The pop-rock sister duo of Aly & AJ has only played Pittsburgh a few times, hitting Philadelphia more in their 20-plus years of performing. But that doesn’t mean there’s no connection to the city. In fact, younger sister AJ Michalka has two fictional ties to Pennsylvania.
“Usually we are in Philly, but funny enough, I don’t necessarily have ‘memories’ from there, but I’ve now been on two TV shows that both took place (there), which is hilarious,” she said. “One called ‘The Goldbergs,’ and then one that I did as a kid called ‘The Guardian.’ So my acting side as an actor and character has experienced a lot of life in Philly and Pittsburgh.”
Aly & AJ — sisters Alyson “Aly” and Amanda Joy “AJ” Michalka — have been acting and making music since they were kids. They’ve appeared in a variety of Disney Channel shows and movies (and even had their own Nintendo DS game). More recently, Aly starred in CW’s “Hellcats” and “iZombie,” while AJ guested on “The Masked Singer” and is slated for Season 4 of HBO’s “The White Lotus.”
As a musical act, they’ve released six studio albums, including last year’s “Silver Deliverer.” They’ll back on the road on their “Places to Run” tour, which starts Saturday in Charlottesville, Va., and includes an April 7 stop at the Roxian Theatre in McKees Rocks.
In a Zoom call Monday from California, Aly & AJ spoke with TribLive about tour preparation, live shows, “Silver Deliverer,” acting and more. Find a transcript of the conversation, edited for clarity and length, below.
You did some acoustic busking last October when you were here (at Stage AE). How did that go?
AJ: We went to that beautiful park …
Aly: Which was by the water, and it was just so peaceful. We had such a lovely day.
AJ: That was actually one of my favorite pre-show moments at that park.
Aly: Yeah, I agree. And it was funny because we did it really last minute, so we were actually not sure if people were even going to show up, and then people ended up trickling in and it was actually really sweet.
Does that take you back a little bit, doing those type of things?
AJ: It does.
Aly: For sure.
AJ: Because that’s how we started. Aly and I, that’s how we started was just us on acoustic guitar, just the two of us harmonizing, singing original songs. Every time we’re in that kind of situation, it takes me back immediately to being a young kid.
This will be the “Places to Run” tour, so how much running around do you have to do this week before heading out on the road?
Aly: (laughs) Oh my gosh, places to run, about a million, especially since I’ve got to pack for my kid who’s joining us, so it’s like a whole other situation. We’ve done a lot of pre-packing. We just did a big drop at our storage unit yesterday, which felt nice, and today is packing for myself. So yeah, (yawns) the husband and my (1-year-old) son are packed.
AJ: As she yawns …
Aly: Yeah, I know. It’s just me that’s left. But we’re trying to run around and get as many things and appointments and stuff done as possible before we’re gone for six weeks. But I think it’ll be fun once we’re out on the road and all of those errands and things just cease to exist.
AJ: Yeah, when you’re out, everything else kind of disappears. So to pack everything in before you leave, when you’re gone for six weeks, is a little bit stressful. But once you’re out on the road, everything, like Aly said, it all falls to the wayside and you’re just ready to rock.
Are there any venues or countries that you haven’t played yet that are high on your list?
AJ: Wow. I mean, we’ve hit some really beautiful venues in the states. My dream, if we’re talking North America, is Red Rocks. That’s my dream dream venue. In terms of other countries, Aly and I would love to play Australia. That is on my list. That’s No. 1. What about you, Al?
Aly: Yeah, we’ve never hit Australia. That’s a big one. We haven’t really done a tour in Asia at all. We played some radio shows or something — I don’t know exactly what it was — in Japan years ago, right? Didn’t we have a performance or something? I forget AJ, but it was so long ago.
AJ: Yeah, it was a radio tour.
Aly: Then we’re really excited that we get to hit up Maine, which I don’t think we’ve ever (done). Have we ever played a show, AJ, in Maine?
AJ: I don’t think so. When it comes to this tour, I’m with Aly. Portland, Maine, I’m really excited for. I don’t think we’ve ever played there. And if so, maybe in 2006, 2007.
Aly: An early, early tour. We’re hitting Rhode Island, some spots that we just don’t get to because they’re not a major city on a tour routing. We’re also hitting Wyoming. That’s the first time. We’ve never played Wyoming, so I’m really excited about that.
AJ: We’ve never played Montana, which I would really love to play Bozeman. We’ve never played in Alaska. We’ve never played Anchorage. There’s definitely some spots where I’m like, it would be really fun to hit some of those spots. We don’t go to New Orleans all the time. It’s rare we play Miami, which we’re playing on this run, which I’m really excited for, that we’re playing this ZeyZey venue. It’s gonna be a good run. We got a lot of places to run, and we’re running them with a baby, so it’s gonna be a very fun tour.
What do you take away from the live experience? Is there anything that compares to that connection you make with the crowd?
