TORONTO – The last time the Jonas Brothers appeared at MuchMusic, thousands of shrieking fans clogged downtown Toronto hoping to catch a glimpse of the Disney pop idols.
On June 21, the brothers will return to host the MuchMusic Video Awards, which tends towards a carnival-like atmosphere even without the presence of an ultra-popular teen trio.
So Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas, who have never hosted an award show before, say they’re already bracing themselves.
“I hear that it’s crazy,” said Nick Jonas in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. “Which is always exciting, we always look forward to a little bit of craziness at an award show.”
If the past is any indication, they won’t be left wanting.
Remember the showdown between Canadian television personality Mary Jo Eustace and former “Beverly Hills 90210” star Tori Spelling, who had taken up with Eustace’s ex-husband Dean McDermott?
Or how about the year Avril Lavigne wrote MMVA on her backside and then mooned the cameras?
Other outlandish behaviour from MMVAs past includes Blur’s Damon Albarn zipping through the hallways on a motorized wheelchair stolen from a CHUM TV reporter and Geri Halliwell, who had recently split from the Spice Girls, shouting “I need a good Canadian man to fertilize my eggs” before presenting a trophy.
Some of that raunch doesn’t exactly mesh with the Jonas Brothers’ squeaky clean image.
“I think for us, we won’t compromise what we’re comfortable doing,” Nick Jonas said. “Everything we do is for our fans. We’re going to have fun, hopefully.
“We’re all really excited to see what we can do with the show and see how we can make it our own.”
Of course, the Jonas Brothers have proven that they can take a joke.
They gamely participated in a “Saturday Night Live” skit in which a mop-topped Alec Baldwin pretended to be the long-lost fourth Jonas brother, Gary, who had a taste for booze and drugs and didn’t share in the group’s commitment to abstinence.
Nick Jonas says the group will have no problem sharing a laugh at their own expense during the show.
“We’re the kind of guys who aren’t afraid to poke fun at ourselves,” he said. “We’ll figure out a fun way to incorporate some humour into the show. We definitely don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
Meanwhile, the group’s presence could prove to be a real coup for MuchMusic.
Last year’s show featured a dimmer collection of stars than usual, with a performance by a reunited New Kids on the Block billed as the main attraction.
In addition to MC duties, the Jonas Brothers will perform at this year’s show, which coincides with a world tour and the release of their fourth studio album, “Lines, Vines and Trying Times.”
Jonas says he’s thrilled about the record, which drops June 15, and cites Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder, the Eagles and Journey as influences.
“The record is amazing,” he said. “It’s got three distinct sounds, that’s why there’s three words in the title. … There’s kind of like a funk sound, a little bit of a country-sounding thing, and then the classic rock.”
He says each part of the title carries a different meaning – the trying times refer to the state of the world, the lines represent what people see in them, and the vines are everything that gets in the way.
Like what, exactly?
“I think just life in general, when you’re on a path and maybe something gets in the way of where you’re going,” he said. “As long as you keep pressing on, you’ll get to your destination.”
