Aly & AJ recently caught up with Audacy’s Julia, sharing all about their ongoing tour, the difference and similarities between their previous album and latest one, With Love From, artist they find inspiration from, and so much more.
LISTEN NOW: Aly & AJ talk with Audacy's Julia
Wishing they could have an abundant amount of shows this year, Aly & AJ noted they have 8 coming up this month, as part of their ongoing With Love From Tour throughout this year.
"It’s really fresh in our bodies still," AJ said of their latest material, "this particular live show of ours is really special. I think we’ve grown a lot as live musicians and live performers and just our confidence on stage. The April run was really special, and I’m looking forward to September tour. It’s only 8 shows, but it’s kinda gonna round out this With Love From cycle," adding, “this album is really important to us.”
When it came to how they wanted With Love From to sound sonically, Aly explained, “I think we wanted to leave from where we left off” with their previous 2021 album A Touch of the Beat Gets You Up on Your Feet.
“We wanted to make a record that could be played back to back and they still made sense… But we approached this record a little different from A Touch of the Beat, and I think part of that was that we recorded this album with our band live. And we recorded the vocals live at the same time, which I think just gives a different kinda live aspect to the record.”
With the chaotically long title of their previous album, AJ revealed the naming of that album came about so naturally. “We weren’t trying to come up with a really long title, it just happened to be our favorite lyrics from the record, and it really summed up where we were emotionally during that time.” Contrastingly, “With Love From felt like a nice short and sweet kinda postcard, love letter to our fans, and something we thought tied up this album really well.”
As a lover of live shows herself, Julia was curious as to who Aly & AJ have seen that has impacted them the most in a way they show up and perform. “Well we just saw My Morning Jacket the other night… with Fleet Foxes… it was incredible,” Aly shared. “It was also cool that we saw them in advance of our shows coming up, cause I think that whenever you see a live show it kinda seeps into you in some way, even if it’s subconscious.” Other artists they’re influenced and inspired by include The National, Feist, Ray LaMontagne, The War on Drugs, Heart, and Incubus.
Evolving within their music and working together not only as musicians but as sisters, Aly & AJ shared the coolest transformation they’ve seen within each other throughout their journey. “I feel like we’ve kinda come into our own a bit in like what we know we do best in the band,” Aly expressed. With AJ noting, "it’s cool” but also “hard to see growth when your in it together, living it every day, so it’s hard to kinda see how it’s changed. But I do think as like songwriters and performers and vocalist we’ve grown immensely.”
Aly & AJ also shared what other creative pursuits they see themselves possibly taking on in the future, as well as what some of their dumbest fights as sisters have been. Plus since “Potential Break Up Song” will forever have a spot on a every break up playlist, Julia asked the duo to share three other tracks they’d place on theirs. Staying true to that particular era of “teen angst,” the list included Paramore’s “Misery Business,” something from Michelle Branch’s Hotel Paper, and Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated.”
Check out the entire conversation above.