Nick Jonas and the Administration Gets Funky With Ex-Prince Musicians in St. Louis

By Annie Zaleski Wed., Dec. 2 2009 at 7:04 PM

There's a good reason for that headline, I swear. Nick Jonas and the Administration -- the new band featuring the youngest JoBro -- has made St. Louis one of the stops on its brief U.S. tour in January. The January 19 Pageant show features opener Diane Birch. Tickets are on sale November 12 and are $39.50.

Now, this tour is notable for Jonas' backing band, which is comprised of three members of Prince's New Power Generation band: drummer Michael Bland, guitarist Sonny Thompson and keyboardist Tommy Barbarella. (On bass is John Fields, who's also the JoBros' producer.) Bland, Fields and Barbarella also played on the forthcoming album, Who I Am. Bland was in St. Louis last as the drummer for Soul Asylum, and was also Paul Westerberg's drummer on his 2005 tour. He's a beast behind the kit. This is him in the video:

Keep in mind, by the way, that Nick Jonas is all of seventeen years old. He and his band will be premiering a song on tonight's Grammy nominations broadcast. Oh, and what's with the name? Apparently it's a nod to Elvis Costello and the Attractions.