Lyrical Fountains
How to beat the heat? Try a new batch of songs from Fountains of Wayne, of course. Sky Full of Holes finds them still turning out wry three-minute gems, though our beloved quipsters of the quotidian are in a mellower mood. Thankfully, the whoa-oh-oh harmonies and hand claps stay intact. As with every Fountains disc, it’s hard to believe they’re not dominating singles charts with such delightful power-pop confections. Maybe this will be the one.
Sky Full of Holes
-Fountains of Wayne (Warner) [sic]
Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood, the power pop poets laureate of the Tri-State suburban set, resolutely complete the long cycle of maturation that started with their debut in 1996. The characters in Sky Full of Holes are mostly in their 40s, like the two songwriters, and obsessed with a past that looks better in retrospect than it did when it was being lived in real time: The woman who still spends her summers in her parents’ haunted vacation cottage; the put-upon dad who escapes from his responsibilities into a fantasy of superhero-hood (like the kid on the cover of the debut); the dumb duo who can’t make a go of any business enterprise due to their lifelong friendship. Complementing these tales are Collingwood’s more abstract compositions, which describe an existence of longing and disappointment, like the absolutely devastating “Someone’s Gonna Break Your Heart,” clearly the summer jam of 2011.
http://philipbrasor.com/
A serious dude
Wednesday, 24 August 2011 20:04
Chris Collingwood, front man of 3S Fest headliners Fountains of Wayne, discusses the group’s new CD, his somber reflections on life, and why having a big radio hit can be more of a curse than a blessing.
Those only passingly familiar with Fountains of Wayne might expect lead singer Chris Collingwood to be a jaunty, effervescent personality with a penchant for witty banter. They’d be surprised to learn he’s in fact a solemn and pensive guy who harbors a bit of a dark side.
Collingwood started Fountains of Wayne in New York with bassist and fellow songwriter Adam Schlesinger in the mid-1990s, naming the group after a well-known garden shop in nearby Wayne, N.J. (the store closed a couple of years ago). They released their self-titled debut in 1996 to modest success, but achieved mainstream stardom with their 2003 record “Welcome Interstate Managers,” which featured the hit song and video “Stacy’s Mom” (you know, “Stacy’s mom has got it goin’ on”).
Since then, the band has struggled to escape the shadow of its one commercial hit, while yet building a strong fan base. Their fifth album, “Sky Full of Holes,” just released by indie label Yep Roc Records, is a good example of how they do it. While it features many of the catchy power-pop melodies and quirky lyrical storylines for which the band has become known, it’s also got some weightier material. The album takes its name from a line delivered in the final track, about a military funeral.
Fountains of Wayne is currently touring in support of the new disc, and they’ll perform at Prescott Park in Portsmouth on Saturday, Aug. 20, as part of 3S Fest. Other acts on the bill include former Soul Coughing front man Mike Doughty, bi-coastal duo Soft Swells and local favorite Tan Vampires.
The show is presented by the Prescott Park Arts Festival, 3S Artspace, The Wire and 92.5 The River. It’s intended to raise awareness about 3S, an arts organization with plans to open a multi-use venue with a concert hall, art gallery and restaurant in Portsmouth in the fall of 2012.
Collingwood, who now lives in Massachusetts, recently spoke to The Wire about “Sky Full of Holes,” as well as his past struggles with alcoholism, the issues that inspire his songs, and how “Stacy’s Mom” nearly doomed the band to one-hit wonderdom.
It’s been 15 years since Fountains of Wayne released its first album. When you compare that debut to “Sky Full of Holes,” is there anything that jumps out at you in terms of how the band has grown or evolved?
Yeah, you know, that first record we made in a week. It was actually written really quickly, as well. I think every time we go in to record it’s kind of a reflection of what’s going on in our lives at the time. In 1996 we were both living in New York, kind of young and drunk. We really didn’t take our time on that first record at all. I mean, it sounds like it. It’s not rushed or anything, but we didn’t really slow down to consider different production possibilities or different instrumentation or anything. We got through it really quickly. I think since then it’s just been a process of adding more and more instrumentation to records and trying out different ideas, hopefully not losing the thing that made it interesting in the first place.
