JB BACK IN FRESNO

The Jonas Brothers have No. 1 albums, their own Disney TV show, sold-out concerts around the world and shrieking fans in every city.

But it didn’t happen overnight.

In fact, when their current tour rolls into Fresno on Wednesday, it will mark a rise from wannabes to superstars for brothers Kevin, 21, Joe, 19, and Nick, 16.

When they first performed in Fresno, they were a no-name brother band playing at a junior high school.
Then they played at The Big Fresno Fair and later opened for Miley Cyrus at Save Mart Center.

Now they’re back to headline Fresno’s biggest stage.

As they prepped for the tour, all three Jonas Brothers participated in a conference call to talk about their evolution, staying relevant, the staging for their concert and Beatlemania.

Kevin on progressing from small venues to big arenas:

“Moving from small venues to where we are today goes right back to our fans. Without them, we wouldn’t be anywhere. They’re the ones that have stuck around through everything. We can’t believe that they’re still here and continuing to grow and continuing to come see the shows, and it’s an amazing, amazing, amazing thing.”

Nick on the stage set-up for the current tour:

“The tour will be in-the-round. It’s very exciting for us. We’ve always talked about wanting to do a tour like that, and this has been our first opportunity to do it. It’s a way for us to really connect with our fans, something that’s very important and personal to all of us. There are more front row seats now, and there’s more of a real genuine connection with each and every person in the arena.”

Joe on boy bands having a limited shelf-life:

Joe: “What people don’t really understand is that we secretly are over the age of 40, so we’ve already lived through our shelf-life-time, so we’re just going back and trying to reinvent ourselves. In all seriousness, we are just having fun with what we do and playing music.”

Nick on the challenge of meeting fans:

“We’ve been blessed with some really great exposure. Along with that comes more fans and more amazing people that we’re able to experience this journey with. So we’re finding new ways to meet our fans. They mean the world to us, and so we’re looking forward to this summer.

“Also, our friends Honor Society are coming out and you never know who might be in the lobby of the arena in order to meet the fans. So, be looking out for them, too.”

Kevin on his favorite signs that fans brings to concerts:

“We’ve seen some really funny ones. I think I like the ones that say how many miles they drove to come to the concert. Those are always really cool. Or I flew half way around the world or whatever. I’m from Australia.”

Nick on the band’s popularity being compared to Beatlemania:

“I think the Beatles are the Beatles and no one can touch that. We’re honored that some people say that, but for us, we’re just trying to be ourselves and just trying to really be inspired by a lot of things. You know artists like the Beatles, Elvis Costello, Johnny Cash, Prince and just continue to learn and have fun.”

Kevin on staying relevant in an ever-changing music industry:

“You think about that every day as an artist in this generation. You look back on it, and just 10-15 years ago, Britney Spears and the ‘N Syncs of the world were selling a million records in the first day of their album release and they were selling arenas out.

“We’re on an arena tour, but no one’s selling 10 million records anymore. The Internet has taken a very huge turn in music, but, of course, I think everyone wants to take new steps toward new ideas and new technologies that will allow music to get there, and get out there first.

“We released an album a year the past four years now … Just always continually making new music and continuing to put out music is very key in a world that moves so quickly.”

Nick on the band getting skewered in an episode of “South Park:”

“I think we always like to be open to making fun of ourselves. We’ll be the first to. We did it on ‘SNL’ and it was kind of fun. But I think for us we’re so focused on what we’re doing with this tour and our album and everything that we didn’t have too much time to see it.”

Nick on staying grounded:

“It’s about the family base. We’ve made that rule No. 1 from day one, making sure that the family comes first and that we focus on that. That’s the priority. Also we live by the rule, ‘We live life if it’s at the top like we’re at the bottom,’ which basically means stay humble and keep the right attitude.”

Source: Fresnobee.com