By Dean Poling
Interviewing pop-TV-movie stars Aly & AJ during a conference call can get confusing. Quite often the interviewer isn’t certain who said what. They often finish each other’s sentences and occasionally say the same thing simultaneously.
But, hey, spend time with any sisters, close sisters, who have and do spend a lot of their time together and these things happen.
Aly and AJ continue spending time together this Saturday evening as they return to perform in concert at Wild Adventures.
These sisters spend a lot of time together, not just as family, but as business partners and as a creative team.
“We’re sisters,” one says. “We fight every day over something.”
“But we get along most of the time,” the other says, “and we usually think alike in work and business.”
“We’re closer because of all we do together.”
“We have to bond or it’s not going to work ...”
“Being together 24/7.”
“On tour, Aly and I have to relate,” AJ says. “If one of us is struggling in the boy department, the other one is too because we’re always away.”
For this phone interview, each one is home, in their separate rooms, in California.
Born Alyson and Amanda Michalka, being Aly & AJ started as family nicknames, which the sisters have further modified and shortened to Al and “Age.” Aly is the oldest at 19 while AJ is 17.
Their careers started when they were little girls, always singing, forming their own band by the time AJ was 9 years old.
Aly found work on TV in the show “Phil of the Future,” and both have had other acting jobs.
In 2005, the debut Aly & AJ album “Into the Rush” went platinum.
The sisters became the most requested act on Radio Disney for several months with hits like “Rush,” “Chemicals React,” “Greatest Time of the Year” and “Whoa,” with some of the songs having mainstream success as well as hitting the contemporary Christian charts. Last year’s “Potential Break-up Song” was touted as one of 2007’s 10 best tunes by Time magazine.
Now, the sisters are working toward making the transition from teen stars to adult stars. It is a move they are charting slowly, not so much as a leap, but as a step-by-step process.
“We’re older now and growing up and having new experiences,” one sister says.
They will return to the studio this fall to record a new album, which they describe as being more rock than past recordings. They are also working on a new movie.
Both projects should be ready for release in 2009.
But for now, they will spend most of this summer touring by themselves and at times with Sheryl Crow, singing, and being sisters living life on the road.
• SHOWTIME
Pop stars Aly & AJ perform with opening act Brock Storm.
When: Music starts 7 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Wild Adventures, Old Clyattville Road.
Admission: Concert is
included in the park’s
regular admission and with the park’s Passports.
Reserved seating is also available for an additional $20.
More information: Call 219-7080, opt. 2; or visit the Web site wildadventures.net
