i The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 5A
Blind Pig brings the fun
with a band called fun.
Former Format frontman
A funeral for
'Four Weddings'
comes to Ann Arbor with
new peppy pop outfit fun.
for lone headlining show
By DAVID RIVA
Daily Arts Writer
Hardly any good ever comes from a band
break-up. McCartney and Lennon apart never
reached the same songwrit-
ing heights that they did
together. When Diana Ross
went solo, a member of The Tomorrow
Supremes died. And Billy at 8p.m.
Corgan is hardly worth a The Blind Pig
mention without the original Tickets $15
Smashing Pumpkins' lineup.
Nate Ruess defied the odds
of a floundering career after his former band,
indie-pop outfit The Format, split in February
2008 at the pinnacle of its creative, commer-
cial and critical success.
He didn't waste much time starting a new
project as he gathered musicians from Steel
Train and Anathallo to form a three-piece
with a name that, despite its brevity, reads
like a lighthearted mission statement. The
band, "fun.," jumped into the studio to record
Aim and Ignite, a collection of danceable yet
thought-provoking pop songs, in August 2008.
Since then the band has seen a whirlwind of
online promotion, touring, year-end list nods
and a win at the Independent Music Awards -
a contest judged by some of the industry's most
respected names, including Tom Waits, Mark
Hoppus and M. Ward.
For Ruess, the lead singer of fun., the award
for Best Pop/Rock Song was both unexpected
and humbling.
"I truthfully didn't know what (the award)
was," he said. "But I think that it's a really
cool thing (especially) when I heard about the
people that were on the panel. It was exciting
to actually win an award. I don't know if we
deserved it, but I'll take it."
This success didn't happen in a vacuum,
however, as Ruess used a change in scenery
to motivate himself before he started with his
new creative endeavor.
"I moved to New York because I was kind of
The band fun. won Best Pop/Rock Song at the Independent Music Awards.
By ANT MITCHELL
Daily Arts Writer
Try as they might, four women
can't all have the best wedding ever.
So "Four Weddings" pits some pug-
nacious brides
against each other **
in 'a challenge to
have the perfect Four
wedding day - or
at least more per- WeddingS
fect than anyone Fridays at
else. 10 p.m.
A show based TLC
on four women
competing for the
best weddingis pretty much guaran-
teed to be uncomfortable to watch.
The gaggle of women attend each
other's weddings in clumps, and
give rankings afterward regarding
one another's venue, food, dress,.
general experience and originality.
The grand prize is a vacation on an
unknown exotic island.
The participants always have
somethingnegative to say. They snort
at the construction of the programs
or complain they didn't have time to
tryallthe desserts theywanted to. In
the premiere, one woman described
the wedding hotel as looking like a
flying saucer. The Hindi woman who
wanted a traditional Indian wed-
ding received a lot of snide "What is
that?" comments about the food, as
well as criticism for the traditional
nature of her vows.
But the Indian wedding was not
the only one to get flack for its reli-
gious practices. The whining posse
of predictably pissy prima donnas
popped up again at the Catholic
woman's wedding to complain about
all of the "getting up, sitting down,
getting up" at a traditional Catho-
lic service. Those poor little crea-
tures had to exercise their calves on
account of someone else's beliefs.
How they survived the experience
is a question viewers are undoubt-
edly still dying to discover. Even
when the competitors were forced
to admit something was well done,
it was always with a sheen of bitter-
ness and an expression only a facial
twitch away from a glare.
The name "Four Weddings" could
be areference to Hugh Grant's ("Love
Actually") romantic comedy "Four
Weddings and a Funeral," which
follows Grant's character Charles as
he attends wedding after wedding,
bemoaning his inability to commit to
a woman. Sadly, the TV show doesn't
live up to its namesake's success,
though there are moments when the
voices of the competitors fade to the
background and the weddings them-
selves become somewhat appealing
to watch.
Take the instance when the cler-
gyman at one wedding fails to show
up on time, but a member of the
bridal party swoops in and reveals
himself as a priest. Moments such
as these are mildly entertaining, and
add to the beauty of the actual wed-
dings.
If there's one redeeming quality to
"Four Weddings," it's that the show
at least offers a kind of poetic jus-
tice. For once in reality TV, the least
bitchy woman wins. Not the woman
Nuptials aren't
meant to
be ranked.
who gave up her honeymoon cash for
a more expensive wedding, and not
the woman who shrilly announced
in a side interview that she wouldn't
have done anything differently after
losing the competition. No, instead
it's the slightly overweight, motor-
cycle-riding woman who announced
at the outset she wasn't into mushy
heart-shaped cakes. She was also the
only individual to ask the rest of the
women if they were nervous as they
waited for the results of the compe-
tition, only to receive two "no"s and
a "sorta." Hubris doesn't win out in
the end, and that-is, without ques-
tion, a relief.
tired of Arizona," he explained, adding that he
was "so used to being in Arizona that it made
me a little complacent sometimes in my writ-
ing, whereas New York felt like a different
energy."
The fruits of this fresh, lively spirit can be
heard throughout Aim and Ignite. Fusing an
element of Broadway show tunes with exu-
berant guitar and drum parts, the record will
make you feel like you're floating on air. Ruess's
sincere yet snarky lyrics add an emotional pull
without being too serious, contributing to the
album's overall feel-good vibe.
Still, in the 21st century it doesn't matter
how unique or exceptional your product is -
getting it out to listeners is always a daunting
challenge.
Releasing its first single through Facebook,
streaming the full album on MySpace, creating
a free iPhone app and liberally using Twitter,
the band was able toput its music into people's
homes and heads without breaking the bank.
"The Internet definitely helps with (promo-
tion)," Ruess said. "I think we're working at a
really great pace and we're working at a very
affordable pace for ourselves."
Online promotion is not the only answer
for taking a band to the next level. The band
apparently understands the importance of
touring, as Ruess and Co. will be on the road
until mid-May.
Their itinerary is filled with opening dates
for pop-rock powerhouses like Motion City
Soundtrack and Jack's Mannequin and a lone
headlining show in Ann Arbor this Thursday.
Ruess admits headlining is the ideal situa-
tion for fun.'s live show.
"You want to be able to play your full-on
set," he said. "You want to know that the crowd
is there for you."
While admitting that opening for bands is
the "smart" thing to do, Ruess said, "It's going
to be niceto getaway and be ableto do our show,
especially at a place as cool as theBlind Pig," cit-
ing the club as one of his favorite venues (Ruess
has performed twice there with The Format).
With this rare headlining date, an opportu-
nity is presented for band and audience alike
to rock out, hop around and, quite simply, to
have fun.
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