The Format

After nearly two decades apart, Nate Ruess and Sam Means return to The Format, the indie pop band they helmed in the early 2000s. Teaming with Grammy-winning producer Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, The Killers) and drummer Matt Chamberlain (who's played with David Bowie, Bob Dylan & Fiona Apple amongst many others), the duo’s third album Boycott Heaven incorporates sonic nods to the alt-rock, grunge, and pop-punk sounds Sam and Nate first bonded over as Arizona teenagers in the late ‘90s. But the album’s concerns are distinctly of the present day. It’s filled with existential protest anthems, love songs, odes to family, and power chord-driven rockers which confront disillusion, religious hypocrisy, and growing up. It finds our duo coming out the side with hard-earned optimism and maturity. Featuring 11 brand new songs, Boycott Heaven is the product of two longtime confidants creating something they could only create together, changed by time but still tied to their roots. “Been gone for way too long,” Ruess sings on album closer “Back To Life.” “I never meant to say goodbye,” he follows up. The song, and this album, signify a new start, a fresh beginning, and the opening of an uncharted chapter in the story of The Format. On the heels of the release of their new album, Boycott Heaven, the band released “The Bar is Set So Low”, a charity single available exclusively via Bandcamp. https://theformat.bandcamp.com/track/the-bar-is-set-so-low