fun. Discuss Grammy Nominations

Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost of the band fun.

Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost of fun. sat down to talk about getting multiple Grammy nominations, with the trio taking home two Grammys for Best New Artist and Song of the Year (‘We Are Young’), at last month’s awards show in Los Angeles.

“My initial thought was just kind of shocked. Went a little numb I guess,” Andrew explained. “We were just kind of stunned and ultimately just very, very honored.”

Jack added, “My sister was filming my family and my best friend back in New York all on the couch. She was filming them watching. So I got this video when we got backstage and it was everyone sitting watching the screen and exploding and yelling and screaming. It was like a scene in a movie.”

On the award, Andrew said, “It’s a huge honor to be recognized by the Grammy committee, because it’s not based on any one genre in particular even.”

Jack said about the nomination, “Being nominated is always a thought the way you would dream about going to the moon or being a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon or anything like that, because it’s the ultimate honor for our field.”

Talking about their wild 2012, Nate said, “The amount of success that we’ve had this year is just unexpected. We went to Europe for the first time ever, and we went to Japan for the first time ever. It’s crazy how many times we’ve been back to those places even within the year.”

Video of the comments at VEVO have since been removed.

fun. Launch The Ally Coalition For LGBTQ Equality Advocacy

Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff of fun. join forces with Rachel Antonoff to create The Ally Coalition for advocating LGBTQ equality

Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff of the band fun. and designer Rachel Antonoff have joined forces to create The Ally Coalition (TAC), a partnership devoted to encouraging and inspiring the music, fashion, and entertainment communities to take action in support of LGBTQ equality.

The Ally Coalition believes it is the responsibility of all “allies” to use their voices and influence to fight discrimination against LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer) people through education, awareness and advocacy. An “ally” supports equal civil rights, gender equality, and LGBTQ social movements, while also actively challenging homophobia and transphobia.

“Did you know in 29 states you can lose your job for being gay or transgendered,” Nate said in a YouTube video. “Clearly homophobia exists all around us. I’m an ally because I will stand up and make my voice heard.”

“The time is now for all of us to stand up against the second class treatment of lesbian, gay and transgendered peopole,” Jack said in his video. “I believe we are either fighting for equality or letting hate exist and breed in our culture. I’m an ally because I know it’s not real freedom unless it’s for all of us.”

“Did you know that 60% of Americans support marriage equality,” Andrew asked in his video. “I’m an ally because I’m a proud member of that percentage who is working so we can all have the same rights.”

Watch the videos below.

fun. Perform Live Set, Discuss Band Name, Songwriting & Sound

fun. live on Walmart Rock4G in Brooklyn, New York

fun. performed a concert at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, available to watch at Walmart Soundcheck. The four-song set from the trio includes ‘Why Am I The One’, ‘Carry On’, ‘We Are Young’, and ‘Barlights’. Plus, group members Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost sat down with Walmart Soundcheck to discuss fans, the importance of playing live, and why they almost called their band ‘Ice Cream’.

On the band name’s origin, Nate said:

We were at a comedy club with a friend, Mike Babliglia, and we sat around the table after his set and tried to come up with some names and someone said Ice Cream. It conjures up a good feeling so Jack said fun, and we were like, ‘Yeah that’s cool. Let’s keep this name’. A few months later another band called fun, a noise rock band, they contacted us and asked if we could do something to change it up, so we added the full stop to the end of it.

On songwriting, Nate said:

When we write songs it usually starts with, I’ll hear a song in my head then I’ll bring it to these guys and sing it and we’ll start to figure it out from there. This album, it’s interesting because it has this high level of production with a lot of the hip hop stuff with a lot more modern sounds. Something that the last album didn’t have as much of… There’s actually a very big live aspect to the album.

