FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE

PUTTING THE POWER BACK INTO POWER-POP The Return of Fountains of Wayne

BY JOHN B. MOORE OR NEARLY A DECADE NOW, Fountains of Wayne have somehow managed to make pop music cool again. In a genre once hijacked by lip syncers and boy bands in matching outfits, Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood have mounting cred one record at a time for years.

Originally founded while the two were attending Williams College in Massachusetts, Fountains of Wayne was short-lived in its first incarnation when the duo split to start other bands: Schlesinger formed Ivy, while Collingwood went on to work with Mercy Buckets. They eventually got back together, resurrected their old band and started sending out demos. They put out a couple of albums on Atlantic, but it wasn’t until their third record, Welcome Interstate Managers, that the rest of the world finally caught up with the overly-infectious, hook-heavy, melodydrenched music the duo had perfected. The record’s first single, “Stacy’s Mom” (complete with a matching video boasting Rachael Hunter in a bikini), became almost unavoidable in 2003, and was even picked up for a Dr. Pepper commercial. The album also spawned two follow-up singles, “Mexican Wine” and “Hey Julie,” keeping the band in constant rotation on the radio throughout the summer and well into fall. Though there were diehard fans that had been following the band since the mid-1990s, the rest of the world was just finally catching up to the infectious pop pleasures of the Fountains of Wayne sound. Nowhere was this more apparent than with their supposed peers who make up the staid Recording Academy, who decided to nominate the band for a “Best New Artist” award nearly a decade into their existence.

Now, after a four-year hiatus, the band is finally back with a new record, Traffic and Weather, their first for F

AUGUST

UNDERDOG August 3rd

The Stars: Jason Lee, Amy Adams, Patrick Warburton, Peter Din klage

The Story: Appar ently there’s no need to fear because the little cartoon dog with super powers is here and he’s here in live-action.

The Scoop: Did the Rocky & Bullwinkle movie teach us nothing? Are focus groups constantly demanding talking animals who do awesome things and that’s why we get treated to Racing Stripes and Charlotte’s Web? And if that’s the case, then shouldn’t America’s Funniest Home Videos be the #1 show in the country? In any case, your kid will prob ably drag you to see it and you’ll try to find a reason to like it other than “Underdog is adorable.”

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM August 3rd

The Stars: Matt Damon, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Joan Allen

The Story: The American Amnesiac Super Spy is back with more questions and he’s coming to kick ass in the US for the answers.

The Scoop: Bourne was the king of the spies but with Casino Royale, Bond took a break from sucking and now Jason has to step up his game. However, with Bourne Supremacy director Paul Greengrass back at the helm and Damon having two films to flesh out the character, there’s a strong chance that this could be the best Bourne yet.

Virgin Records. The album’s 14 tracks are classic Fountains of Wayne, covering lyrical themes such as love and loneliness sung over utterly contagious music. Schlesinger, who was about to take off on a major tour behind the new record, took some time recently to talk to us about the band’s evolution, Traffic and Weather, and the oddness of being recognized by their peers as a great new band eight years after the fact.

As a long-time follower and fan of the band, I have to ask: How puzzling was it for you to get a Best New Artist Grammy nomination several records into your career? It was a little bizarre, but we were happy to be con sidered “new” after eight years instead of washed-up.

Welcome Interstate Managers brought a lot of at tention to the band. Was it difficult to follow that album up? Did you feel some kind of pressure that this album needs to sell just as well?

We didn’t really think about that stuff too much when we were writing and recording. We just tried to come up with stuff we personally liked. That’s really all you can ever do... Unless you get Shakira to sing on something.

RUSH HOUR 3 August 10th

The Stars: Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Vinnie Jones, Roman Polanski

The Story: Tucker and Chan are back and this time they’re both fishes out of water because they’re in Paris, France. Think there will be a joke about the French being snooty?

The Scoop: While I’ll cop to laughing at the first two films (the first more than the second), I kind of don’t want to see this film on general principle. Brett Ratner has made this his franchise and I’m still mad at him for ruining X-Men 3. And why has it been six years since the last film? Because that’s how long it takes to pull Chris Tucker away from his busy schedule of doing nothing with a paycheck of $20 million. But these films are guaranteed money makers so I guess my general principle can go screw.

