 Fountains Of Wayne's first two albums, Fountains Of Wayne and Utopia Parkway, earned the group a reputation as masters of the three-and-a-half minute pop song. Led by songwriters Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood, the New York-based quartet is known for crafting witty, wistful, and instantly memorable character portraits, often using the Northeastern U.S. as a backdrop. MOJO Magazine included Fountains Of Wayne in their recent book, The Greatest Albums Of All Time, calling the band "almost better than anything, ever." The band was also named in Entertainment Weekly's 2002 "It List: The 100 Most Creative People In Entertainment."
On their long-awaited third album, Welcome Interstate Managers, Fountains Of Wayne tackle such time-honored pop subjects as love, work, frustrated commuters, drunken salesmen, retired airline pilots, pressured quarterbacks, bad waitresses, vegan entrepreneurs, clip-on ties, exploding cell phones, lawn mowing, vacations without the kids, New England snowstorms, lousy directions, and, of course, Face The Nation.
Collingwood and Schlesinger say they began playing music together in college "sometime in the previous century." They performed together in a series of bands, and, at one point in the early 90's, they even began work on an album for a start-up indie label, which soon folded, and the album was never finished or released. They claim to be quite grateful for this in hindsight.
After a brief respite, the duo reconvened in New York City, and formed FOW around an inspired batch of new songs. They named their new group after a lawn ornament store in Wayne, NJ, near Schlesinger's hometown of Montclair (the store has since gained further notoriety thanks to multiple appearances on HBO's The Sopranos). Although the debut album Fountains Of Wayne was recorded largely as a duo, Porter (formerly of The Belltower) and Young (formerly of The Posies) joined the band shortly before the record's release in 1996. The subsequent radio and video success of songs like "Radiation Vibe" and "Sink To The Bottom" kept the foursome on the road for over a year.
Fountains Of Wayne will tour in support of Welcome Interstate Managers beginning this summer. They promise to give 110 percent every night.
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