Aly: I think it’s really unique, you know? It really is unlike anything, but I feel like it’s one of those things where live music, thankfully, is so special and so on its own pedestal when it comes to an art form. Even with technology and all these changes and things that our world is going through, I think people will always strive to experience an in-person live concert. That’s really cool. It’s gotten a lot harder for artists to tour when they’re not at an enormous level where you’re playing arenas or stadiums. So that’s been hard to see just the touring industry really struggle post-covid, but hopefully there’s an upswing when it comes to just the success of smaller venues and medium-sized venues coming back and still sustaining, and that touring is able to continue to happen for bands like us.
AJ: Yeah, 100%. But I do have to say from an artistic point of view, being that we’re also actors, I don’t think there’s anything like being on a live stage. And we haven’t done any theater, so I don’t know what that’s like really, but being on stage and just receiving that energy and love from your fans in real time as you’re giving it back to them is unlike any other thing.
If you were forced to answer, would you consider yourselves actors who sing or singers who act?
AJ: It’s tricky because we started really young doing both, so I kind of think we’re equally on par with both careers. But I think I would, from a heart perspective and just what I love, first and foremost, I would say singers who also act, just because I think that’s the foundation of Aly and I’s sisterhood. I feel like music also fed the excitement for acting because it was something that we were really passionate about from a young age. Yeah, I would say musicians who also act.
Does one of them come easier to you?
AJ: I wouldn’t say either come easy. I think we have a natural skill and talent for both, but I wouldn’t say either of them are an easy task. But I do think that there’s a natural ability there that over the years we’ve been able to work on for a long time, which has only made us better.
Aly: Agreed. I think it feels second nature to us, the longer we do it.
Your sixth studio album, “Silver Deliverer,” came out last year. What did you hope to accomplish with that and do you feel like you hit the mark with it?
Aly: We’ve never been more proud of an album that we’ve made in this career so far, outside of “Silver Deliverer.” It’s such a special and unique record for us. I think part of it is because the place that we recorded it in Topanga Canyon and the fact that it was with Jonathan Wilson, who is just such a magical human being and musician himself and producer who really was just down to really capture the essence of this music. But I think the record hopefully has legs and continues to be discovered over the years. I think, in all of our discography, it’s probably not our most popular, if you just looked at the hardcore numbers. But I think that a lot of times, a record will grow over time and then people will come to really understand why the artists stood by it so intensely. I think that it’s a really strong record. I think that the reason why it shines so much is that it translates so well live. I think that’s the best part of the album is that it just walks right on to stage. That’s hard to capture if you’re not an actual band, like obviously AJ and I are a duo, but we’re not a band. We’re not five musicians up there all kind of creating music together. This is like a hired band behind us. But because we have worked with them for so long, it feels like we’ve been able to integrate that into our live performance in a way that feels like we are a band up on stage. But it’s really unique.
AJ: 100%.
What have been your favorites from the new album to play live?
AJ: I think some of my favorites have been “Lasso,” “Places to Run” and “Next to Nothing.” Those three are just so magical live, but then there’s songs like “Dandelions” and “Silver Deliverer.” To me, the whole album live, like Aly said, is such an experience and the record translates live so well, which is always our goal when we make a record. But I hope we’re honoring this album as best we can because it is so special to us. By the time we’ll have been done touring it, it will be two years of working this record live, which I’m really proud of because I feel like records deserve that kind of time on stage. Then once you work on a new one, it doesn’t get that kind of airtime again. Your new songs are kind of taking precedence. So the more records we put out, it’s obviously harder and harder to build a setlist because you kind of have your favorite kids. But I’m so proud of this album. I think “Lasso,” “Places to Run,” “Next to Nothing,” those really hit hard live for me.
Do you feel like a song’s meaning can change? “Protecting Me,” for example, came out more than 20 years ago. Can a song change over the years for you?
AJ: I think so, yeah. If we’re using “Protecting Me” as an example, when we wrote that we were so young, we actually, I joke to this day and the memory still holds up, we wrote that about our parents, which is really sweet. It was two young girls writing about their parents protecting them, (laughs) which looking back is so innocent and pure. But now that we’ve been in relationships, I think of that as like my partner protecting me, or my sister. So I do think meanings can shift over time, but you never really forget where the song came from.
A portion of this tour got bumped to December. So AJ, are you ready to step into the world of “The White Lotus”? How do you prepare for that?
AJ: Yeah, I’m really excited. Every role you’re kind of preparing in a different way, and I’ve already kind of found my flow with this character and I’m really excited. It’s a wild thing to be a part of a big show like this because it’s already so established. So you just want to honor the work and Mike (White)’s such a brilliant writer that you just want to bring your best work to it, which I want to do with every project I’m in, whether it’s a tiny, tiny indie or a big TV show. So yeah, just studying it. And I’m going to take all my study on the road with me and in between being on stage, I’ll be working on the show. It’s kind of cool to flip between the two careers.
And Aly, any chance of an “iZombie” reunion by showing up on “Ghosts”?
Aly: Oh, I would love it. I would be so happy to. I actually just saw Rose (McIver) and Rahul (Kohli) (Sunday), which is so crazy. We hadn’t been in a room together in a while, a very long time.
AJ: Yeah, you kind of had your own little reunion.
Aly: We literally had our own reunion yesterday. But, yeah, that would be so fun. I would be super down. I would be excited to be able to work with either of them again. We feel like an extended family at this point, having worked together as many years as we did.
