ago, to rent a house with some buddies in Los Feliz. But it was haunted, he says—"We'd hear footsteps"—and he often thought about getting his own place. Then, about nine months ago, he started dating Twilight star Ashley Greene, and the idea of a little privacy became more appealing. So last November, he found a bachelor pad in this part of town, which he likes because "it's like my mini New York. I got my gym a few blocks away"—where he's been working out five days a week with his trainer.
"I like to watch all the crazy characters in the neighborhood," he says. "I saw this gay homeless guy that got arrested. When the cops said, 'Spread 'em,' he was like, 'You'd like that, wouldn't you?'" Joe grins; he likes a good comeback.
In addition to hitting the gym regularly, Joe is also a fan of bars in the area, like the Bowery on Sunset, because it's "really laid-back." Wait a minute—didn't the Jonas Brothers, who provided the voices of cherubs in 2009's Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, swear off alcoholic beverages?
Yes, but that was back when Joe was living with his mom, Denise, and his dad, Kevin Sr., a former evangelical preacher who now comanages the band. It was also before Joe decided to do a solo album, the first single from which will be released next month.
"I'm growing up, the fans are growing up," Joe says. "I've gone through a lot of stuff in my life so far. There are stories I haven't really been able to tell. When you're writing with three people, you wind up with a sound that might be—not average—but, you know, expected."
The moment he walks into Trader Joe's, the sound system starts playing "Year 3000," a Jonas Brothers hit from their first album, 2006's It's About Time. The boys' cheerful guitar riffs and boisterous voices fill the giant store. "I didn't call and arrange this," Joe says, amused, as he grabs a cart.
• • •
Joe's apartment, a loft studio in a brand-new high-rise, is sizable, but it's modest for a young man who, with his brothers, made $35.5 million last year, putting them at No. 40 on the Forbes "Celebrity 100." There's a stunning 180-degree view of Los Angeles. There's a vintage Pac Man game, a Batman pinball machine, a Baldwin piano, and an 8-month-old English-bulldog puppy named Winston. There's a Warholesque painting of Mick Jagger by a local artist. Joe—who is known for his on-stage brio, his jumps and kicks and orgasmic facial contortions—has said that he idolizes the performance styles of Jagger and Freddie Mercury, "the big frontmen."
There's also a framed photograph of Joe and his brothers at the White House with President Obama and Paul McCartney—on the wall right by the front door, so you can't miss it. "I didn't know who to be more excited about," Joe says of the meeting, which took place last year when McCartney received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The Jonas Brothers performed a cover of "Drive My Car" at the event.
"I heard [McCartney] told somebody, 'I want the new Beatles to come and play for me,'" Joe says, his chocolate-brown eyes growing wider.
Joe will tell you stories about famous rockers giving props to a band that the New York Times has called "among the most culturally important American rock bands of the last decade."
"Pat [Patrick Carney], the drummer for the Black Keys, I met him at a Kings of Leon concert in London"—coincidentally, it was at that same concert that Joe met Greene—"and he was like, 'I used to shit on you guys, but then I actually listened to your stuff, and you're so rad.'"
A Black Keys record is playing on Joe's turntable as he makes taco filling, simmering chicken in olive oil and lemonade. He's into cooking. After he got his own place, he says, "I fell in love with it. I became friends with a lot of chefs. I was a judge on Top Chef last year. It was a dream come true."
Then he pauses a moment; his thick, dark eyebrows knit together. He looks like a teenager again. "You know what? I forgot to get tortillas."
The taco filling winds up being wrapped into big pieces of lettuce—a fine, healthy, Asian-inspired solution. Joe stands at the counter as he tucks into his new culinary invention and starts talking excitedly about his solo album (which is as yet unnamed). He has been recording in L.A. for the past couple of months but says the idea came to him in the summer of 2009 when the JoBros were in Rome. "We were sitting in this beautiful Colosseum-looking hotel. And I was starting to think, 'I really wanna do a solo project.' My brother Nick did one. It wasn't really as big as..." Here he catches himself. Nick's solo album, Who I Am, released last year, received mixed reviews and sold fewer than 200,000 copies in the U.S.
"He wasn't really hoping for it to be huge," says Joe, who calls Nick "my best friend." "It was more for himself. He wanted to do a record that he really believed in. And so I was like, 'I would really like to make music that inspires me,' 'cause with the Jonas Brothers stuff, we can be constricted in what we can and cannot do.
"I wanted to do something you could hear in a club or something you could dance to, something that's fun—something that's me. I think it was definitely because I was getting older. But it was also a kind of a scary thought. 'Cause you go, 'I don't want to offend my brothers.' You know?"
But when he approached Nick and Kevin, they were all for it. He also got the blessing of Hollywood Records, the Jonas Brothers' label, which is owned by Disney and which sold 8.5 million copies of the band's last three albums—Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer, and Lines, Vines and Trying Times.
But the boys in the band aren't really boys anymore, and the sales of their recent albums have slipped slightly. Their 2009 Disney Channel sitcom, Jonas L.A., didn't catch on with viewers and was canceled after two seasons. Their debut film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, was a disappointment, earning just over $19 million.
The thinking at Disney HQ seems to be that a solo turn by Joe might be a way for the Brothers to recapture their maturing fan base and possibly develop a new one. "We're not breaking up, we're just taking a break," Joe says. "I really have a hope for the fans that got older and went, 'You know what, I'm really not into the Jonas Brothers anymore,' that I'm able to catch their ear again with my project and they're able to go, like, 'Hey, this is cool stuff, I'm happy listening to this, I'm not embarrassed listening to this.'"
