It's time for In House, AOL Music's original series where we welcome artists to our office for interviews, live performances, photo shoots and chill sessions with the staff. The latest guests to visit our New York "hang lounge" were none other than the Big Time Rush guys. Full disclosure here, we've known the band (from above left: James, Carlos, Logan and Kendall) for years and couldn't wait to catch up on everything from their latest album, 'Elevate,' to their recent tour experience with Justin Bieber.
During our time together, the Nickelodeon stars and top-selling band reminisced about the year they've had -- and, boy, it's been a busy one! "We sat down with Sony [our record label] and Nickelodeon last year and they were like, '2011 ... a lot of work. It's going to be hard,' remembers James. "We were like, 'Cool, we're ready for it. Then recently we sat down with them again and they go, '2012 ... a lot of work!'
So what exactly kept the guys so busy this year? Read on to find out, plus hear what's on the horizon for them in 2012!
Your new CD, 'Elevate' was released recently. What has been some of your favorite fan responses to the record?
James Maslow: One of the favorite things the fans are saying a lot, that I like, is that, "I've been elevated," which means they bought the album and they love the album. The first album people definitely enjoyed but this one is more of a phenomenon. We're definitely more proud of it. We wrote a majority of it and were much more hands on. So I get a ton of responses saying "I've been elevated" and they just replay the album over and over again.
Carlos Pena: I read one today though, some chick goes, "I just want to thank you guys because the song, 'You're Not Alone' helped me get through my grandpa's funeral". And that's cool. That's just a song we created from scratch and put vocals on and just put it out there ... it's affecting people.
Logan Henderson: With fan mail, we may never get to see those things because sometimes it gets lost in the mail or lost in translation ... butTwitter, it's direct to us. We check it every day. We always make sure we carve out time for it every day.
Kendall Schmidt: I always feel bad, I'm not tweeting every other day. Like I'll be gone 3 days. and they're like, "WHERE'VE YOU BEEN?!" And I'm like, "I just forget."
JM: Or I don't want to do it for a minute ... where you know, you don't think about it. And they're like, "ARE YOU OKAY???" And I'm like, "Yeah, I just haven't tweeted for a few days!"
Well, that's how rumors get started. How many times has Justin Bieber been killed now ... 10 ... 11?
KS: Well he's not a real human being. He's an alien.
CP: He's died a few times. Come back to life. Like a cat. Nine lives.
KS: When Justin Bieber goes home, he like, takes off his skin like Oprah takes off her's, like because, he's an alien.
JM: I feel like most people really wouldn't be freaked out. They'd be like, "OK, makes sense. I feel a little better about the situation now."
KS: Just kidding!!! He's a nice kid. A nice little alien. He's a nice ... "kid".
I'm sure you're already thinking about the next album ... any collaborations you'd love to get on future CDs?
KS: I can't say how many interviews that we've said Justin Timberlake. We love Justin Timberlake.
CP: I was gonna say Adele.
LH: You know what? Drake's new album is so sick. To do a song with him would be a dream come true.
KS: Nicki Minaj. Fun to do a song with Nicki.
What song ... and it could be your's or another artist's ... describes your life right now?
KS: 'Leaving On A Jet Plane'
LH: We're flying a lot.
CP: There's a song by John Legend which is one of my all time favorite songs ... it's called 'Slow Dance.' I'm trying to just take everything a little bit slower and trying to soak it all in. For me, it's kind of like I want to take a slow dance with what's going on. So I can sit back and be like "Wow! We JUST played in front of the president. Let me think about that." But things go quick it's like, NEXT OKAY NEXT OKAY NEXT! I want to sit down and have a slow dance with the president ... let me sit and think about that, you know?
KS: A slow dance with the president?
CP: Well, not really...maybe a little spin with the first lady?
KS: I kissed her on the cheek. I kissed her on the cheek like twice in one minute. It's so crazy how that security is. I had to go the bathroom while I was meeting him, like in the middle of it. I was literally like, "I have to pee." I was literally shaking his hand and I was like, "Dude it's so nice to meet you! I'm outta here." I literally had like a little pep in my step, to just jump out of that little room. And some guy was was like ... WHABOOM! "You get the pep out of your step. The president is here. You get the pep out of here." I mean, it's crazy.
JM: But it's pretty unreal to think we went up there and the whole first family knows us all by our first names. I mean, I don't know how many people can say that.
LH: It was a very proud moment for all of us.
JM: The whole introduction was: "This is an early Christmas present to Malia and Sasha."
CP: I was so nervous.
KS: And then he started whispering. While we were singing. They were kind of talking among themselves. And I thought to myself, "Are we doing a bad job?"
LH: Yeah like: "Get them out of here? What, could we not book Katy Perry?"
So let's talk your tour with that "alien" Bieber ...
KS: That was crazy. We hacky-sacked with him for a good twenty minutes. We didn't want to stop until we got a full hack.
LH: That was somewhat memorable, but for me it was the 70,000 thousand people lined up to...
KS: Oh, God, well she knows that part.
CP: He's never hacky-sacked with an alien before, leave him alone.
KS: No, litearlly, that was the coolest part. It was 75,000 the first night, 65,000 the second night.
JM: They knew all the words. It was such a blessing. It was really cool.
KS: The elevation [in South America] was so different and we didn't really expect it. The first two songs I was so out of breath. I had to run under the stage while they talked to take oxygen. I'm going "Ehhhh!!!"
JM: I had gotten a sinus infection so I was an antibiotics the first night and with the elevation, dude, I was nervous to do a back flip then. I was like, "Where am I?" in the air. And on top of that, being nervous in front of 70,000 people. It was amazing.
Another artist I know you are close with is Demi Lovato. Would you ever consider working with her in the future?
LH: We'd love to do a song with her. We saw her two times in the last few days at Jingle Balls. I asked her. All it would take is a day to write and record a song and you have it. Whether or not it gets used, I don't know, but it would be really great.
JM: Her new record is awesome.
KS: I think to have her on our TV show would step into some awesome boundaries with Disney and Nickelodeon. It would be kind of cool.
LH: It's cool to see how someone has grown since you've known them, as an artist and a person.
I don't know if we've ever asked how the two of you met?
LH: Acting class. It was the same acting class with Selena Gomez and Demi and myself and Cody Linely. A group of all of us ... I still talk to Cody. Not so much right now, he's still busy. He just booked a new show.
A big project you have coming up in the new year is your movie! I know much of it is under wraps, but what can you tell me about it?
KS: It's going to be wild.
CP: We just found out that it works.
JM: We got a text from our creator and producer that it was the best first cut of a Nickelodeon movie they've ever seen!!
After such a crazy 2011, you finally get a chance to rest over the Christmas and New Year's break. What are your plans for the vaca?
LH: I'm definitely going back home to Texas.
KS: I think we're all going home to spend time with our families.
CP: Snowboarding, there's going to be a few snowboarding trips to go on. James and I are going to snowboarding.
JM: This is the first vacation where we're not vacationing together.
KS: I'm going to Bali. I will be literally seven thousand miles away from any of you guys.
CP: Yay!
Source: AOL Music
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