It’s been 20 years since you could say there’s a new album from The Format out, but that’s no longer the case.
The duo of Nate Ruess and Sam Means has released their third studio effort, Boycott Heaven, the long-awaited follow-up to their 2006 sophomore effort, Dog Problems. The outfit went on hiatus in 2008, after which Ruess went on to form the band fun., which then went on hiatus in 2015.
The Format originally planned a reunion tour for 2020, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Shortly thereafter, Ruess learned how to play guitar and invited Means over for a fateful jam session.
“At that point it was literally just for fun,” Means tells ABC Audio. “But over the course of the next few months from there, I think it just kind of turned into something a little bit more real.”
Despite the 20-year gap, Means says he and Ruess’ songwriting relationship picked up where it left off.
“When you find someone who you can write music with, you just develop a bit of a shorthand, and that doesn’t ever really go away,” Means says.
Boycott Heaven’s themes touch on everything from religion and current events to relationships and mental health, but overall it reflects the core of what The Format is, as expressed in the lyrics of their 2003 song “On Your Porch”: “My thoughts bounce off of Sam’s guitar.”
“The Format spirit is a thing,” Means says. “I don’t know if we really know what it is exactly. It’s not a formula that we can just capture, it’s just something that tends to happen when we get together.”
Boycott Heaven is out now. The Format will launch a U.S. tour in March.
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