AJR - comprised of brothers Adam, Jack, and Ryan Met - are a pop-rock trio that blasted into international recognition with their smash hit "Weak." The band, who write, produce and mix their own material in the living room of their Chelsea apartment, have also produced hits such as "Come Hang Out," "I'm Ready," “Burn the House Down” and "Sober Up," and are at it again with their upcoming album Neotheater. In support of the forthcoming record, the guys are also hitting the road for an exciting headlining tour this fall.
We invited the talented trio into our studio recently to get the dirt on the latest album and learn the secrets behind their touring success. Check out the exclusive video below as AJR discuss the importance of a good show and how they love to keep things fresh during a live show!
A Daze
Ryan Met: "A live show is a great place where you can’t do everything else. If we’re putting on a good show, then you don’t want to be on Instagram. You just want to be focusing and after an hour and a half, you wake up out of a daze."
Scrapping Mentality
RM: "We think a lot like a stand-up comedian. At the end of every year, he or she scraps, or at least they should, scrap their entire set and start from scratch because you don’t want to see a stand-up comedian twice. We want to adapt that to music as well. On stage, we try to do a lot of theatrical moments and weird things that people are like ‘you have to see this show! They did (blank) in between songs!’"
RM: "We’ve built a show over the last two years that was The Click Tour. We decided we’re scrapping all of that and we’re going to do it all different and a lot bigger and better."
Jack Met: "We have a very scrapping mentality… just get rid of everything!"
RM: "I think we like surprising people. We like beating ourselves. I don’t know, I think we get bored very easily and as soon as we feel like we’re repeating ourselves, it’s like why not do something different."
Adam Met: "We also want to do a show that people have never seen in that size venue before. So when you go into a venue and think ‘Oh my god, that show was insane! Feels like I’m at an arena show,’ that’s the kind of feeling we want to bring across."
For more information on the tour, check out AJR’s website. Prior to their fall trek, AJR will play a handful of major festivals, including Bottleneck, Bonnaroo and Firefly.
AJR Neotheater Tour Dates:
September 20 – Council Bluffs, IA @ Stir Cove
September 26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall
September 28 – San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
September 30 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
October 1 – Portland, OR @ Theater of the Clouds
October 3 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Great Saltair
October 5 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
October 10 – New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
October 16 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
October 18 – Columbus, OH @ Express Live!
October 19 – Indianapolis, IN @ Indiana Farmers Coliseum
October 20 – Grand Rapids, MI @ 20 Monroe Live
October 22 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory
October 23 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee
October 25 – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
October 26 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
October 27 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion
October 29 – Dallas, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
October 30 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live
October 31 – Houston, TX @ Revention Music Center
November 6 – New Orleans, LA @ Fillmore New Orleans
November 8 – Orland, FL @ Hard Rock Live
November 9 – Tampa, FL @ USF Sun Dome
November 12 – Atlanta, GA @ Infinite Energy Center
November 16 – Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
November 19 – Buffalo, NY @ Shea’s Performing Arts Center
November 21 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem
November 22 – Pittsburgh, PA @ UPMC Events Center
