The Format was beginning to think the stars were aligned against them.
Just as Nate Ruess and Sam Means were finally able to sort through the aftermath of the
2020 pandemic-which first stalled, then completely wiped out their last attempt at a
reunion-tragedy struck again. On the very first day of recording new music in nearly 20
years with Grammy-winning producer Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, The Killers, Bruce
Springsteen), the Los Angeles wildfires broke out, leaving devastation across the city. It
was enough to inspire a little conspiratorial thinking.
“It seriously felt like the universe was against us,” Ruess says, trailing off. “It was at
least…” “It was testing us, for sure,” Means adds, finishing the thought.
It’s no wonder that Boycott Heaven, their third album, is charged with there is no waiting
on tomorrow energy. After all, if the universe was in fact putting you through your paces,
how might you respond? Not on some far-off imagined judgement day, but right now?
“Holy roller, don’t go wasting all your time,” Ruess sings in the boisterous single “Holy
Roller.” In other words, the time for creating something more like heaven isn’t tomorrow
or some other day, but today.
A certain romantic fatalism has always coursed through The Format’s lyrics, which the
more mature Ruess cops to in the heartland rocker “Shot in the Dark.” “Lived my whole
life like I was ready to die,” he confesses over jangling guitars and stomping rhythms.
But Boycott Heaven is filled with reflections on reasons to stick around this broken old
world: family, life-long connections, distorted guitar riffs, and a stubborn belief that even
as bad as it is, tomorrow could be better.
Once it was safe to return, the duo got back to work at Henson Recording Studios. Sam
and Nate both played electric guitars-Ruess having picked up the instrument in the years
since The Format’s last album, in addition to launching a solo career, forming the chart-
topping fun. with Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost, and collaborating with P!nk, Kesha,
and Hayley Williams of Paramore.) Their rhythm section was comprised of O’Brien on
bass and drummer Matt Chamberlain (David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Soundgarden, Fiona
Apple,).
Fans of Interventions + Lullabies (2003) and Dog Problems (2006) will recognize the
hooks and retro-pop bravado, but Boycott Heaven signals a new era. It’s not a nostalgia
play, even as it incorporates sonic nods to the alt-rock, grunge, and pop-punk sounds
Ruess and Means first bonded over as Arizona teenagers.
“We first bonded listening to bands like Weezer, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots,” Ruess
says. “I’m a new guitarist, just enamored with power chords, so I’m listening to all this
stuff we’d listen to back then and cross referencing—NOFX, Lagwagon. But you take
that pop-punk stuff and slow it down, and then have Matt Chamberlain playing on it, and
then it feels a little like grunge. All that’s in there.”
“It does kind of bring us back,” Means says, not just in terms of time but “As a
partnership, too. It feels like a cool extension of where we came from.”
Though the concept of recording with a mega hit producer was intense at first, Means
says O’Brien made it easy to focus on the music. “Brendan just being Brendan made it so
that we could focus on being there to make a good record and have a good time,” he says.
“Not that it wasn’t a whirlwind, cause it was. When it happened, it happened fast.”
With steady hands like O’Brien and Chamberlain backing them up, Ruess and Means
didn’t have to worry about second guessing the implications of following up their past
work-the act of creating new sounds kept them entirely occupied. The results are diverse,
from the power pop charger “Depressed,” which hinges on buzzsaw guitars and close
harmonies, to the folk ballad “Right Where I Belong,” to the rousing anthem “No You
Don’t,” which sounds like a lost Pinkerton B-side.
Even as they disbanded, The Format never closed the door entirely to future
collaboration. Steadily resisting the “emo nostalgia” bucks offered to them, Ruess
focused on new projects, and Means devoted himself to solo musical work and his
independent music merchandise company, Hello Merch.
When Ruess contacted him in August 2024, he didn’t realize that right away the band
was actually flipping the switch into “new Format music mode”, though the work quickly
revealed the path, and the two found that their years apart hadn’t dulled their creative
psychic connection.
“At first, we weren’t even sure,” Means says, noting that when Ruess reached out with
set of guitar-based demos, a new mode for the mostly vocals-based composer, he thought
they might be songs intended for the follow up to Ruess’ solo debut Grand Romantic
(2015), but as they bounced ideas back and forth, it became clear what was happening.
“It was like, ‘Well yeah, this is a Format record,’” Ruess says, “What else could it be?”
Though Means admits he knows some people will read the words “boycott heaven” and
immediately form an opinion, Ruess says the title came to him more or less by accident.
“It was a hashtag on Twitter. I read ‘boycott heaven’ but it was ‘boycott Heineken,’” he
says, stifling a laugh. “But I just thought the words sounded beautiful together. It’s not an
anti-religion record—I think religion can be a beautiful thing—it’s just when something
is out of balance, sometimes a boycott is in order.”
Ruess cites Paul Schrader’s Ethan Hawke-staring masterpiece First Reformed (2017) as a
major inspiration on the album, and just like that bleak, beautiful movie, Ruess doesn’t
avoid thorny topics-from religion to fake friends, all while maintaining an empathetic
stance that’s less about preaching and more about observing.
“I would love nothing more than to write about the world in a cheesy way,” Ruess says
with a wry laugh, but instead, Boycott Heaven portrays the world as it is: full of beauty,
sadness, and always, no matter how hard to see, possibility.
Following sold-out reunion gigs in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and New York, where songs
from Boycott Heaven were debuted live, the new album signifies both a rebirth and
continuation of The Format. When the band originally disbanded in 2008, their goodbye
note made reference to a Twin Peaks DVD boxset Ruess and Means were passing back
and forth, in an attempt to unravel the show’s mysteries. While cutting Boycott Heaven,
Means insisted they devote a deep dive watch to 2017’s revival series, Twin Peaks: The
Return. The mysteries-and the magic-remain.
Like Mark Frost and the late David Lynch returning to their beloved fictional
Washington town, 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 signifies a new start, a new beginning,
and a new chapter in the story of The Format.
