The Format Unplugged

About this event

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 .