What about lyrically? Do you feel like the themes of your lyrics have evolved with each of your five albums? There’s definitely a somber and serious message in the closer, “Cemetery Guns.” Where did that song come from?
I just decided to write a song about a military funeral. It kind of came because a foreign journalist asked me at one point if the band ever felt the need to deal with the serious issues in the world. I think it was around the time “Traffic and Weather” came out (2007), and there’s a lot of lighthearted subject matter on that album. In general, I’m not a very lighthearted, easygoing guy in my life. I’m a pretty serious dude (laughs). That song’s probably more reflective of the type of things I think about, as opposed to, you know, some of the subject matter from our first album with bikers and whatever the hell else we were talking about.
I understand the shop for which the band was named closed a couple of years ago. What’s it like to have outlived your namesake?
(Laughs.) I never thought about it in that sense. Those guys were really nice. I’m sorry they’re not there anymore. We went down and met them when the band first formed. I think they were a little bit worried back in ’96 that we were going to be some death metal band, not knowing anything about us, and they didn’t want it to reflect poorly on their store. So we actually went down and had a little discussion with them and it was all cool. It seemed like a nice place. You know, it was an institution in Jersey, and it’s always sad when those things go away.
You guys take a lot of time between albums. Do the band members have many side projects going on?
Adam is actually really busy doing a lot of TV and whatever he does with boy bands and all that other stuff, producing these young acts. I don’t actually do a whole lot when I’m not doing this band. I actually kind of keep to myself, read a lot of books and garden and golf and stuff (laughs).
There was a particularly long break after Atlantic dropped you in the late ’90s. But you returned in 2003 with “Welcome Interstate Managers.” What was it like for you guys to come back and have a big hit with “Stacy’s Mom”?
I thought that taking a break between the second and third albums was actually really good for us creatively. When we were on Atlantic, we had some moderate success with that first record, and when you’re on a major (label) and you’re young, the curse of the second album definitely adds some pressure to create something that’s either airplay-worthy or trying to maintain what audiences got and build on it somehow. But, when we made “Welcome Interstate Managers,” we didn’t have a record deal, at all. We just made that record and kind of shopped it around. Stylistically, at least, it sounds like we were unencumbered when we were making that record, and I think you can kind of hear when you listen to it that it’s kind of all over the map, like “The White Album” or something—country songs and slow songs and fast songs. We had that approach again this time. When we made the new record, we also didn’t have a record deal. I think that’s the way to do it, just to not have any preconceptions or second guess what the record’s about, and trying not to pre-guess your position in the music landscape as you’re making it. That’s always a bad decision.
Do you think “Stacy’s Mom” and your earlier albums typecast the band as a jokey kind of group?
Oh, there’s no question about that. That song is a blessing and a curse. I’ve said it before but it’s true. A lot of people knew that song, but very few of those people are the kind of people who are really intense music fans and actually bothered to figure out who sang it or anything. So, we’ve always had a mix of fans at our shows—people who are serious music fans who actually listen to the entire catalog and know the songs, and then the other people that our manager calls “drive bys.” Those are the people that only know that one hit. There are people who listen to whatever hit is on the radio and don’t actually get really serious about investigating bands and stuff. I think, if anything, it’s actually been a downside for getting us further exposure, because for people who only know that song, it’s not really an incentive to go listen to the band any further, because it is a one-liner and it’s kind of tossed off. I mean, if I had heard that song and didn’t know the rest of the band’s catalog, I would never have gone out and investigated us (laughs).
You went through a difficult period following that album. Can you talk about your state of mind then and how you got through it?
