AJR
Standing in a row, strumming and singing along to The Lumineers “Ho Hey” with their bare feet on the hardwood floor of their parents’ Manhattan apartment, are Adam, Jack and Ryan Met: AJR.
Their covers got the brothers (23, 16 and 20, respectively) their start, but they’ve shifted their focus to original music. They’re a DIY indie pop band, and independent they are, in every sense of the word.
“We write, mix, produce, everything, in our living room. And we also play instruments, and right now we’re on tour, and we are in a band, and we are our own crew,” says Adam Met, a recent Columbia grad and oldest brother. “We’re our own everything. Everything, soup to nuts, is done by us.”
The brothers started out performing on the streets of New York City seven or eight years ago. The money they made on the city’s sidewalks went to purchasing a keyboard, a computer and the software needed to record their album.
After producing the infamous Spongebob-sampling “I’m Ready,” now a hit with over 6 million YouTube views, Adam and Jack started tweeting the song at musicians during class at Columbia. Singer/songwriter Sia loved it, tweeting the song and meeting up with the brothers. Their big break, as it happened, was over brunch.
From her support to an incredibly dedicated online fan base, social media has been a serious part of the brothers’ success. Their music made its way around the Web long before their EP came out. They have an avid Tumblr following that makes it easy to find creatively Photoshopped birthday messages to the band, GIFs of them head-bobbing, etc. And with lyrics like "I won't forget you, but I may forget your name" and immaculately styled bow ties, it's clear why they've got teenage girls swooning on Tumblr.
Like everything else they do, AJR runs its own social media accounts.
“We want to maintain as close a connection with the fans as possible because it was through social media that we were able to get recognized,” Adam says.
Their EP, named after the hit single, came out in December 2013, with a full album coming out soon. Middle brother and self-taught ProTools expert Ryan produces their music. He knows how they want the music to sound and shapes it himself. Adam says this independence separates them from other brother groups they’re often compared to. They see themselves as more like the Beach Boys than like the Jonas Brothers.
“The album as a whole, when we play it for people, they say, “Wow, we’ve never heard something like this before,” he explains. “And that’s because we had nobody standing over our shoulders saying ‘This is how music is supposed to be made.’”
Adam says it’s a learning experience to be a DIY group. Carrying their equipment on stage and hauling their equipment across the country themselves helps them understand the entire process. Still, he said, they’re excited about the future, and hope their success affords them more wiggle room with their budget.
“Then we’ll be able to afford to get maybe a little bit bigger of a van,” Adam laughs. Even squished in with their equipment and tour manager, the brothers enjoy being on the road together.
“It’s really rewarding to be sharing this career with people that you’ve known for so long."
