A Conversation with fun.’s Andrew Dost – HuffPost 10.26.11
Mike Ragogna: We’re talking with a “fun.” guy, Andrew Dost. I always loved that lower case “f” and period in the name. Anyway, how are you, sir?
Andrew Dost: I’m great thanks, how are you doing?
MR: You have some interesting news with the group fun. You’re working on a new album right now?
AD: Correct, we’re almost done.
MR: And you have a new single with Janelle Monae called “We Are Young.” How did that come about?
AD: Well, we were such huge fans of her album, and we knew we wanted a female voice on there, and in a dream world, we wanted her to sing on it. Our producer was able to get a hold of her and make it happen.
MR: You guys were all in the studio together?
AD: Not us with Janelle, she did that separately.
MR: Did you end up giving her hints on what to do or did she just free form it?
AD: We had the part laid out for her already, but I think she added her unique twist to it, I guess you could say.
MR: You worked with Jeff Bhasker on this one?
AD: Yeah.
MR: At some point, there was also a decision to do a tour together, right? There’s some nice chemistry there, I imagine.
AD: Yeah. The few times we’ve met her, she’s told us that she likes what we do, and that’s really nice we’re here. We’re trying to create art, we’re trying to make something different. I feel what that’s what she’s doing too. She’s approaching music in a new, fresh, interesting way. I think anytime people are trying to come at music with that kind of approach, there’s an automatic kinship there. We get along great, she’s so nice and friendly and generous with us.
MR: Can we go over the roots of the band?
AD: We had all toured together in the past with different bands. I had been playing some horn and doing some keyboard stuff as an auxiliary member of Nate’s band when my band was on tour with them. We just kind of hit it off and stayed in touch and had a musical simpatico. Jack was just in another band playing guitar, and we all had such a mutual respect for each other. Nate’s band dissolved, and I parted ways with my band and we decided to get together to see if that nice rapport lasted and fortunately it was very strong, and thinks worked out well right away.
MR: We don’t have to talk about it beyond casually since its release date is a ways off, but what was the creative process for your upcoming album like?
AD: We took a week and we went to Woodstock, New York, and lived in a beautiful studio in the woods. We all had some scraps of ideas, and Nate had some songs that were pretty well fleshed out. We just all got together and played through them, we all got snowed in and the power went out and we were there for a long time and cranked them out. Maybe half of the album happened that way–I would say the heart of that album during that week.
MR: With your last album, you had Jellyfish’s Roger Manning, so you got those cool arrangements, plus you had Steven McDonald in the mix as well. But with Jeff Bhasker, it looks like you’ve got a whole new sonic set up. I’m excited to see what the new musical translation will be.
AD: I think that translation is very apparent. Steve and Roger both have an awesome pop rock pedigree and now we’re getting into more of a hip-hop pedigree. I think that’s absolutely reflected in a great way.
MR: Cool. Now, you’ve been on tour with some great bands like Jack’s Mannequin and Paramore. What are these tours like?
AD: Every one is different. You can definitely see how Paramore fans are a very unique group of people, Jack’s Mannequin fans are different too, and everybody listens to a band they haven’t heard with a different set of ears. It’s nice to see everybody be pretty open-minded in general.
MR: Do you find you experiment with songs on the road that you might be recording or do you save them for the studio and tour them out later?
AD: We try to save them until they’re recorded or at least until we have a good idea of what they’re going to end up as. But sometimes, we get a little excited. We were playing a song on the last tour that hadn’t really been fully conceived and it’s probably going to end up getting completely scrapped. It’s tough to play something that hasn’t been fully realized and recorded.
MR: What’s your stage act like these days?
AD: Well, that is also undergoing some transformation. We’re getting a new light set up for this Fall. In general, we like to play as a band–guitar, piano, and voice. We also tour with a bass player, a drummer, and somebody who plays keyboard and guitar. We try to play all of our parts and flesh it out to get a lush sound, while also keeping the energy of a three-piece punk act. We want to be the best of all possible worlds. Now, we’re trying to step up our game even further. We’re playing to a click and we’re trying to sonically get it perfect.
MR: I want to go back to your first single, “At Least I’m Not As Sad As I Used To Be.” You offered that as a free download if people signed up for your mailing list. Your Facebook page exploded because of that, or with that helping a lot, in the very least. When you saw that success, did that make you feel like in the future, it will really be about what other “fun.” stuff is going to be offered?
AD: I can’t really explain any rationale or take any credit for that. We’ve just got a good team that tries to give people what they want, keep them interested, and keep them coming back for more. I don’t know, at this point, how this will all play out. I know we just want to release songs in the right order, keep existing fans happy, but also give something that will attract new people.
MR: What is the creative process like with you fun.? Who starts it off and who joins in?
AD: Typically, Nate will come in with lyrics and a melody, then Jack and I will build the music around that and set up the chord structure, decide which instruments are going to enter and where, and how best we’re going to support that melody. That’s usually the way it goes. Other times, Jack or I will bring an instrumental piece and Nate will write lyrics to that. It’s one of those starting points, where it’s either Nate, Jack, or I. We just build it all together from there. Even when someone has a pretty well defined framework to start with, there’s much give and take with the three of us, where the egos pretty much disappear and everybody is happy to work towards the best possible song. It’s much give and take and it works really well. We have much trust in each other and our only rule is if someone really believes in something and the other two don’t, it’s probably best to go with whoever believes in it the strongest.
MR: Do you feel sometimes you’re hearing elements of some of your past bands coming into the creative process?
AD: Yeah, I think so. Unfortunately, in my case, it’s a little baggage there; but usually, it’s for the best and usually, it’s really cool. We’ve learned through the course of our other bands to really listen and to trust each other. Sonically, if you are familiar with our other bands, you can kind of place where things are coming from. I’ve had people listen to the album and say, “That’s an Andrew melody,” or “That’s clearly a Jack guitar line,” or “That’s a Nate vocal melody,” or even, “This guitar part was influenced by Nate’s melodic sense.” We all bring our pretty distinct styles together.
MR: What advice might you have for new artists?
AD: I would say that the most important thing is to try to find out what you are, and really believe in that. I spent many years trying to write a lot like Ben Folds or John Lennon or Rivers Cuomo. I think that’s healthy when you’re learning to write and seeing how chords fit together and how songs take shape. I think of a band like Animal Collective where they really follow their own sound and I think that’s a really important thing to do. You can find an audience if you can find your voice.
MR: You’re going to be on tour with Janelle Monae on the Campus Consciousness Tour. Maybe it’s self-explanatory, but I’ll ask anyway, why that title?
AD: It’s, along with us, Janelle Monae, Timothy Bloom–there’s also Brita the water filter company is out with us; Silk soy milk is out with us; Oxfam, and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. It’s all about fair trade, and helping people eating locally grown stuff. We’re recycling everything. We’re trying to tour in the most conscious way possible, environmentally and socially.
MR: Is there anything else we should know about fun.?
AD: I guess just that the album will be out early next year.
MR: I appreciate you spending time with us. You’re on a label that dares to have a terrific stable of acts, it’s great.
AD: It is, it’s a great home.
MR: All the best, Andrew.
AD: Thanks so much for having me.