Yeah, I mean, it was around 2006. I was drinking heavily and touring and I had a horrible psychotic breakdown in Japan. Came back and spent some time in the hospital in Massachusetts and then was pretty heavily medicated for about a year after that. Everything’s fine now (laughs), but it’s actually amazing how I was kind of going through the motions for a few years there. On the “Traffic and Weather” record, the one prior to this, I only contributed three songs, and even one of those was a pretty old song that I had left over from a country band I was in in Boston in the early ’90s. I was really, really rundown and not sleeping and not eating and drinking too much, and it wasn’t a surprise when that all went down. The good thing about it is coming out of the other end of that and being able to sort of reassess what I want to do with the band. I think that at least my contributions to the new record are more reflective of the person that I am and not trying to play up to what other people’s idea of the band is, which is happy-go-lucky kind of humsters. That’s less of what I am on a day-to-day basis.
What are your hopes for “Sky Full of Holes”? I mean, would you like to score another big commercial hit? Is that something that matters to you?
It doesn’t matter, no, not at all. And I also don’t think that climate exists anymore. I don’t think there’s any chance of our having a good radio hit from that record. You know, I think if we had never had “Stacy’s Mom,” we probably would have had the type of trajectory I imagined when we first started the band, which was slowly building up a loyal following and being able to get to the point where we could have a career without a massive radio hit. There are a lot of bands like that that have a pretty big presence without getting played on the radio. For better or worse, we may have made that harder for ourselves with “Stacy’s Mom.” But I’m proud of the way the new record sounds. I’m going to keep trying to make records that I like as opposed to second-guessing what kind of audience we have out there.
How has the tour been going this summer?
Pretty good so far. We’re in Cape Cod right now. Only three shows left on this leg, then a couple of weeks off and then we head out for the West Coast and then out to Europe in November. So, yeah, it’s going good. We got a really, really good reaction to the new record, which I’m glad about. And I see a lot of the same faces in a lot of these towns, which is good. Yeah, I’m enjoying it. It’s a good thing.
walesonline.co.uk
I’m currently feeling the burn in my knees after last weekend’s Green Man Festival in Glanusk Park. We only covered the Saturday but nine hours of running around with a video camera intermittently scuttling back to the press tent to capture and edit, coupled with My-fi hotspots that don’t work, mobiles that do, then don’t, then do, is enough to drive a man to breaking point.
Still, the rain held off for the most part and though the line-up may have been a bit more low-key than previous years the quality of the music remained high. Granted I heard more than I saw but top of the list for future download activity are Scottish/Canadian eight piece The Burns Unit, who – on stage at least – sound like some unholy collision of West Coast 70s folk and Talking Heads; closely followed by twice Ivor Novello nominees The Leisure Society.
We legged it half hour in to Noah and the Whale’s set, keen to get back to a nice comfy sofa and something very alcoholic, so I’ve no idea what headliners Fleet Foxes were like. However I can highly recommend the new Fountains of Wayne album Sky Full of Holes which I downloaded on my return. They’ve turned down the guitars but Chris Collingwood has a way with a lyric that few can match. Take this from first single Someone’s Gonna Break Your Heart, ‘melancholy calls, like a robin at your window’. Beautiful.
By Andy Johnston
well done Karla
A pattern emerged as Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne began listing the five things that he needs when he goes on tour: escape. The frontman for the pop-rock quartet – which plays the Brighton Music Hall tonight and tomorrow in support of its terrifically tuneful new album, “Sky Full of Holes’’ – likes a little peace on the road.
1. His new Nook e-reader. “Normally I pack three books, and it really sucks if you’re traveling and you decide you’re really not into those three books and they’re still in your suitcase and they weigh about 60 pounds. With so much downtime on a tour, there’s no excuse for not getting around to it.’’
2. Ambien. “I’m a chronic insomniac, and obviously if you can’t get to sleep you’re pretty much shot the next day. I used to drink a lot. I don’t do that anymore. Ambien is better.’’
3. Scented things. “Candles, incense, bath salts, soaps, and tea. It’s something that our drummer Brian [Young] turned me onto. It’s a really good way to feel like you’re at home when you’re in a strange place.’’