SUPERBAD August 17th

The Stars: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader

The Story: BFFs Seth (Hill) and Evan (Cera) are throwing one awesome party but things go awry.

The Scoop: These guys are just too funny to let their movie pass by unnoticed. Hill was by far the funniest thing about Accepted (and he’ll be kicking even more ass in Knocked Up) and Cera was unforgettable as George Michael on Arrested Development. Throw in Seth Rogen (who co-wrote the film) and I’ll show up for these guys doing anything. Even interpretative dance.

THE INVASION August 17th

Why did it take so long between the last record and Traffic and Weather? That’s just kind of the pace we seem to work at these days. After touring for a long time, we need a break from the whole thing for a while, just to do other stuff and be with our families. Then it takes a while to write, and we like to record in a bunch of little sessions rather than one long block of time. Also, we like recording blindfolded, which is awesome but makes it take longer.

Is there a general theme to the new record?

Well, it’s called “Traffic and Weather,” so obviously it’s about Satan.

Nicely put. There does seem to be themes and char acters that show up again and again on the record. Can you talk about those? There honestly isn’t really a unifying concept. We just like to make up little stories and sometimes we focus on smaller moments and details within those stories. And some of the stuff is kind of inspired by stuff from our actual lives, even if it’s about fictional characters.

Do you think the band’s sound has changed much since the mid-‘90s? Well, we try to mix it up a little from album to album

ently the Wachowski Brothers (who boned us with the Matrix sequels but succeeded with V for Vendetta) were brought to rewrite two-thirds of the script after director Oliver Hirschbiegel (who made the great Das Ex periment and Downfall) made a film that Warner Bros. deemed too “talky”. Of course, I’m sure we can all enjoy the irony that the film was “snatched” and “replaced” by something else. Oh, it’s just me enjoying the irony? Oh, okay.

GOOD LUCK CHUCK August 24th

The Stars: Dane Cook, Jessica Alba

The Story: Chuck is such good luck because appar ently after you sleep with him, you find the man you’re going to marry. Chuck is fine with this until he meets Alba and has to resist the urge to sleep with her which makes this film some kind of crazy science-fiction.

The Scoop: Yes, you’ll be getting not one but two films with Dane Cook this sum mer! Lukcy you! But you’ll also be getting two films with Jessica Alba! Lucky you, and this time I mean that! So if Cook is suffering and Alba is bliss, will this film leave you totally numb?

in terms of musical styles, but it’s all still related. I defi nitely think the sound of the albums has gotten better. Our first album was basically a demo - we recorded it in a week-- and it has a charm maybe but it’s pretty lofi sounding, too. These days we enjoy spending more time on the recording process.

This is your first release for Virgin. What happened to your deal with S Curve? S Curve was kind of a little boutique label within Virgin/ EMI, but the guy that ran it left the company, so it got shut down and we got inherited by Virgin. It’s still the same record contract for us though. I heard that that same guy might start up a new version of S Curve again somewhere else.

When it comes to the best power-pop bands, you guys always seem to show up on everyone’s lists. What’s your opinion on the current state of pop music?

As always, there’s a lot of crap out there, but also a lot of great stuff if you search for it. I don’t only listen to power-pop. In fact, for the most part I don’t at all.

You guys have had your songs picked up by com mercials in the past, most recently by Dr. Pepper. Any chance Subaru is going to be interested in “92 Subaru” from the new record? I hope Subaru wants to use it... Or maybe Chevy.

Do you plan on touring a lot behind this record?

Yeah, we’re booked up through the fall already, but we’re psyched to go out and play again.

What other musical plans do you have for the rest of 2007? A lot of humming and whistling.

THE BROTHERS SOLOMON August 31st

The Stars: Will Arnett, Will Forte

The Story: Two brothers with a lot of heart but not a lot of social skills try to find mates and provide their dying father with a grand child.

The Scoop: Arnett and Forte are too funny not to be famous (or at least as famous as hacks Dane Cook and Carlos Mencia). While director Bob Odenkirk’s last film, Let’s Go to Prison, didn’t exactly set the world and catapult the careers of Arnett and co-star Dax Shepherd (who’s also funny but has yet to break out), he’s got a stronger premise this time around and if he just lets Arnett and Forte go to work, then he could have a sleeper hit, or at the very least, a future cult classic on DVD.