"I'm wildly supportive," says Rich Ross, chairman of Walt Disney Studios. "Going solo is a very good idea for Joe at this age. It's like graduating from college."
But will Joe Jonas be believable as a real rock star? Can the fans ever forget that they loved him in fourth grade?
"I look at Joe's scenario as kind of like when Justin Timberlake broke out of 'N Sync," says Rob Knox, a producer working on Joe's solo project who previously teamed up with Rihanna and Jamie Foxx. "Justin was 21 when he came out as a solo artist. Joe is coming to producers who know how to create that edgier pop feeling. We're not doing any boy-band songs."
What they are doing, Joe says, is an eclectic mixture of "electro indie pop rock." "It's Joe's album, it's not just something put together for him," says Danja, another veteran producer on the project, whose past work includes Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds. "He's collaborating with the writing. He's very different from what you'd expect. All I can say is he's an adult man. He has a rock-star edge about him."
• • •
If Nick was always the cute Jonas, and Kevin the other Jonas, then Joe was the sexy one. The shrieks of the Brothers' 10,000-plus crowds are usually induced by his hip-swiveling-and-mic-twirling routine.
"Being on stage makes me come to life," Joe says. "When all eyes are on you, they're watching every move you make."
His gyrations have apparently caught the eyes of a number of fetching young female entertainers. He's dated the troubled Disney star Demi Lovato ("I wish her the best") and the actress Camilla Belle. Taylor Swift was so bitter after their breakup that she wrote a song about it ("Forever & Always") and went on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, in 2008, to complain that Joe had dumped her in a phone call that lasted 27 seconds.
Joe countered by saying that it was Swift who had hung up on him. Now he says, "I think all artists have a right to write about what happens to them. But," he adds with a smile, "I have a right to write about things too."
He won't say whether his album will contain a Swift rebuttal—just that there will be songs about "different love scenarios that I've been through, breakups, hurts. Me hurting somebody and feeling bad about it. I think there's a lot of scenarios where people might wanna hear my side of the story."
But who would break up with Joe?
"Some guy," he says with a laugh.
It's a nod to the gay rumors he's been fending off ever since he got into a verbal altercation with some taunting paparazzi earlier this year. "There's nothing wrong with being gay," he says now, "but I'm not." Adding to the buzz, he dressed up in a leotard and heels and danced to "Single Ladies"—to comic effect—to square a sports bet with some buddies. He got the idea from his fans. The video of his performance got more than 25 million hits on YouTube.
But he really did have his heart broken; it was about two years ago, and the young woman was someone in the entertainment world. "I won't say her name," Joe says. "But I was in a relationship, and we tried to work things out, and she, you know—I was really upset because she—she broke up with me." A sadness lingers in his voice.
By contrast, his relationship with Ashley Greene, who's 24, "feels good," he says. "I think what works about it is she really puts my feelings first. She understands my busy schedule. She'll fly out to my shows—she's been to places in South America that I can't even pronounce." And in January, he visited her in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while she was shooting the next two installments of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn: Part I and Part II (Greene plays the psychic vampire Alice Cullen). He also flew to Jacksonville, Florida, to meet her parents. "Her dad can drink me to shame," Joe says. "He's awesome."
Times are changing for the Jonas Brothers, with Joe going solo (for now) and Kevin marrying Danielle Deleasa, a former hairdresser, in 2009. "Actually, I hit on her first," Joe says of meeting his future sister-in-law when the band of brothers were on vacation in the Bahamas. "And after that she and Kevin hit it off, of course. Now we have a fourth person traveling with us everywhere, so that's a different thing completely."
• • •
It's afternoon. Joe's driving his big black Mercedes G-Class down Sunset to the studio to work on his album. He's thinking about the days when he and his brothers and his dad toured the country with a trailer full of instruments, performing wherever they could. Success did not come easily, he says, and it got to the point where "we were about to say, 'This sucks—we don't want to do this anymore,' but then it all sort of started to happen for us."
And happen it did. "We've seen every state in America besides Alaska and Hawaii, been all over Europe. It's been so much fun." Sure, there have been times when it's gotten a little weird, rocking out for little girls. "We did some things that were like, 'Really? We're gonna do this? Like, go and play for an elementary school, are you serious?' At the time I was like, 'I'm 17, I wanna go meet girls at high schools.'
"And now I'm 21," Joe adds. "I wanna go play my music in a club."
Joe draws inspiration from one of his heroes—Bono—in moving forward with his dream: "I just want to believe that people are gonna really accept me for who I am and the music that I'm making now."
Joe went to see U2 play in Toronto last year. "After the show we got an e-mail saying Bono wants to invite you to the after-party. He comes waltzing in with his jean jacket buttoned down to here, pointing his finger at everybody. We hung out with him till three in the morning. He told me, 'The songs you write, really be honest, don't hold anything back. The reason for being an artist is you gotta be honest.' And I was like, 'Wow.'
"He said, 'I have countries that hate me, but I don't care. I have dictators that wanna put my head on a stick. So the next time you write a song, write from the heart, and really be honest, and don't be afraid of it.'"
Joe arrives at Henson Recording Studios—Charlie Chaplin's old studio. He parks the car. "When I was younger," he says, getting out, "I was always trying to make people satisfied with the way they thought I was supposed to be. And finally understanding that, in music, you can really be yourself and people accept you for who you are, that was a big thing to me." Work awaits, and as he heads inside, he adds: "I'm really excited to get the ball rolling and write some more stories in the book of craziness."
**Please note that interview was given before Joe and Ashley broke up.
How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying
Married to Jonas
