Honor Society Discuss How Chasing a Girl Is Like Breaking into the Music Industry

Honor Society, a "brotherhood" comprised of Michael Bruno (lead vocals, guitar), Jason Rosen (backing vocals, guitar, keyboard), Andrew Lee Schmidt (backing vocals, bass guitar) and Alexander Noyes (backing vocals, drums) return with their sophomore album 'A Tale of Risky Business Part 2.' After being discovered by the Jonas Brothers and joining them on their 2009 world tour, then opening for the likes of Timbaland on his 2010 Shock Value II Tour, the band is set to headline their own sixth tour, the Salvation Army's Rock the Red Kettle Tour.

AOL Music caught up with Honor Society to get the details on the new album, hear about the guys' latest episodes of "risky business," and discuss how trying to win over a girl is like trying to break it in the music biz. And yes, they all made the honor society in school -- by the way.

How have you all grown as a group and as artists since the release of your debut album two years ago?

Michael Bruno: In the past years we've really grown as people. We had the whirlwind of our first album coming out, going on national tours, headlining tours, opening for the biggest artists in the music industry. I think that regrouping back in Los Angeles after that crazy year and a half and then just writing so much material, we just grew as musicians and lyricists and having 300 shows under our belts definitely helps. Once we got back into the rehearsal studio, so many new song ideas were coming out. So, we feel like this album is a progression.

How has your sound evolved?

Alexander Noyes: We are still the same band. We still have that honor society sound -- a mixture of rock and funk and R&B -- but I think the biggest thing is that we are now an evolution of that band and we've all grown up a little bit in the past year.

What is the song writing process like for you guys?

Jason Rosen: There's no real formula, it's pretty organic. We just get together and shoot around ideas about whatever is on our minds and on our hearts. It's a fun, collaborative effort.

How do you resolve your creative differences when they arise?

Noyes: Fight to the death! [laughs] No, we are all good friends. We've been in this band for almost five years and we've been living with each other in such close proximity that we've become best friends. It really is a collaborative effort and we all understand that we are on the same team, and the best idea usually just shows itself.

Bruno: I think we're all very intuitive, so if we feel a fight coming on we all just take our space. We keep it pretty mellow, to be honest.

You've toured with huge acts like Timbaland and the Jonas Brothers. What has been the most memorable moment from your on-the-road experiences?

Bruno: When we toured with the Jonas Brothers, we played a show in Toronto and there were about 60,000 people and it just literally was the moment of everything you daydreamed about as a kid. And from the Timbaland tour, it was really just being around greatness. Timbaland is a legend, to say the least. He was always ahead of the game and he had this incredible band that came out and played with Prince and Justin Timberlake. Every night on that tour was just a musical education for us.

Noyes: We're coming up on our sixth national headlining tour in November, and we've had some pretty memorable moments from our own shows. We're all from New York, and I remember the first time we all came back, we sold out Irving Plaza. When you get to see your friends and your parents in the crowd, that always sticks out as one of those big moments.

What is your band's backstage pre-show ritual?

Bruno: We try keeping it lax for the most part up until the last 10 minutes before we go on stage, then we usual huddle together, have a prayer, then pump ourselves up. It's almost like the huddle a basketball team does before a game.

What inspired your album title, 'A Tale of Risky Business Part 2'?

Noyes: The title of the album is a nod to our first record together, 'The Tale of Risky Business.' That was an EP that we put out in 2008, and that EP really sort of broke the band. It was the EP that the Jonas Brothers heard, and they got so excited about the record that they ultimately signed us and brought us on that world tour of theirs. So it's sort of a nod to our roots, it's sort of a nod to that do-it-yourself mentality, and we're so proud of it. We really feel the record is a complete musical journey, and as corny as that sounds we really put a lot of work into making it a full album.

Bruno: To listen to it and have a complete artistic statement was what we really were striving for.

Is there an overarching theme to the album?

Noyes: There's definitely a theme to it. The things that we've gone through personally and professionally were very much mirroring each other, and each song has a theme that you can either read into from a personal point of view, or from a relationship standpoint, and then also from our career/band standpoint. We didn't set out to do that on purpose. We started to notice that as the songs came out, and that's the tale. Take a song like 'Run for Your Money' for instance, that's a song about someone saying to a girl, "Just give me a chance and I'll show you what I've got," and as a band coming off our first record, it's new territory for us to have our first follow-up record and we're kind of saying, "Give us a shot and we'll show you what we can do."

What have been your most recent experiences with "risky business"?

Noyes: Really the entire music industry is one long tale of risky business. Day to day it's a wild ride, but we're glad we get to do it and we're glad we get to do it together as best friends.

Bruno: This interview is actually the riskiest business we've done today!