THE BAND DISCUSS HOUSE PARTIES FILLED WITH CAKE AND TOOTHBRUSHES AND CREATING MUSIC THAT MAKES PEOPLE HAPPY 

DEBUT ALBUM ‘DNCE’ - OUT NOW

Fresh from releasing their self-titled debut album on Friday (November 18), Joe Jonas' DNCE have covered tmrw Magazine.

In casual photos shot by Henry Dean, DNCE took to the streets in London in late October where they performed at Radio 1's Teen Awards and 2016's Rays of Sunshine concert, days before winning Best Push Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards. In the interview, DNCE tell Niall Flynn about their individual sound, how they kept the band a secret pre-launch, creating music that makes people happy, what a great time it is for pop music right now, and Joe discusses the differences between making music with friends as opposed to his brothers.

On keeping DNCE a secret before their launch:

Cole: 'Strategically, we kept the band like a ninja secret at the beginning. Nobody said anything. Nobody said anything about anything. No one knew Joe was working on anything. No one knew anything at all. It was amazing at the beginning, seeing people like 'oh DNCE, that crazy new band with the cake song!', and then people realising it was Joe, or me, or any of us. I think right now we've reached a cool medium where everyone's at peace with who we are. DNCE's a new thing that's not gonna go anywhere anytime soon.'

On how they describe the DNCE sound:

Cole: 'I think we all have a very visual connection to music and when I close my eyes and I think about it, I see a house party. Like one of those weird mansions and there's a different coloured light pulsing out of each room. Some of the rooms are really sexy. Some of the rooms, the doors are locked. Some of the rooms are wild and there's snakes and smoke and dragons. Some of the rooms are filled with cake and toothbrushes. It's a house party. Every room is a different song, that's how I picture it.'

Joe on making music with friends instead of his brothers:

‘I think it really helps - not having to sugar-coat anything. We've all be in situations before where the smallest creative criticism can turn into a huge fight. We're honest with each other and we can communicate in the right way. We're lucky to have each other and just get it. We all support it and together want to make it the best that it can be. I mean, I did it with my family - that alone is enough to make it explode. Then you add working together and performing together on top of that and it's like even crazier. We're honest. There's less pressure [with friends], but where I'm at in my life helps too. I'm older, I make my own decisions. I don't have to think 'oh my parents are in the room, can I say the word fuck in this song?' It feels good to do it this way.'

On creating music that makes people happy:

Joe: 'What we try and do is create stuff that'll put a smile on people's face, there's so much crazy stuff going on in the world these days - we like to be able to hopefully take you out of that and give you some happiness for the hour and half that we're playing. Cake was kind of like the launching pad for us, it was our introducing song to the world. It was just the wackiest idea that we could have come up with, so everything from there is kind of just easy for us. It's more simple, and free, and wild. I think if we can do that, we can do anything else. Create what we want to create.'

On pop being at its best today:

Joe: 'We grew up listening to Michael Jackson - we've always loved pop music. But I agree that it's a great time for pop now. There's a lot of good stuff out there and we want to be part of that.'

'DNCE' is available now. Buy here.

Buy tmrw Magazine: https://tmrwmagazine.com/store/volume-16/

CREDITS

Photographer: Henry Dean
Journalist: Niall Flynn