Before performing at the House of Blues Feb. 22 and 23, Fun may drink some tea. Maybe they’ll take a shot of whiskey together. Maybe member Andrew Dost will lead them in a group pilates exercise. Whatever it is, their show will be sure to guarantee massive amounts of amusement, enjoyment, merriment. Or just some good old fun.
Fun, a band formed by The Format’s Nate Ruess with Steel Train’s Jack Antonoff and Anathello’s Dost, released their first album, Aim and Ignite, this past August. This tour will be the band’s second time on the road with Jack’s Mannequin.
“It’s a good time, they are really nice guys,” multi-instrumentalist Dost said. “The last time was our first time playing together so we were just getting our legs a little bit.”
Dost was previously in Anathello, a now Chicago-based band. After some of the members from the band moved here, they met an array of people, ranging from fellow bands to fans outside of their shows. Because of the band’s time spent here, Dost said he feels like playing in Chicago is a hometown show.
“It’s always just been a really welcoming, friendly environment,” Dost said. “I don’t think a lot of other bands have that.”
Before Fun formed, Anathello toured with The Format. Dost and Ruess hit it off, bonding over football and pizza subs while attempting to write songs in a hotel room.
“Nate and I got only really well,” Dost said. “We had a mutual love of 70s pop music and different things lined up really well.”
Despite the fraternity among the members of Fun, Dost said that touring can still be draining when they spend hours spent stuck in a car or hauling equipment into the venue. He tries to distract himself from this by thinking about how lucky he is to be playing music.
“There’s a lot of it that’s not fun,” Dost said. “To go onstage and play is worth thinking about and worth really focusing on and savoring so I try to do that everyday.”
While Fun is still a relatively new to the music scene, the trio already has a strong following. Fans voted to have the music video for their second single, “All the Pretty Girls,” put in rotation on MTVU’s network in January. They also won an Independent Music Award for best Pop/Rock song for the same track.
“With Fun, it’s more about songs and people like to sing along,” Dost said. “They come to the shows prepared to do that, and they know all the words.”
Each member of the band is involved in the writing process. Dost said he wrote “Light a Roman Candle,” one of the songs from Aim and Ignite, about his girlfriend.
“It’s just a magical feeling to know that those words were in my head and I was at a tiny piano in Northern Michigan thinking of those things,” Dost said, “and now there’s 200 people in a room who all know that, who all know what I was thinking.”
Jack’s Mannequin will be headlining the show. The band’s last CD, The Glass Passenger, was released in September 2008.