AJR Talks 'Neotheater,' the Album's Easter Eggs & More During Denver Show

iHeartRadio LIVE + Verizon Bring You AJR In RiNo

AJR just finished up their "Neotheater World Tour" in support of their latest album Neotheater, and as a special treat for fans, the trio performed during an intimate show in Denver.

Neotheater is AJR's third full-length studio album following 2017'sThe Click, and showcases twelve new songs including their latest single "Dear Winter." And during the exclusive iHeartRadio LIVE and Verizon bring you AJR, the guys performed many of their new Neotheater songs, as well as fan favorites from previous albums. The guys also opened up about the making of Neotheater, how their tour went and what fans can look forward to on their spring tour, and so much more during an exclusive Q&A hosted by Steve Burrell of Channel 93.3 in Denver.

During their performance, the broke down how they created their song "Burn The House Down" step by step with their instruments. They explained, "We like to do this. If you've seen us before, you know we like to do this. If not, then we're excited to show it to you. We really think that behind the scenes in general of anything like art is the coolest thing in the world, whether it's, like, behind the scenes of movies how it was made, songs how were they made, painting, whatever it is. We love that, so we decided a really long time ago to incorporate that into our show. We do that every time."

iHeartRadio LIVE + Verizon Bring You AJR In RiNo

During their Q&A, the guys explained that they were nervous to put out Neotheater at first. They explained, "We had this album, The Click, which was our last album and it went gold. And it kind of launched our career basically, and it made everybody kind of look at us, and it ended up going gold, which was cool. It was a scary thing announcing the album after that. It's like how much do you take from that? How much do you grow? Cause I feel like we all have this with our favorite artists. It's like, 'Oh they weren't doing too far away from what I liked about them, or they're just repeating themselves. So you're kind of caught in the middle there. And so we decided to just throw all of that out and just do what we wanted to do."

And if you've listened to AJR's new album, then you already know that there are Easter eggs in it — each song has a piece of another song in it. The band said, "Our fans are so smart and we realize this every time we put out new music. We tried to do this thing on Neotheater, we have a lot of Easter eggs in it. You probably know, but every song on the album has a piece of another song in it, and we were like, people probably aren't going to get it, this is high concept or whatever. Everybody got it and we didn't even need to explain it to them. People are still coming up to us [and saying], 'Okay, got number eight number nine, give me number 10 I just need it. They're just super into it now."

Neotheater has been described as a coming of age album, and navigates the life of a 20-something, which as the guys explain, is full of a lot of "weirdness." They explained, "I think it's how we process our own ... the weirdness. But life is so weird. You know? And I think everybody ... it is. Especially right now in 2019. Dating is so weird and social media is so weird. We live in a weird time that I like artists that say, 'Look. This thing is weird.' That's why we like Black Mirror so much. So many shows are like, there's going to be a reassuring ending and that show's like, 'Hell no! There's no reassuring ending. This is how life is and let's comment on it.' I'm sure that's how they process their own weirdness, and writing albums is how we process our own weirdness."

Black Mirror isn't the only show that has influenced their music, their song "Netflix Trip" is inspired by one of their favorite shows: The Office.

AJR is heading out on tour again in the spring, and they teased of the upcoming trek, "A lot of the elements are you going to be the same, but every time we announce a new tour, a bit of it's a part two. We want to do something different. I mean, for our sake and for fans' sake, it's really cool to show up to a show and have at least one thing that surprises you so you can go out and be like, 'I've never seen that before, I get to tell my friend, Oh my God, this is a totally new thing.' You know? That's just what we all want."

iHeartRadio LIVE and Verizon bring you AJR Set List

"Sober Up"

"100 Bad Days"

"Dear Winter"

"Burn Down The House"

"Break My Face"

"Wow, I'm Not Crazy"

"Netflix Trip"

"Sleigh Ride"

"Weak"

iHeartRadio LIVE + Verizon Bring You AJR In RiNo
iHeartRadio LIVE + Verizon Bring You AJR In RiNo
iHeartRadio LIVE + Verizon Bring You AJR In RiNo
iHeartRadio LIVE + Verizon Bring You AJR In RiNo
iHeartRadio LIVE + Verizon Bring You AJR In RiNo

Photos: Getty Images


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