On the title track ‘Some Nights’, Nate said:

When I first was figuring out how ‘Some Nights’ was gonna go, we all were in Phoenix for a college show and we made our way into one of their rehearsal rooms. I remember Andrew started playing the Piano and I was singing and Jack was playing the drums. And it was just amazing because the song goes in so many different directions. We all just took that leap of faith for this album, where we all trusted one another with all those different things and there wasn’t any sort of questioning period about why this was happening, it was like we were all so excited to do it and it really started in that room. Some Nights is such a crazy song, and yet we were able to figure it out between the three of us, with a student piano and feet and hands.

On their sound, Jack said:

The sound of the band is whatever the sound of the band is, which sounds annoying but we’ve all been in lots of bands, and when you have less confidence, you want to be the bridge between Green Day and Fugazi or something. The meat and potatoes of the whole project, the set list and the lyrics is the one part that never gets a comparison, it’s just because it’s us. Bringing that concept back to the fans, back when we had a hundred people come to our show, up until having dozens of people come to the shows, I think what connects all of us is the amount of respect we have for our fans. our goal in record making and this band is to sort of create a place for everyone by having it come from the heart. We hope that’s what a lot of the kids outside get from it.

The live set and interview at see.walmart.com/rock4g/fun has since been removed. Check out additional pictures from their appearance after the cut. (more…)

fun. North American Headlining Tour Dates

fun. group

fun. has announced details of their very busy summer schedule, including sold out headline shows, television appearances, and the arrival of a new single/video from their breakthrough Fueled By Ramen debut, ‘Some Nights’.

After already completing a performance of ‘We Are Young’ on Sunday’s 2012 MTV Movie Awards and a ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ visit on Monday, the trio will be prepping for a ‘Today’ visit on June 21st and ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’ on June 22nd.

The New York City based band is currently in the midst of a worldwide headline tour, with most dates already long sold out. The trek’s current leg will culminate with a pair of instant hometown sell-outs at New York City’s Terminal 5 on June 16th and 17th, following a special performance at Bonnaroo on June 10th. After a brief respite, July will see fun. traveling to London, Scotland, and Australia for a series of headline shows and festival appearances. A new North American itinerary will begin August 2nd at Philadelphia’s River Stage at Great Plaza. Among the leg’s just-announced highlights is an August 19th date at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, added after shows slated for August 17th and 18th proved instant sell outs.

fun. Tour Dates:
June 2 – Mountain View, CA at LIVE 105 BFD @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
June 5 – Flagstaff, AZ at Pepsi Amphitheatre
June 6 – Santa Fe, NM at Santa Fe Railyard Park (Free Show)
June 8 – Oklahoma City at Diamond Ballroom
June 9 – St. Louis, MO at The Pageant
June 10 – Manchester, TN at Bonnaroo 2012
June 11 – Covington, KY at Madison Theatre
June 13 – Indianapolis, IN at Egyptian Room
June 14 – Cleveland, OH at House of Blues
June 15 – Pittsburgh, PA at Stage AE
June 16 – New York, NY at Terminal 5
June 17 – New York, NY at Terminal 5
June 29 – Milwaukee, WI at Summerfest
August 2 – Philadelphia, PA at River Stage @ Penn’s Landing
August 3 – Montreal, QC at Osheaga Music et Arts Festival
August 4 – Chicago, IL at Lollapalooza
August 8 – Kansas City, MO at 96.5 THE BUZZ Buzz Under The Stars
August 9 – Boulder, CO at Fox Theatre
August 12 – San Francisco, CA at Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival
August 15 – San Diego, CA at SDSU Open Air Theatre
August 16 – Las Vegas, NV at The Pool @ The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
August 17 – Los Angeles, CA at The Wiltern
August 18 – Los Angeles, CA at The Wiltern
August 19 – Los Angeles, CA at The Wiltern
August 23 – Jacksonville, OR at Britt 2012
August 24 – Portland, OR at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
August 26 – Spokane, WA at Knitting Factory Concert House
August 28 – Billings, MT at Babcock Theatre
August 30 – Regina, SK at Conexus Convention Hall
August 31 – Saskatoon, SK at The Odeon
September 1 – Calgary, AB at X92.9’s XFEST
September 2 – Edmonton, AB at SONiC 102.9’s SONiC BOOM

fun. ‘Some Nights’ Video

Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff of fun. in a black and white photo

fun., featuring Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff, have released the music video to their new single ‘Some Nights’. The track is featured on the New York City indie pop group’s second studio album ‘Some Nights’, out now on Fueled by Ramen. Watch the Anthony Mandler directed video via YouTube below.

