After releasing 2003’s Welcome Interstate Managers, by far the most commercially and critically successful album of their careers, the members of Fountains of Wayne spent the next few years crisscrossing the globe in a non-stop promotional whirl. It seems likely that the massive accumulation of frequent flier miles served as inspiration for the newly released Traffic and Weather, where virtually all of the songs center around the concept of transportation, either literally (“’92 Subaru”, “i-95”) or metaphorically (“Yolanda Hayes”, “New Routine”).
Just don’t tell Fountains’ bassist Adam Schlesinger it’s a concept album. “All of the travel and transportation stuff is pretty obvious, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it a concept. It’s just more of the stuff we always write about”.
Schlesinger’s right in the sense that there’s no question Traffic and Weather is a Fountains of Wayne album. All of the key ingredients are here—the hooks that grab you by the shirt collar and refuse to let go; the tasteful touches of horns, synths and ethereal harmonies that make the songs equally at home today as in the ‘90s, ‘80s or ‘70s; the cleverly quirky insights into the songs’ protagonists’ lives that make the listener certain he actually knows these people.
Still, the prospect of following up a record as well received as Welcome Interstate Managers must have been daunting. Did the band feel any pressure? “Nobody’s depending on us to make their quarterly numbers”, Schlesinger says. “We always have pressure just to do something we like, but it’s mostly internal”.
The band’s basic approach to record-making has changed since recording their eponymous debut eleven years ago. “We made our first record in a week, and we were so excited just to be in the studio that we would stay there until 4 in the morning. Now, it’s dinner time and we’re like, ‘Uhh…let’s stop’”.
Besides fewer missed meals, the band’s experience in the recording studio has paid off in other, more important ways. “I’m really happy with [Traffic and Weather]. Sonically, I think it’s our best record. It’s kind of rich sounding. There’s always stuff on the earlier records where I wished I could have gone back and remixed something. But I really like the way the sound of this record turned out”.
If the recording process has gotten easier over time, the songwriting process has not. “I think the hardest part for us is always the writing. The arranging and the recording tend to go relatively smoothly, [but the writing is] slow because that’s just how we are these days. We’re not in such a rush”.
“I only write in little spurts—I’m actually pretty lazy about it. I have to force myself to get into a frame of mind where I’m actually working on things”. On the new record, however, the effort paid off: “I think our writing has gotten more interesting over the years”. Always one to keep busy, in his time off from Fountains of Wayne Schlesinger contributed songs to the recent Hugh Grant movie Music and Lyrics (including the spot-on Wham! homage “Meaningless Kiss”) and produced the critically acclaimed comeback album by America entitled Here and Now. “Gerry Beckley originally emailed me just to say that he was a Fountains of Wayne fan and I replied saying that I was an America fan and that we should do something sometime. We just kind of stayed in touch and that led to us first doing a couple of tunes and then an entire album together”.
So what is he doing in his spare time? “I just finished working on some tracks with a band called Motion City Soundtrack. That stuff’s gonna come out over the summer”.
There are only so many hours in a day however, so Schlesinger’s been forced to put his second band, Ivy, on hold. “Ivy is dormant at the moment. We’re starting to talk about another Ivy record, but I can’t say for sure when that’s gonna happen”.
Apologizing for having to cut our talk short, Schlesinger explains he is off to film a video for Traffic and Weather’s first single, “Someone to Love”. The band has become somewhat renowned for having celebrity cameos in their videos, from Drew Carey in “Mexican Wine” to the former Mrs. Rod Stewart in “Stacey’s Mom”. Will any famous friends show up in the new video? “Can’t say,” Schlesinger replies. Classified info, eh? “No…I don’t know yet. No secrets”, he chuckles.
~ Rick Schadelbauer
Photo: Kazumichi Kokei
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http://www.fountainsofwayne.com
FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE's TRAFFIC AND WEATHER album is out now on Virgin Records.
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