Push Play: Pretenders To The Jonas Brothers’ Throne
Two New York-area newspapers have christened Long Island quartet Push Play as next in line to cash in on the hormone-crazed tween girls of the tri-state area and beyond. The unsigned band, which is headlining a April 26 show at the 2,100-seat Nokia Theatre Times Square, is a blandish pop group who like to wear snazzy outfits on stage, but they’re not the Jonas Brothers. Except they kind of are, although they’re not related to each other, and their music isn’t particularly catchy. So what are we even doing here?
“People can compare us to Jonas Brothers all they want. I mean, we’re the same age as them,” said Mr. Baran, a 6-foot-3 senior at St. Anthony’s High School, who was flanked by his bandmates on a sofa outside his home recording studio during a recent interview here. “But I think our music is different. Their music is the epitome of poppy. Ours is poppy as well, but it has more of a rock ‘n’ roll feeling.”
Upon review of their MySpace page, it appears that they really aren’t much like the Jonas Brothers aside from outward appearances. Their music skims off the top of several contemporary genres, creating a sort of diluted mishmash that pales in comparison to the J.Bros.’ high-gloss hooks. “Away Away” and “Far From Beautiful” sound like old Fall Out Boy rejects, and “There She Goes Again” sounds like Panic at the Disco with a vocoder and without professional production. Speaking of vocoders, one listen to the song “Starlite Addiction” and T-Pain will know where his went. “Situation” starts with a decent homage to old school hip-hop beats, but then it sort of melds into a song you’d hear over the sound system at a beachwear store on South Padre Island. So you can take that for what it’s worth.
They seem like perfectly nice boys, who apparently did a tour around Long Island to raise money for charities, but for future reference, Newsday and The New York Times, please don’t distract me from the Jonas Brothers again until you’ve got something worth my while.
Push Play [Official Site] Push Play [MySpace] LI’s new fab four [Newsday] Making Music, and Their Own Rules [New York Times]