fun. ‘Carry On’ Video

fun.

fun. are out with an acoustic version of ‘Carry On’ from the album, ‘Some Nights’ - available now on Fueled By Ramen. This version of ‘Carry On’ appears on the upcoming Record Store Day album ‘The Ghost That You Are To Me’, out April 21st. Watch the performance, recorded at Soundscribe Studios in New York City, via YouTube below.

fun. Release ‘We Are Young’ And Announce Tour Dates

fun. band

fun. has unveiled their new single ‘We Are Young’, the first from their upcoming label debut album on Fueled By Ramen, due out early 2012. Produced by Jeff Bhasker and featuring Janelle Monáe, ‘We Are Young’ is available now via iTunes and all digital retailers.

A video companion piece to the song featuring a girl peeling an apple before cutting herself can be viewed below.

The critically acclaimed indie pop combo will celebrate the track’s release by joining their ‘We Are Young’ collaborator, Janelle Monáe, on Reverb’s upcoming Campus Consciousness Tour. The 15-date college tour will hit campuses in the Midwest and along the East Coast through October. The biannual Campus Consciousness Tour (CCT) is both a concert and social consciousness campaign, aimed at offering students a message of environmental sustainability. In addition to supporting Monáe, fun. will take part in the CCT daytime activities by performing a free acoustic set at a central location on each campus the tour visits. Check out complete details and up-to-the-minute information at campusconsciousness.org.

fun. will celebrate their new album with a very special sold-out hometown headline show, slated for November 9th at New York’s Bowery Ballroom. A Los Angeles show at the Troubadour is also slated for November 14th.

fun. Tour Dates
All Dates w/The Campus Consciousness Tour Feat. Janelle Monáe Except *
Oct. 1 Rochester, NY University of Rochester
Oct. 2 Ithaca, NY Cornell University
Oct. 7 Macon, GA Mercer University
Oct. 10 New Orleans, LA Tulane University
Oct. 12 Iowa City, IA University of Iowa
Oct. 15 Bloomington, IN Indiana University
Oct. 16 Champaign, IL University of Illinois
Oct. 18 Athens, OH Ohio University
Oct. 20 Orono, ME University of Maine
Oct. 22 Carlisle, PA Dickinson College

Nov. 9 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom *
Nov. 14 West Hollywood, CA Troubadour *
Additional Dates To Be Announced

Krista Explores Her Adulthood On Upcoming Second Album

Krista

Krista recently spoke with TheConcertScene.com in a Q&A, talking about the follow-up to her ‘Taking Back Brooklyn’ debut. “Right now, I’m currently working on my second album, and it’s definitely different from the first record,” she explained. “The first record was a part of my teenage angst, but all real and valid feelings, that I feel spoke for a group of real kids and adults out there that are going through things… This record is more of me just exploring my adulthood and letting loose a little bit and just being happy and living life and having fun. But there are also those ballad songs that have to do with break-ups and love.”

fun. ‘Walking The Dog’ Video

fun. 'Walking The Dog' music video

fun. are out with the music video to their new single ‘Walking The Dog’, off the New York City indie pop band’s debut album ‘Aim and Ignite’, out now on Nettwerk. fun. Is made up of Nate Ruess (ex. The Format), Andrew Dost (ex. Anathallo) and Jack Antonoff (Steel Train). Watch it via YouTube below.

fun. ‘All The Pretty Girls’ Video

fun. are out with the music video to their new single ‘All The Pretty Girls’, off the New York City indie pop group’s debut album ‘Aim and Ignite’, out now on Nettwerk. Watch it via YouTube below.

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