Jun 24, 2009, 06:00 PM | by Tanner Stransky
Categories: Music

The Jonas Brothers are back! They never went away, you say? Fair. But more specifically, they are back on top — of the music sales charts, at least, with their latest release, Lines, Vines, and Trying Times, which hit shelves a week ago. The band also just launched their latest tour last Saturday in Dallas (with a surprise visit from Miley Cyrus, but more on that in a bit).

In between tour dates and promoting their album, I managed to spend a few minutes on the phone with the brains behind the operation, youngest brother Nick Jonas, and here’s what he had to say about everything from his favorite song of the summer to his reaction after meeting President Barack Obama.

On having a No. 1 album twice:
“I think to have a No. 1 album is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But to have it happen twice is just truly amazing, and we’re so thankful to the people who went out and got it. The fans make it possible.”

On his favorite new band, Honor Society, which is going on tour with the Jonas Brothers this summer:
“The thing that really got me about them is that not only are they a pop-rock band, but they also have some R&B vocal stylings. The lead singer, Mike Bruno, has got some of the same influences as me — Stevie Wonder and Prince. They’re trying to infuse those sounds into rock music, as well.”

On recently meeting President Barack Obama:
“You know, it was fairly brief. He said hello and thanks for playing for his daughters. I said it was a pleasure to meet him, he said, ‘You, too,’ and then we took a photo and that was it. But it was really cool to meet him.”

On the recent dust-up between will.i.am and Perez Hilton at the Much Music Video Awards:
“We weren’t around when it happened. We actually went back to the hotel and went to bed and woke up and saw some of what happened. But it’s an unfortunate incident. And I think that hopefully they’ll both work it out.”

On convincing ladyfriend Miley Cyrus to appear onstage at last Saturday’s tour kick-off to sing the duet “Before the Storm”:
“That song means a lot to both of us and to have the opportunity to play it live was great. It just came about. We were both excited about doing it.”

On his summer Must List:
“As far as music goes, there’s a band I liked a couple of years ago that I just recently rediscovered. I guess you can call it taking it off the shelf, kind of dusting it off. It’s a Boston-based band called Damone — kind of power-pop meets metal. It’s pretty good. There is a girl lead singer backed up by like five guys. It’s a really cool sound. I listened to it the other day again and just fell right back in love with it. There’s one particular song called “You’re the One,” and it’s fantastic.”

On the track from Lines, Vines, and Trying Times you should be listening to:
“A song called ‘Much Better.’ It’s got some buzz because its about something personal that we wrote about. It’s a great song, and I think it’s a prime example of one of those times when we were able to take something going on in our lives, write about it, and kind of infuse the Neil Diamond sound that we were talking about for this record. It’s got the horns on it, and it’s got a great, kind of feel-good vibe to it. If you listen to the song you get a pretty clear picture of what it’s about, but that’s kind of where I’ll leave it I guess.”

Source: EW.com