It’s been less than a week since DNCE released its debut single, “Cake by the Ocean,” but the band — featuring Joe Jonas — has already played at a major gig, the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Festival. DNCE was on the fest’s lineup on Saturday, Sept. 19, and Billboard had the chance to catch up with the four-piece backstage.
Joe Jonas Releases First Single With New Band DNCE, ‘Cake by the Ocean’: Listen
For those wondering how Jonas and Co. came up with the name DNCE … well, the explanation is fairly straightforward.
“The way we came up with the name of the band was a song about being too drunk to spell ‘dance,’” Jonas explained. “Having a good time.”
“DNCE is ‘dance without an A,’ which is not a perfect word — but you don’t have to be a perfect dancer to be dancing to our music,” added bandmate JinJoo Lee.
“We all came together because I had this idea to put something together and have a band for years, but I just was waiting for the right time,” Jonas said. “It just felt like home. We all just get along and enjoy playing music and having a good time.”
Watch the full interview in the video clip above to find out more details about how DNCE — who intends to tour very soon and plans on “melting everybody’s face off” — came to be.