Long Island kids interviewed the band AJR
Kidsday met brothers Adam, Jack and Ryan, (last name Metzger). They are the members of the new music group AJR at Webster Hall. Our Kidsday reporters are Connor DeKenipp, Christina Kachmarchyk, Rebecca Lohman and Lenora Ferrigno, 9 and 10 from Levittown and Bethpage. (Nov.19, 2013) Credit: Newsday / Pat Mullooly
We met the band, AJR -- Adam Jack and Ryan Metzger -- before a recent performance at Webster Hall in Manhattan. Their song "I'm Ready," is one of our new favorites! If you haven't seen the video for the song yet, you should! You will love it just like we did. And, they are not just a band, they are brothers, too. Their new EP, "6Foot1" was released last week.
What was your first song you sang in public?
Jack: We started out street performing in Washington Square Park, which is a couple of blocks away from here. We started out doing covers. Like a lot of Michael Jackson covers, the song "I Want You Back."
Ryan: We were your age when we started.
What is the meaning behind the song "I'm Ready," and are you talking about someone specific?
Ryan: No, it's not really about someone specifically. We kind of did it as an anthem, as kind of a love, party anthem, and it samples SpongeBob SquarePants. It's been doing pretty well.
How did you come up with the lyrics to "I'm Ready?"
Jack: We wanted to base it around the idea of like fun, and getting kind of pumped with life in general. Ryan wrote it.
Ryan: I go to Columbia University, and I was in my dorm writing during Hurricane Sandy. So a lot of the power was out and Adam came to my dorm and we were writing and trying to figure out some kind of innovative way to do a big pop song.
Adam: And the whole thing was recorded in a dorm room. It wasn't in a recording studio with lots of mikes and computers. It was just in a very small room with very thin walls.
Why did you name your band after your first initials?
Ryan: We were trying to think of other names and we kind of thought, there are so many bands out there that are like the Shining Sons whatever. And we thought Adam, Jack, Ryan, AJR kind of like rolls off.
Have you met any other famous people?
Jack: We opened for Demi Lovato. We met her. She's really, really nice.
Adam: We opened for The Wanted, who were on the X-Factor in the U.K., and Hoodie Allen, he's a rapper and we opened for him in Europe. All these people -- it's so great -- they're actually down to earth when you meet them because you think of them as such celebrities, but they're actually real people.
