When you name a band fun. you had better mean it.<\/p>\n
Consider Nate Ruess a man of his word.<\/p>\n
Former leader of The Format, Ruess spent the past two years pushing his latest musical venture to the forefront. Known for its manic live show, fun. is an indie power pop outfit finding constant followers on the strength of the band\u2019s 2009 album Aim and Ignite, a collection of 10 songs mixing harmonies with playful lyrics and signature sounds. Ruess formed fun. with friends Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff, and as the band tours the U.K. and U.S. (with a mid-December date in Atlanta), he took time out of his schedule to discuss Arizona, haircuts and what fun. has on the horizon.<\/p>\n
I know the band has been touring through Europe. How does touring in Europe differ than touring in the States? You must have an unusual story about your European trek.<\/strong> I was able to see fun. play in Athens not so long ago, and was impressed how dedicated the band is to the live show. What is your outlook when taking the stage? Are you guys like that every time live?<\/strong> Aim and Ignite has been out for more than a year now, so the band must be on its way to sending out a new album. How is that going, and what can fans expect?<\/strong> How do you go about writing new material? Does it start with a hook, or lyric, or is it a more collaborative effort?<\/strong> You\u2019re based in New York now but for many years you lived in Arizona. Is there an aspect of your music that is directly influenced by your time out West? How so? How has it changed since moving to New York?<\/strong> It comes as no surprise listening to fun. that the Beach Boys and Weezer are big influences. Is there an inspiration for you that may surprise other people?<\/strong> It\u2019s been a little more than two years since your MySpace letter detailing the start of fun. Are you happy with how things are going with the band? Is there anything you would do different?<\/strong> So what can fans expect from the tour in the States?<\/strong> When you name a band fun. you had better mean it. Consider Nate Ruess a man of his word. Former leader of The Format, Ruess spent the past two years pushing his latest musical venture to the forefront. Known for its manic live show, fun. is an indie power pop outfit finding constant followers on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[371,370],"class_list":["post-1307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","tag-fun","tag-nate-ruess"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1309,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions\/1309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
NR: We\u2019ve only been to the UK and it\u2019s weird because it is sort of odd compared to North America. It\u2019s not completely different, but it\u2019s like getting a crazy haircut and looking at yourself in the mirror afterwards and thinking \u201cthis is totally me, but it doesn\u2019t look like me\u201d if that makes any sense. But we\u2019ve gotten pretty used to the haircut and it\u2019s starting to feel like any other state. Well, except this one comes with fish, chips, accents, and jet lag.<\/p>\n
NR: Big time. It\u2019s really who we are. There\u2019s not a lot of difference in our personalities on or off stage. We\u2019re constantly putting on a show even if it\u2019s for each other.<\/p>\n
NR: We\u2019re getting there. The plan is to start recording in the spring so we\u2019ve gotta get cracking on writing. I\u2019m not too worried, excited actually. I\u2019ve written a bunch of songs and I\u2019m sure the other guys have some great ideas. But we are still trying to figure out what the album should sound like, which is always one of the funnest things in the process.<\/p>\n
NR: It varies. For the last record, because we had just formed, I had brought a lot of songs to Andrew and Jack, and we worked from there. I\u2019m used to writing most things in my head \u2014 I don\u2019t play an instrument \u2014 and then bringing what I hear as a complete song to them, and then explaining it and singing it until they start to understand it. And then once it belongs to all of us, all bets are off and the songs start to take crazy shape.<\/p>\n
HR: Yeah. I think a huge portion of my lyrics, especially on the last album, were influenced by living in Arizona and also feeling an urge to leave it all. Even with lyrics to a couple new songs, I\u2019m still referencing my past. I\u2019ve since rekindled at lot of my love for certain things in the state but I\u2019m so much happier being in New York. Now if only I had a place where I could make noise.<\/p>\n
NR: Maybe Van Morrison? He is my favorite thing of all time. Although I don\u2019t think it shows much in the band\u2019s music. At some point in life I would love to do something that\u2019s focused primarily on blue-eyed soul.<\/p>\n
NR: Yeah im happy. It\u2019s been a long year and I\u2019m so proud of what we\u2019ve accomplished. I just don\u2019t spend a lot of time thinking about it. I\u2019m very much into what\u2019s next, and this band has been such a pleasant surprise and success that if I looked back to where I was personally when the band started, I would probably cry.<\/p>\n
NR: A whirling dervish of sing out loud jams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"