Audioholic Media

fun. are essentially a modern day supergroup, comprised of former members of The Format (Nate Ruess), Anathallo (Andrew Dost), and Steel Train (Jack Antonoff). With their debut, Aim & Ignite, set for an August 25th release date, details about the album have slowly begun to surface.

Aim & Ignite will include ten tracks, most of which have been unveiled during fun.’s recent tour with Manchester Orchestra. For the sake of knowing what to search for on YouTube, here’s the track listing:

Aim & Ignite track listing
01. Be Calm
02. Benson Hedges
03. All The Pretty Girls
04. I Wanna Be The One
05. At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)
06. Light A Roman Candle With Me
07. Walking The Dog
08. Barlights
09. The Gambler
10. Take Your Time (Coming Home)

The album’s cover was illustrated by Jacob Weinstein, and “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)” is currently posted to the band’s MySpace page.

Additionally, the band’s name really is “fun.” As quoted in Andrew Dost‘s MySpace blog:

We definitely are named fun. Yes, it includes a period. Yes, the ‘f’ is supposed to be lower-case.

Because I’m really excited about this album, I caught up with Dost at one of fun.’s recent shows and grilled him about Aim & Ignite:

Audioholic Media: What can you tell me about your upcoming album, Aim & Ignite?

Andrew Dost: Well, the album’s coming out August 25th. It is ten songs long, because a lot of great records have ten songs. We’re just really excited about it. It’s got a lot of moments on it we’re really proud of– maybe the best of Jack, Nate, and I. It’s the best of all three of us, I think.

AM: This is your first tour as fun., so is it tough for you to tour on the strength of an unreleased album?

AD: Yeah, it is. It’s not so much “tough” in the sense that it’s hard for us to exist, but it’s definitely tough to be like, “Well, you can’t buy the record, it’s not out yet,” or, “We don’t have anything to give to you.” It’s strange to expect people to know songs and sing along to stuff they haven’t heard. Basically they’re just going on a YouTube video or something. It’s frustrating because I want people to hear these songs. I’m very proud of them, and it’s definitely weird to play songs and know they haven’t heard them yet.

AM: When you were playing the first few songs, people didn’t really know how to handle themselves, but the moment you played the covers by The Format, people began to dance and sing along. So it’s almost as if they’re fans, but they’re just not all the way there yet.

AD: That’s been kind of the trend of the tour. Once people realize, they’re like, “Oh, I know these songs. I know that voice. We can get behind that.”

AM: I know that fun. consists of just the three of you, so is the band that backs you now the band you tour with or did they record with you as well?

AD: They are just the touring band. For recording, we use other people. But these guys are awesome, too.

AM: The girl up there with you, what is her name?

AD: Her name is Jess. Jessica Martins.

AM: So she’s not the female voice you hear on “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be).”

AD: No, that was our producer Steve [McDonald]‘s wife, Anna, who used to sing in a band called That Dog who was really, really influential on all of us. Oh, and then also Rachel [Antonoff], who is Jack’s sister and Nate’s girlfriend.

AM: So you guys are basically just this supergroup who all came together…

AD: Kind of, yeah. I mean, that’s a nice thing to say. To say “supergroup,” you think, like, Traveling Wilburys, and I wouldn’t put ourselves in that league. We definitely have always wanted to work together, and it’s been really fun. Really a good time.

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For even more information on fun., visit myspace.com/fun.