We recently talked to the Jonas Brothers. The siblings began their career in 2005, when they were signed to Columbia Records after a group audition. They gained popularity after their music was featured in the Nickelodeon TV movie “Zoey 101: Spring Break-Up.”
The three brothers — Joe, 16, who plays keyboards, guitar and percussion; Nick, 13, who plays guitar, keyboards, drums and percussion; and Kevin, 18, who plays guitar — grew up in Wyckoff, N.J., to musician parents.
They say music has always played a major part in their lives.
Their debut album, “It’s About Time,” will come out later this summer and feature the hits “Mandy,” “6 Minutes” and “Time for Me to Fly.” They wrote or recorded about 60 songs before selecting the 11 cuts on the CD.
Here’s what the brothers had to say:
How do you balance school and the band?
Joe: We are home-schooled. When we go on the road, we bring boxes of books, and we have tutors.
What are your goals?
Kevin: To be a success.
Joe: We want to be a good influence too. We want people to have a good time with our music.
What was the first song you wrote?
Nick: “Please Be Mine.” This was the song that got us signed to a record deal.
Do you have other hobbies?
Joe: We have the XBox 360. We love sports and making movies.
Do you ever get stage fright?
Joe: Maybe when we first started . . . . because it was something new for us. We weren’t sure how people would like us.
Kevin: Now that we’ve been on tour and . . . . actually go to a school and perform, we go onstage, and we don’t think about it; we just play.
Do you write all of your songs?
Kevin: For [the new] record, we wrote eight of the 11 songs.
Do your parents travel with you?
Joe: Yes. We always travel with a family member. Our tour manager is our uncle. He is a young guy, about 21.
Kevin: On the last tour, we traveled by bus. There was room on the bus for our family and our little brother, Frankie.
Do you have a favorite song of yours?
Kevin: Mine is “Don’t Tell Anyone.”
Joe: Mine is “Underdog.” It’s about a girl who nobody likes, but one day she is going to change the world, so watch out.
Nick: “Time for Me to Fly.” It was one of the first songs that we wrote.