4. Earplugs and headphones. “It’s not necessarily to drown out the noise but to make everybody in the van think that you can’t hear them.’’
5. White-noise generator. “That’s not just on tour, I take it with me everywhere I go. Believe it or not, it was given to every Atlantic artist in, like, 1998. Back when record companies had money and they decided to be nice to their artists. They had no idea what a great, great present that was.’’
By Sarah Rodman, Globe Staff
Veterans prove that they’re no pop squirts
By George Byrne
Friday August 12 2011
There’s a strange theory which gets thrown about occasionally that some bands are too clever for their own good. Personally, it’s one I’ve never subscribed to as it usually involves elevating musical primitives above artists who are trying to stretch themselves in whatever way they can.
Not that there’s anything wrong with taking the simple route, but there are times when it rankles to have college-boy journos slumming it by lauding the rough lads at the expense of more adventurous acts.
This reached a ludicrous peak when Oasis disappeared up their own noses with the eulogised Be Here Now, while Blur were forging ahead and Damon Albarn was planning such diverse projects as Chinese operas and cartoon-based supergroups. Anyway, in recent years one of the criticisms which has been consistently levelled at the great Fountains of Wayne is that they’re perhaps a tad too smart to be accepted by the masses.
Well, FoW just happen to be masters of the power pop art and if, after 15 years and five studio albums, they’ve failed to find the audience their crafted and, yes, clever songs surely deserve, then that’s the wider world’s loss and not theirs.
Their eponymous 1996 debut remains one of the most concise and clear- sighted power pop albums ever made. With the exuberant Radiation Vibe kicking things off and the ghostly Everything’s Ruined closing proceedings less than 40 minutes later, it’s a perfect collection of witty, hook-laden songs.
movies
Co-composers Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger are the kind of irritatingly gifted songwriters who, like Neil Finn, seem incapable of penning a song which doesn’t have a gripping melody. That their lyrics are also mini-movies which relate scenarios with the minimum of fuss and the maximum effect only makes it more mysterious as to why the Fountains aren’t truly huge.
Well, with Sky Full of Holes Collingwood and Schlesinger have gone and done it again, a baker’s dozen of doozies which makes one’s jaw drop at how utterly effortless they can make writing and playing power pop sound. Teenage disasters at a holiday home propels The Summer Place, Richie and Ruben tells the story of a pair of chancers and they even get to subvert the cliches of the road song on the wistful, country-tinged A Road Song, a difficult trick which they manage with consummate ease.
And while Fountains of Wayne ooze class and craft they’re not in any way distant and that’s what makes them one of my favourite bands. >george byrne
Sky Full of Holes is released today on LoJinx Records
- George Byrne
Fifteen years ago, Fountains of Wayne launched onto the music scene with its self-titled debut. A throwback to the meticulously crafted, guitar-driven pop of the 1960s, Fountains of Wayne made their mark throwing out song after hummable about reading Playboy (“Radiation Vibe”), dating politician’s daughters (“Senator’s Daughter”) and fantasizing about your girlfriend’s mother (“Stacy’s Mom”). The band is—in manyways—perpetually irreverent and incessantly upbeat.
Shockingly, Fountains of Wayne is also probably one of the last, truly great bands working today.
In many ways, Fountains of Wayne serves as a modern-day American version of the classic English rock band The Kinks. Whereas Ray Davies and company delivered insanely catchy chronicles of a post-war England, the playful members of Fountains of Wayne presents snapshots of middle class suburban ennui wrapped in sunny, ear-grabbing hooks.
With Sky Full of Holes, Fountains of Wayne has birthed yet another stellar collection of original compositions. Like the rest of the band’s discography it’s a highly clever and masterful release, containing more gems than a subterranean cave and more clever zingers than a Rodney Dangerfield routine.
