By Keith Loria
The forecast for July 18 calls for plenty of screams as one of the tween-set’s hottest bands, R5, will be heading to the Mercer County Park Festival Grounds in support of its new album, Sometime Last Night.
Not that one needs to be a teenage girl to enjoy the band’s music. In fact, the group has developed quite a following with high school and college students, and even the moms and dads who accompany their kids to R5 concerts can be seen singing along.
”It’s going to be lots of energy and lots of fun,” says Riker Lynch, who at 23 is the oldest member of the group and its “captain.” “A typical R5 show has us getting everyone crazy, and I guarantee that if you come to the show, you’ll have an awesome time.”
The band consists of siblings Riker, Ross, Rocky and Rydel Lynch, along with friend Ellington Ratliff, and the group became a mainstay on Disney Radio in 2013 as its Louder album rocketed to No. 1 on iTunes in 10 different countries.
Of course, Ross is also known for playing Austin Moon on the Disney hit show, Austin & Alley, while Riker recently finished in second place on the latest installment of Dancing With the Stars. Still, it’s important for everyone to make the time to keep the band going strong.
”I started Dancing With the Stars just as we started recording the album so during the first few weeks of the show, every second I wasn’t in dance rehearsals, I was at the recording studio,” he says. “Rocky and Ellington are almost always in the studio, and Ross and I come in and out and work around our schedules.”
R5 had an album ready to go last September, but Riker explained it felt a little off and so they scrapped it and started all over again.
”We wrote most of the new album in our garage. A lot of it came from personal experiences we’ve had, living our lives out in Hollywood at night,” he says. “I’m really proud of the album because we got to craft it ourselves and the core of the songwriting was from the band, which makes is much more personal.”
The collaboration of songs almost always begins with Rocky working out a musical idea, Riker said, calling his brother a “sort of musical producer” who has the whole vibe of a song in his head before anyone even hears it.
”Ross or I then come in and sing melodies over it,” Riker says. “It’s really cool because you start with something that’s already fun to listen to without words or melodies, and we sing what we’re hearing. Ross will often mumble lyrics and accidentally say words, and we just roll with that and see what happens.”
Riker said to expect many of these new songs at the show, and for those who have seen R5 in concert before, there’s going to be many surprises on this tour — including Ross playing acoustically on piano for a popular cover tune.
”We have a little bit more of production and a bigger stage setup, but lots of cool, intimate moments and some really powerful moments,” he says. “It’s really taking an R5 concert to the next level. We had a lot of inspiration in getting this together and I’m really excited to get on stage and play.”
He’s also looking forward to touring the country on the big R5 tour bus with his siblings and friend, and said rarely do they get into arguments.
”Obviously, we have our moments because we are siblings, but it doesn’t happen very often. If something happens, we just sort of work it out with the others coming in and helping,” he says. “For the most part, we get along really, really well. We have a great time so being on the tour bus 24/7 is just a lot of laughs and great stories, and at the end of the day it’s all good.”
Growing up, Riker said that he and his siblings used to put on shows in the basement and charge family members $1 per ticket. Performances could include anything from Grease to the latest moves by N’Sync.
”Once we started showing this interest, our parents started putting us in singing lessons and some dance lessons and we just always wanted to perform if people would let us,” Riker says. “I love everything about performing. The energy we create on stage together and the energy that comes from the crowd are some of the best times in my life.”
R5 will perform at the Mercer County Park Festival Grounds, West Windsor, July 18, 6 p.m. Tickets cost $35-$45; 1-888-929-7849; www.axs.com.
