“Big Time Rush at the NY State Fair”
Exclusive Interview by Michael Aaron Gallagher
From left, Logan Henderson, James Maslow, Carlos Pena and Kendall Schmidt in BIG TIME RUSH on Nickelodeon. Photo by Ben Watts/Nickelodeon. ©2010 Viacom, International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Stars of the hit Nickelodeon comedy series “Big Time Rush,” Kendall Schmidt, Logan Henderson, James Maslow and Carlos Pena, Jr. performed a free concert at Chevy Court on Sept. 1, 2011 at the New York State Fair.
The series, which was recently renewed for a third season, is currently the No. 1 show with ages 6 to 11 audiences and the No. 1 live-action series on television with ages two to 11 audiences.
In an interview, James Maslow, who plays James Diamond in the series (and has also appeared in an episode of iCarly), talked to me about the band’s concert in Central New York.
Michael Aaron Gallagher: “Tell me a little bit about your show on Nickelodeon and how you guys came together.”
James Maslow: “Well, ‘Big time Rush’ is a comedy show on Nickelodeon that is basically about four guys, me and my three best friends, that were normal hockey players in Minnesota and then got an awesome opportunity to go to Los Angeles and become a music group. And first season, it was kinda like, if we were gonna make it and if the demo was going to work out. It turns out it did. Now second season was more, kind of adventures of what four 16 and 17 year-old kids would do with that opportunity. And now going into third season, it’s really going to be like, once you kind of got on that level, where we’re playing arenas and stadiums and things like that – What do you do? What do four normal kids do with that?”
Michael Aaron Gallagher: “How did you land the role?”
James Maslow: “I was in the first audition they ever had, which turned into a two-year process of going around the country looking for different kids having acting, singing, dancing auditions and then cutting people. It was almost like an American Idol type thing for two years. Logan and I were in the first round. In the third round, about a year later, we found Carlos. They shot a pilot with somebody else in Kendall’s role and then we found Kendall in the forth round… it’s been about two years since and we’ve just been running and shooting the show. And now we’re on tour as a band.”
Michael Aaron Gallagher: “You guys had the chance to be on MTV‘s ‘10 on Top’ with Lenay Dunn a few months ago. What did you enjoy most about being on the show?”
James Maslow: “It was cool. I guess it didn’t seem as surreal because we weren’t on their set, but still to have them – MTV (which was one of my favorite channels growing up watching) – to come and interview us and then… us be the band that was like ‘Hey, no. 10, no. 9…’ to get to go through the list was pretty awesome. It was one of those moments for me that was like, we’re starting to gain some recognition and we’re starting to make it, type of moment. Because I grew up watching some of my favorite bands do the 10 on Top, so that was really, really cool.”
Michael Aaron Gallagher: “What was your favorite song to work on in the studio and what’s your favorite song to perform on stage right now?”
James Maslow: “One of my favorite songs is ‘Worldwide.’ Just in the studio we had such a great time cutting that, everybody feels that they have a really great place on the record and everybody’s voices sound really, really wonderful together. It’s one of my favorites. And in terms of performing, we just started performing one of our new singles called, ‘If I Ruled the World,’ which actually just came out on iTunes. We did that with Iyaz – he jumped on the track. So performing that is a lot of fun because it’s a newer song. It’s very upbeat… it’s a really good summer single.”
Michael Aaron Gallagher: “What’s going through your mind when you first step out on stage and what are some of the things you’re thinking about before you go out there?”
James Maslow: “Don’t screw up. You know definitely that is always in the back of my mind. You get out there and it’s like, ‘Well, if I trip walking down the street, it’s not that big of a deal. If I do it right now, there’s 15-20,000 people taking a picture of it.’ But you can’t let that scare you. In fact, that’s one of the fun things about performing live is that things will go wrong and every show something is going to be different. So it’s kinda like, what do you do, you’re going to kinda have to improve in a way and figure out how to keep the show going. You know, it’s kinda a nervousness before I get on stage, but that turns into excitement and pure energy within 10 seconds of being there. Everybody cheering, all the energy that the people are sending to you, it’s really, really exciting. It’s almost addictive.”
Michael Aaron Gallagher: “What do you enjoy most about going to the fair? Do you have any fair favorites?”
James Maslow: “I eat pretty healthy, but the funnel cakes get me. Almost every fair, I’ll have a funnel cake.”
Michael Aaron Gallagher: “Do you know if you’ll be doing a meet and greet for the fans?”
James Maslow: “Yeah, every show we do meet and greets for – I think there’s a VIP package that people buy – I’m not really sure how that works but I know that every show we do meet and greets for anywhere from 60 to 200 people. And then afterwords, we do our best to stop and say hi to fans but it’s getting kinda crazier and crazier in terms of people waiting outside. So honestly if you make a note to the fans if they can get into the VIP meet and greets that’s the easiest way to come and say hi to us and take a picture. And it’s really awesome for us because we get to meet people on a one-on-one basis and spend time with our fans.”
“Big Time Rush at the NY State Fair”
Copyright 2011 by Michael Aaron Gallagher
Photo provided by Nickelodeon
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