Who knew the Jonas Brothers could laugh at themselves? The earnest, purity ring-wearing teenyboppers were mercilessly lampooned in last week’s episode of South Park, which saw Kenny bring his girlfriend to their concert in hopes of getting some action, only to have the abstinence-preaching siblings spoil his plans. But there’s no need for the band’s legion of tween fans to begin blanketing Comedy Central with protest letters – the boys insist they were cool with it.

“I think we always like to be open to make fun of ourselves...we'll be the first to,” Nick Jonas said on a call this week with reporters. “We did it on SNL and it was kind of fun. But...we're so focused on what we're doing with this tour and our album and everything that we didn't have too much time to see it.”

The boys certainly have plenty of other things to do besides catching up on TV. Not only did they just release a 3D concert film and wrap shooting of their upcoming Disney Channel show last week, the Jonas Brothers are about to embark on their first world tour that will take them across 44 cities in North America, as well as dates in South America and Europe.

The tour, which will hit five Canada cities, is shaping up to be bigger than Disneyland itself. Travelling in support of their fourth album, Kevin, Joe and Nick will be on a 144-foot circular stage (most large stages are 35-45-feet) that will place them in the middle of their screaming fans, giving the audience an up-close-and-personal view of the band.

“The show will be in-the-round and that’s very exciting for us,” said Nick. “There are more front row seats now and a more a genuine connection with each and every person (in the crowd).” To keep everything fresh, the boys said they are also are working on spicing up some of their older hits and performing two cover songs.

If that’s not enough, there is going to be a “circular water screen,” which will “feel like a whole new world” when the audience sees it, said Kevin.

The curly-haired lads will kick off the tour on June 20 in Texas with pals Jordin Sparks and Honor Society before heading north to play arena shows in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Ottawa later this summer.

“We are so pumped, actually, to go visit Canada,” said Joe, who noted that the band filmed Camp Rock in Halliburton, just north of Toronto. “We love it up there. I think to see some cities that we’ve never been is always nice, and to travel in Canada is just a beautiful time of the year.”

The JoBros also chatted about the direction of the new album. Although reticent about the title of the record (it’s rumoured to be called, Lines, Vines and Trying Times), they have put the rubber stamp on nine songs and are working on a few more. The boys also revealed they’re incorporating metaphors on this album – inspired by Elvis Costello.

“We’ve been working on trying to use metaphors in a way to mask a literal thing that happened to us,” said Nick, adding they are also influenced by Neil Diamond, the Zutons and Kings of Leon. “Elvis Costello is excellent at doing that, and looking to his music, we are going to do our best to imitate that gift that he has to tell a story using metaphors.”

The Jonas Brothers said they are experimenting with classical sounds on the album, most of which was written last year on tour.

“I think we hope to bring music that hasn’t been heard in pop music in a while. There are a lot of horns in this new record, there are a lot of strings and a lot different musical instruments that are going to add and build to the sound we already have,” said Joe of the new album, which is to be released June 15.

“Also there’s more to the music rather than just a typical kind of relationship song. We had the opportunity to write the songs for our new television show and that kind of helped us as writers kind of think out of the box.”

But Jonas Brothers fans shouldn’t worry too much about the boys straying from their Disney rock roots. They are still recording with producer John Fields, who worked on their last three albums.

“This new album for us I wouldn't say it's a big jump but it definitely is a progression in our music and a growth for us,” said Joe. “It’s the same old Jonas Brothers in a sense, but we’re adding more and more music that has influenced us.”

Canadian tour dates:

June 30 – Vancouver @ General Motors Place
July 2 – Edmonton @ Rexall Place
August 29 – Montreal @ Bell Centre
August 30 – Toronto @ Rogers Centre
August 31 – Ottawa @ Scotiabank Place

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