fun.

by star_s  |  February 11, 2012 [Edit]

Fun. (stylized fun.) is an American indie pop band based in New York City, New York that was formed by Nate Ruess, formerly of The Format. After the 2008 breakup of The Format, Ruess left Arizona to develop his career in New York City. Ruess then formed Fun with Andrew Dost of Anathallo and Jack Antonoff of Steel Train. Fun recorded their debut album, Aim and Ignite in August 2009 with producer Steven McDonald and arranger Roger Joseph Manning, Jr., the former keyboardist of Jellyfish.

Fun made its first single, "Benson Hedges". In addition, the band announced that if Fun's Facebook page reached 40,000 fans by December 1, a new Christmas single, "Believe in Me," would be released for free download. This goal was met, and Fun did indeed release the single for free.

In February 2010, Fun supported Jack's Mannequin on their headline tour, along with Vedera which was followed by their first UK appearances in March. Their current touring band also includes Rob Kroehler, Emily Moore, Nate Harold, and Jon "Jonny Thunder" Goldstein.

In April 2010, Fun supported Paramore's headline tour. Other support for the tour includes Relient K and Harriet Ellis of Summer Beats hosted by Sprint Mobile. The band then embarked on a full UK tour in May.

In February 2008, The Format split, and Nate Ruess immediately asked Andrew Dost, of Anathallo, and Jack Antonoff, of Steel Train, to join his new project. Dost had previously toured with The Format, providing various instrumentation, and Ruess knew Antonoff after The Format toured with Steel Train. The three began working together in New Jersey within a week, with Ruess singing melodies for the other two to provide music for. The first song the band recorded a demo of was "Benson Hedges," which was then made available for free in Spin's September 20, 2008 article on the band.

Fun approached Steven McDonald, who had previously produced The Format's Dog Problems with Ruess, to produce their debut album. McDonald, who also played bass guitar on the album, was enthusiastic about the project, at one point saying, "I can’t believe what we’re working on here. This crushes anything I’ve ever done."

Recording took place in the Fall of 2008, and the band's first single, "At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)" was made available as a free download on the band's Myspace page on April 6, 2009.
Fun began its first North American tour on November 8, 2008 with Jack's Mannequin. The debut album Aim and Ignite was released on August 25, 2009. In reviewing the album, The Washington Post called some of the arrangements "theatrical, much like those on Panic! at the Disco's 2005 debut".

On September 14, 2011, the band announced that the first single off of their next album would be called "We Are Young" and would feature Janelle Monáe.

On November 7, 2011, the band announced that their next album would be titled Some Nights and released on February 21, 2012.

On December 6, 2011, the band's song "We Are Young" was covered by the TV show Glee in the episode "Hold On to Sixteen", after the end of Sectionals in the auditorium of McKinley High. The single for the Glee version of the song hit #1 on iTunes that night. On December 12, the song was used to highlight the nominees for Game Changer of the Year at the 2011 edition of the WWE Slammy Awards.

(Last edited by eesen)