Believe it or not, not every song will be about a girl, says Kendall Schmidt of the band's upcoming album, due out this summer.
On Monday night in Los Angeles, Big Time Rush -- the four-piece boy band spawned from its eponymous Nickelodeon TV show -- took the stage at the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd. for a four-song set (including a cover of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble") in front of a large audience of overtly ecstatic preteen fans, as well as stars including former Disney actress Hillary Duff and the boys' co-star Ciara Bravo.
After the show, which included an opening set from Victoria Justice, the boys of BTR, Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow, Carlos Pena and Logan Henderson, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the bands new studio album, the fourth season of their Nickelodeon series and their upcoming summer tour.
We have pretty much written the whole album ourselves, says Henderson of their forthcoming release, due out this summer. It is much different from the last two.
The bands 2010 debut album, BTR, reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart and their 2011 sophomore album, Elevate, peaked at No. 12.
The first album was written heavily towards the TV show, the second one we were writing for radio, explains Maslow. This time we just did it for fun.
Adds Schmidt: Believe it or not, not every song will be about a girl."
Asked about their musical inspirations, Maslow is quick to respond with Justin Timberlake, citing the famous 'N Sync alum as his professional paradigm. Adding that Timberlakes new album, The 20/20 Experience, contains songs that are up to eight minutes long, which is "crazy in a generation where people can barely listen to two-minute songs.
Production on new episodes of Big Time Rush, the series, began in January and will be premiering this spring. Schmidt tells THR that the latest season of the Scott Fellows-created series will be more music-centric, saying, There is some sort of song in ever other episode, whereas in previous seasons it was every third or fourth episode.
Devoted Rushers will be able to catch the band live, in concert, on their 2013 Summer Break Tour, which kicks off in Los Angeles at the Gibson Amphitheater on June 21.
The boys are all in agreement that their third, consecutive summer tour is "gonna be big, featuring pyrotechnics and fellow Nick star Justice. "We were involved in almost every part of the tour, which is cool," says Henderson, while Maslow allows that they've struggled to choose the set list. "We're going to be playing some new music, and now we have a catalogue," he says. "It's gonna be hard to figure out the set!"
A complete list of tour dates below:
Jun 21 Los Angeles, CA Gibson Amphitheatre
Jun 22 Del Mar, CA Del Mar Fair
Jun 23 Concord, CA Sleep Train Pavilion at Concord
Jun 25 Phoenix, AZ Desert Sky Pavilion
Jun 26 Tucson, AZ AVA
Jun 28 Houston, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Jun 29 Dallas, TX GEXA Energy Pavilion
Jun 30 Oklahoma City, OK Chesapeake Energy Center
Jul 2 Southaven, MS Landers Center
Jul 3 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Jul 5 West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre
Jul 6 St. Augustine, FL St. Augustine Amphitheatre
Jul 7 Raleigh, NC Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek
Jul 9 Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte
Jul 10 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
Jul 12 Bethel, NY Bethel Woods Center
Jul 13 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
Jul 14 Burgettstown, PA First Niagara Pavilion
Jul 16 Camden, NJ Susquehana Bank Center
Jul 18 Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
Jul 19 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium
Jul 20 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun
Jul 20 Harrington, DE Delaware State Fair
Jul 21 Mansfield, MA Comcast Center
Jul 23 Gilford, NH Meadowbrook
Jul 24 Bangor, ME Bangor Waterfront
Jul 26 Baltimore, MD Pier Six Pavilion
Jul 27 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga PAC
Jul 28 Darien Center, NY Darien Lake PAC
Jul 30 Toledo, OH Toledo Zoo Amphitheatre
Jul 30 Clearfield, PA Clearfield County Fairgrounds
Jul 31 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
Aug 2 Noblesville, IN Klipsch Music Center
Aug 3 Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
Aug 4 Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Aug 6 Columbus, OH Schottenstein Center
Aug 7 Cincinnati, OH U.S. Bank Arena
Aug 9 Sioux City, IA Gateway Arena
Aug 10 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
Aug 11 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theater
