Leo Howard has come a long way from his Kickin’ It days.
The former Disney XD actor is now the lead guitarist in his new rock band Ask Jonesy & Company, which also features co-star Troy Romzek (lead vocals/guitar), and former Wellington band member Ricky Ficarelli (bass/vocals).
Celeb Secrets recently jumped on the phone with Howard where he gave us all the details on how his band came about, their new single that we just can’t get enough of, and a surprising detail that fans may not know about how they chose the name for the band.
“I did a show for four years called Kickin’ It on Disney XD and there was a guest star on that show name Troy Romzek [the singer of our band]. We never really clicked working together but a couple years later, it was probably a year ago, he called me and said, ‘hey, would you be willing to maybe start something?’ I was skeptical but when we played music together, it just clicked. He was in a band with Ricky and we all just got together and from that moment it just made sense and all the music was there so we kept it going,” Leo told us.
Fun fact: Leo and his band mate Troy didn’t actually get along at first. The two met on set of Kickin’ It where Troy played Kai, Jack’s very competitive cousin on the show. However, in real life, there’s no more “bad blood” between them!
As for the name of the band, Howard shared an interesting story that a homeless man actually came up with Ask Jonesy & Company.Â
“We were walking to a venue one time and we were talking about music an there was a homeless guy that yelled at us and was like, ‘do you guys play music?’ We go, ‘yeah!’ and he goes, ‘what’s the name of your band?’ We didn’t have a name at that point, and I asked him if he had any ideas for us. He turned around to point to his imaginary friend in the alleyway and said, ‘ask Jonesy,'” Leo shared. “When we play live, we hire musicians. We hire a bass player and a drummer, so that’s the company. We’re just Ask Jonesy & Company.”
If you’re like us, you’re probably thinking this — if Leo teamed up with one Kickin’ It star to make a band, what could possibly rule out him teaming up with others, aka Olivia Holt, for collaborations?
“Absolutely! I love Olivia,” Leo said when we asked him about collaborating with her. “Olivia is one of my best friends still and she likes the music. It’s one of those things where you never know how everything is going to play out, so I for sure would be up for it and she would too with the time being right.” How cool would a duet be between the two?!
Earlier this summer, the band dropped their newest single “Stings” and we highly recommend you check it out and add it to your summer playlist.
We asked Leo how the song came about and he told us this: “‘Stings’ was actually the first track we ever wrote together. I think the first day we jammed, I brought in that rift and we kind of all wrote it together. ‘Burning Fire’ came after ‘Stings’, but we decided to release that first an ‘Stings’ second just to give it a kind of ying and yang of what we are capable of.”
When it comes to acting, Leo admits he will never stop. “Music’s just really a primary side project for me,” he shared. “I really just love to express myself in as many artistic ways that I can and acting is one of them. When I’m not acting, it’s so much fun for me to kind of decompress and focus on the music. I’m always writing music and in the same sense I’ll always be acting so I will never stop acting.”
The boys have been grinding and practicing every day this week because they are playing their very first show in Los Angeles on Friday! You can watch Leo, Troy, and Ricky rock out on stage at Amplyfi with special guests Kota. Doors open at 7PM and tickets can be purchased here.
Make sure to give the boys a follow on Twitter to get the latest updates on Ask Jonesy & Company!
