Jonas Brothers

Jonas Brothers l-r: Nick, Kevin, Joe
(2023 publicity photo: Pamela Littky)

Contributor: Kendall Lacey

“But Kendall, you can’t come strolling onto this website and talk about a boyband who had big screen hits and a television show and a million hot singles!”

Well, it is okay. What you are referring to is the Beatles, my favourite UK band. I’m here to talk about a top three all time American band, Jonas Brothers.

Yes, I spent a decade being laughed at for my love of Nick Jonas, Kevin Jonas and Joe Jonas as people on my side of the water had no idea who they were. I discovered them after the death of my father when I escaped to Walt Disney World, one of our favourite places. At that point Jonas Brothers were on Hollywood Records, the Disney label, and indeed the first time I heard them was on Radio Disney. I literally jumped out of the shower after hearing S.O.S to write down the artist and went straight to Disney Village to pick up the sophomore self-titled album. And I never looked back.

Then they came to the UK and supported Avril Lavigne. I got to just stroll my way to the front row for that show. They played a stellar gig, even had a grand piano which I have never seen for a support act, and seeing Joe Jonas dancing on that piano was a magical Kendall moment. We even got Big Rob, who was the security, playing his bit on Burnin’ Up which is an incredible image, one of my favourite Jonas songs to this day.

We have not even talked about the debut album It’s About Time; they were essentially sold as an American Busted (another band I love) and this album included covers of Year 3000 and What I Go To School For. It did not do much business and the CD is now 100 pounds on eBay. I obviously have it on vinyl through the Jonas Vinyl Club, yeah they have been around long enough to have such a magical thing, where I got all the albums on coloured vinyl and all the solo albums too. Amazing. It’s a cool album and it includes one of my very favourites Please Be Mine.

I remember when A Little Bit Longer, the third album, was coming, they got some decent promotion in the UK. Being a kid of Britpop, I love Camden Town and at the top of Parkway they had a massive promo billboard for this brilliant record. My London friends were all mailing me, as my band were suddenly right there in my favourite London borough. Amazing. This record is also of note as Nick wrote a song about being Type 1 Diabetic, as am I; it was a special thing to hear one of my favourite bands mention my condition and get people talking about it. Thank you, Nick. The title track was super special for those of us living every day with the condition.

Jonas Brothers had a fantastic big screen concert film, before everyone had one, and this 3D epic also featured a girl you might know called Taylor Swift. Who was incidentally going out with Joe at the time. This is important for the fact that it gave us my favourite song from the fourth record Lines, Vines And Trying Times, Much Better. It was only a snarly moment if you knew TS in those days – “All the tears on her guitar” – ouch. IYKYK.

And then everything fell apart, just when the great V album was ready to drop. Now we have it, again through the Vinyl Club, but it is lost in time for anyone who wants to just go to a record store and pick it up. Yeah, Nick decided to kill the band. After the great Pom Poms single. Don’t let this moment ruin the memory, because there is plenty to happen. But, oh boy, Pom Poms is still a killer.

In case you are thinking that you do not know any of these songs, there was a moment in the break-up that you probably do know. Joe formed DNCE and they released the fantastic Cake By The Ocean, which I hear many friends playing not realising that this was the pop star I was hyping a decade ago. Jonas Brothers play the song now, so I can include it here.

Aaaaand then … the glorious return. Sucker entered the US chart at Number One (March 2019) which is a rarity, not like the UK charts. It was not a new sound, it was merely a continuation of the magic that I had been trying to tell you about for a decade.

I saw them again at Wembley Arena on this tour and it was incredible. A mix of all the old songs, the great Year 3000 cover, and a little stage near the back of the arena where I was when we got a breathtaking version of Hesitate, Joe’s most emotional moment, a loveheart to his wife Sophie that was so emotional I thought I might melt right there.

And then, in 2023 I saw them at the Royal Albert Hall. My best band in the best venue. Incredible. It was a big bubble of people who have never been understood for loving a band, suddenly being with their people. No one was telling us that we just liked a ‘Pop Band’. I have never felt so accepted. I have never felt so much of a group. The Waffle House video was recorded that night and if you want to see why this band means everything to me, then here we go.

Jonas Brothers have been in my Top 5 all time bands for 15 years. I used to get laughed at for this and then suddenly … Now in 2023, the same people are saying to me, “Hey do you like this band?” Yeah, I do. I love them.

Jonas Brothers playlist

Jonas Brothers official website

Jonas Vinyl Club

The Jonas Fans

Jonas Brothers biography (AllMusic)

Kendall Lacey has worked for Playstation, Nintendo, Xbox, DVD magazines. He has three poetry collections available via Amazon including the new one This Sad Clown Will One Day Own The Circus. And this is his website.

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