The album opener “Richie and Ruben” documents the various business ventures of the titular characters, a pair of ruffians with no shortage of ambition but neither the skills nor the common sense to back it up.“They opened up a bar called Living Hell/Right from the start, it didn’t go too well,” Chris Colingwood sings. Propelled by a crystal-clean acoustic guitar, some electric guitar noodling and the band’s traditionally lush harmonies, the breezy tune sets an appropriate tune for album’s remaining tracks.
The album continues with the equally playful “Acela,” a little ditty about various train passengers, before moving into the infectious “Someone’s Gonna Break Your Heart.” Here, what at first sounds like a jaunty number, complete with pounding keyboards, soon reveals itself to be a melancholy meditation on the inevitability of heartbreak. “Someone’s gonna break your heart/ one cold, gray morning,” Collingwood muses. While some may criticize the band for its bouts of light-hearted silliness, songs such as these illustrate that the band is perfectly capable of exploring darker areas.
Such sensibilities are taken one step further in “ActionHero.” While “Someone’s Gonna Break Your Heart” works as a sad tune attached to a chipper melody, “ActionHero” at first appears to be the inverse. With the first verse recounting a father who—in the midst of reining in his children at a Vietnamese restaurant—envisions himself as an action hero, the song’s low key and semi-somber tone seems downright strange. “He’s an actionhero/ and he should be fighting crime / leaping between the buildings / and racing against time,” the chorus states. Only in subsequent versesdoes the song press into more serious territory, giving the line “he’s racing against time” a whole new, more tragic meaning.
Lyrically, Sky Full of Holes demonstrates the band’s predilection for writing highly specific lyrics. Take “A Road Song” for instance. A simple song about missing loved ones on the road, it illustrates the narrator’s loneliness with the line, “in between the stops at the Cracker Barrel/ and 40 movies with Will Ferell/ I need some way to occupy my time.” Later, in “Radio Bar,” the speaker proclaims, “we used to sit in the corner/ listening to The Joker / they were playing it over and over.” Oddly specific? Certainly. Yet, such references effectively allow the songs to rise above pop music’s inherently generic songwriting template and attain a more personal feel. Even if we’ve never listened to The Joker or seen Blades of Glory, we know where the narrator is coming from emotionally.
In terms of music, the album relies less on electric guitar riffs than previous albums. For example, the aforementioned “Radio Bar” packs its three-minute runtime with an exuberant horn section, piano and some classic pop “oh oh oh’s.” “Firelight Waltz,” meanwhile, takes a waltz structure and turns it into something akin to a campfire sing-along, albeit with more polished guitar work.
By all accounts, Sky Full of Holes does not represent any sort of major breakthrough or evolution for the band that brought the world “Stacy’s Mom.” Yet, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In the realm of today’s pop scene, Fountains of Wayne occupies a niche whose exclusion from the mainstream music charts never fails to instigate serious perplexion. With an ever-expanding catalogue of radio-friendly songs, why has the band never reached fame achieved by countless individuals and bands with far less talent?
One can turn this question back and forth in one’s mind all day. One can blame the fickle nature of the music industry or the public’s insatiable appetite for homogenous blandness. Either way, it can only lead to bouts of frustrated hair-pulling and incoherent rambling. Rather, one should focus on the simple miracle that—in an industry filled with ever-shifting trends and many artists burning out after a few stabs at relevance –a single band has managed to release five albums of pop-rock perfection.
Let’s all take a moment to appreciate that.
— Contact Mark Rozeman. The Emory Wheel
[Emphasis Added]
Prior to last night’s [8/9] performance at World Cafe Live, Fountains Of Wayne set up on stage to record a World Cafe session in front of a small audience of WXPN Special Producers. A broadcast date has not been set yet, but we’ll keep you posted on when their World Cafe performance and interview with David Dye will be scheduled. Below, check out some photos of the recording session taken by John Bartol.
Photo Recap: Fountains Of Wayne records a session for an upcoming World Cafe episode with David Dye
thekey.xpn.org
