This is Fun and the new band is having plenty on its first tour, sold out in Allston tomorrow night. From left: Andrew Dost, Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff.
(Elizabeth Weinberg)
G FORCE | NATE RUESS
A new dynamic to Fun
This is Fun and the new band is having plenty on its first tour, sold out in Allston tomorrow night. From left: Andrew Dost, Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff.
(Elizabeth Weinberg)
Nate Ruess, of the now-defunct the Format, says he’s just glad his new band isn’t named Ice Cream. It was a close call among members, but they landed on something only slightly less saccharine: Fun. In his latest music venture, Reuss and his Freddie Mercury-esque falsetto team up with Jack Antonoff of Steel Train and Andrew Dost of Anathallo, weaving their own brand of indie pop with a strand of Broadway flare. Warning: This music may induce skipping in public with a giddy smile. Fun’s album, “Aim and Ignite,’’ debuted last month and the group’s headlining tour will hit Great Scott in Allston tomorrow with a sold-out show.
Q. How did Fun come about?
A. Jack and I always wanted to start a band. We’ve done so much touring together, and we both had a nice mutual respect for each other. And with Andrew, it was sort of the same situation. When I called them, Andrew and I flew out to New Jersey and started working on demos, and since then Andrew and Jack have become absurdly close, so it’s nice in a way of bringing people together and making friends, too.
Q. How is the aesthetic with Fun different from what it was with the Format?
A. I think what’s different is its ability to change as far as the dynamics; it doesn’t just pace along at one particular speed, I feel like it goes up and down. And to me the songs, the live shows, everything’s a little moodier but at the same time it’s much more playful.
Q. Would you agree with those who say your music has a slightly theatrical, Freddie Mercury kind of flare?
A. I think so. It’s inevitable because the three of us are all collectively kind of Broadway dorks. Andrew was actually singing a lounge version of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’’ this morning in the shower.
Q. Do you ever go to the theater?
A. I was a huge fan of Xanadu. It since has closed but ELO did [music] for it. It was amazing. We saw it I think four times, and they had a thing where you could sit on stage, and so we sat on stage a couple of times - that’s how nerdy we were.
Q. What has the Fun tour been like so far?
A. We’re working out our kinks right now. This is the first time that me, Jack, and Andrew have been on tour all together and we’ve been having such a great time. We’ve been doing this workout DVD called “Insanity’’ (there are infomercials for it at night and we ordered it for, like, $120 of the band’s money). We’ve been waking up every single morning for the last two weeks and working out for about 40 or 50 minutes.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
