Hello Kitty fans! Aly & AJ

We Heart Aly & AJ

Actresses, singers, songwriters, Hello Kitty fans! Aly & AJ sure are busy this summer - a new album, a nationwide tour, a movie on MTV, new puppies, and more!
SANRIO is proud to be a sponsor of their tour and excited to go on the road with them for what will be a really cool experience! We will post behind-the-scenes updates and pics from the tour right here at Sanrio.com, so be sure to check back regularly!
We recently chatted with the super-busy stars during a photo shoot in Los Angeles, CA. Here is what they had to say!
PART 1 - Busy Girls!

So tell us about your new album called...Insomnia?

AJ Close! It's actually called Insomniatic. There's a little twist in there. It's so funny too because it's not a real word, Insomniatic, well not until now!

ALY Yup, we made it up, AJ and I just made Insomniatic a new word!
You created a new word and wrote the whole album yourselves?

ALY Yup! It was a lot of work but it was a really cool creative process. We had a great team of people surrounding us and it was so much fun writing the songs at home, then going to the studio, then writing some more. We also did a lot of writing on the road this past summer which was great too.It was refreshing to get back in the studio too, after being on tour... getting up, writing, going to the studio, recording, laying our ideas down. We love it!

AJ The really cool thing about this new record is that we did it differently. A lot of songs on our previous record were written on the guitar. This record wrote a lot on guitar, but we also wrote on piano. The first single "Potential Breakup Song" we actually wrote to a beat. So it was interesting to do it a little differently this time.

So do you write the music together?

AJ We mainly write the songs together. Aly and I will sometimes come up with something on our own, sitting in our room or something,then we come together and share our ideas and tweak them and work on them

ALY Yeah its definitely a joint effort.

And when did you learn to play music?

ALY We started piano when we were little kids, about 6 years old. We started guitar about 4 or 5 years ago.

Do you prefer one or the other?

ALY We actually like them both. We love both! We are not actually able to take lessons as much as we would like because we are so busy right now, but we practice every day. It's cool because we get different kinds of songs from each instrument. We get different inspirations from each one. Since a lot of this record was written on the piano, it is going to have a different feel.

So is the new album going to sound really different from the previous one?

AJ I think so. It is still us, but we have definitely grown more since the last one. We have experienced more, we've been on the road, we've met lots of great people. We've lived longer! So I think that our writing and our vocals and our ability to express ourselves has grown since the last record.
I think this record is higher energy too, more danceable. But it still has a rock feel to it too. It's cool. I would say it is definitely something that people can crank in their rooms and dance to!

Cool! So you guys also have a movie coming out right?

ALY Yes-we have our movie coming out on July 8th on MTV, "Super Sweet Sixteen : The Movie". It is based on the reality series.

But you guys seem a little nicer than a lot of the people on that show!

AJ Well, I am nice in the movie, but Aly is not nice at all!

So you are acting?

ALY Right. It's fun! It's got all the drama and all the real-life crisis of the show in it but its funny. It was fun to play the not-nice one! My character's vibe was different from a lot of the characters that I have played. And she dresses differently. It was fun to be the mean girl! I am so not like that in real life so it was fun to play someone who was the complete opposite of me.

AJ And we don't play sisters, we play rivals!

So you are not like that in real life?

AJ No we are both pretty chill! I mean we have little fights sometimes....

ALY ...but we don't have the drama. We never cause the drama like that at school like our characters do.We usually try to stop it!

AJ Yeah we are more like the mediators. We are usually the ones saying "no you guys! Don't fight!"

So an album, a movie, and you are also getting ready for your national tour?

ALY Yup- we are in band rehearsals right now, which is also fun. Working out our show and making sure it runs smoothly. I love doing the prep for tours.

AJ Yeah we are going out on tour for a while, starting this July.

You guys are non-stop! How long will you be touring?

ALY We don't even know for sure! We keep adding dates. Right now it is two months, but they are adding dates through September and October.

That's a long time on the road! Do you guys bring anything with you so you don't get homesick?

AJ We bring lots of pictures of our family and friends. And of course our iPods.

ALY And our cell phones! We can't go without out that. We are always texting.

AJ Oh yeah we are always texting. And this time we are going to bring our puppies! We have four dogs now.

ALY and I each got a new puppy, so they are going to come with us. They are named Roadie and Willow. So we will have little companions on the road!

So what do you enjoy about being on tour?

ALY We love to share the music with the fans! We have had such a great time playing and maybe inspiring kids to just pick up an instrument and play. And it is great to see all the faces of our fans, the people on the message boards and the ones who send us fanmail. They encourage us and inspire us. It is so cool when someone comes up to me and says "that song made me think about something" or "that song helped me through a difficult time". That's what we are here for. That's probably the best thing we could hear as artists!

AJ We also like the traveling part too... meeting new people and traveling all over the world. It is so much fun for Aly and I. We get to experience so many things that not everybody our age gets to experience. We are really grateful. It's pretty cool!

Be sure to check back soon to hear Aly & AJ dish more about getting ready for their tour, staying up late, and what they think about Hello Kitty!

-

Source : http://www.sanrio.com/news/featured/