Fun

2008: Starting a career and forming a group

In February 2008, the member of the rock band The Format Neith Ryuss broke up with the group. Immediately after that, he asked Andrew Doste and Jack Antonoff about the desire to join his new project. Dost has already toured with The Format and provided them with various equipment; Antonoff Ryss met after a joint tour of The Format and the Steel Train ^[4] . The Trinity began working together in New Jersey during the week: Ryuss sang melodies, while Dost and Antonoff composed music on them ^[5] . The first recorded demo song of the group was “Benson Hedges”, the free access to which was indicated in an article about the group in Spin magazine on August 20, 2008 ^[6] . In November, the band began their first tour, opening the Jack's Mannequin tour. The first performance is fun. was held in Denver , Colorado on November 5 ^[7] . They performed a couple of early demos from other bands. Then fun. they turned to Stephen MacDonald, producer of the debut album The Format Dog Problems , with a request to become a producer of their debut album. McDonald was delighted with the project and stated ^[5] :

2009-2010: Aim and Ignite

The recording of the album took place in the fall of 2008. The first single of the group, “At Least”, was released in the public domain on the group’s MySpace page on April 6, 2009 ^[8] . The band's debut studio album - Aim and Ignite - was released on August 25, 2009 and received positive reviews. Drew Berringer from AbsolutePunk.net praised the album, calling it “the most significant pop album of 2009” ^[9] . The Allmusic portal called the album “at best possible progressive” and admired the texts of Ryuss for “exploring the great truths of life ... with a witty approach that retains a positive note in the seething songs” ^[10] . Dave de Sylvia from Sputnikmusic said: “ Aim and Ignite is not the most consistent pop album,” but he ultimately rated the album as “a superbly mixed and built album made by musicians who clearly understand the scope and potential of pop music.” ^[11] Estella Hang from PopMatters was less impressed with the album. She praised the songs “Be Calm” and “The Gambler”, but criticized the lyrics and the production of the first songs of the album. She concluded that while Aim and Ignite is “quite original, to say the least,” he “does not reach the latest release of The Format” ^[12] . In a review of the album, The Washington Post called some arrangements “theatrical, very similar to the debut „ Panic! At the Disco “in 2005” ^[13] . The album took the 26th place in the list of the 50 best albums of 2009 compiled by the portal Sputnikmusic.ru . In the American Billboard 200, the album debuted at the 71st line.

In February 2010, fun. again opened the tour of the band Jack's Mannequin; The following month, the band made their first appearances in the United Kingdom . In April, the group supported Paramore 's solo tour ^[14] , and in May, it already embarked on a full UK tour. On 4 May, “fun.” Announced it had signed a contract with Fueled by Ramen . ^[15] In the single of the group “Walking the Dog”, an advertisement for the travel site Expedia.com was used ^[16] . During the tour, a former member of the Straylight Run group, Will Nun, played along with the group, according to his Twitter page ^[17] . To promote the British tour Paramore and the single fun. “Walking the Dog” Hassie Records provided free access to the acoustic version of the track ^[18] .

2011–2015: Some Nights and Hiatus

On May 17, 2011, the band released the song “C'mon” as a joint single with the Panic group ! At the Disco , whose Vices & Virtues Tour they opened in the same year. On November 7, the band announced the name of their new album, Some Nights . The first single of the album - “ We Are Young ”, recorded with the participation of Janel Monet , has been widely used on television since its release, including the television series “ Gossip Girl ” ^[19] , “ 90210: A New Generation ” ^[20] , “ Choir ” and “ Chuck ” ^[21] ; commercials for Chevrolet ^[22] and Apple ^[23] , as well as the trailer for Judd Apatow’s “ Adult Love ” ^[24] .

On December 12, the single of the One Foot group became available for listening and free download on the Nylon magazine website ^[25] . On February 13, 2012, she released an album on their website with a note from Ryuss, in which he thanks fans for their continued support. Nate stated that he was “in seventh heaven because of what you now hear and fall asleep, knowing that as soon as I wake up, this will no longer be a dream” ^[26] . The album was officially released on February 21, 2012 via Fueled by Ramen ^[27] .

On February 17, the band played in a room filled with heads of the music industry and radio stations, as well as music inspectors at the Sunset Sessions conference, Michel Clarke, held in San Diego ^[28] . February 29th fun. began their solo North American tour in support of the album Some Nights ^[29] .

On March 7, the single “We Are Young” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 . This made the band the first rock band with several members, whose single debuting on the charts reached number one, starting in December 2001, when the same single was achieved by the Nickelback group How You Remind Me ^[30] . On April 11, the Billboard magazine website also announced that the single had broken the digital sales record: since the song had been on the first line for six weeks in a row, it was the first and only one that had been downloaded more than 300,000 times in seven weeks ^[31] . November 11, the song was performed by the group at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2012 ^[32] .

October 24 saw the release of the music video of the third single fun. - “Carry On” ^[33] . The single became the group's third single, which entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart . On November 3, the group performed the songs “Some Nights” and “Carry On” on Saturday Night Live ^[34] .

Another performance of the group took place at the 55th Grammy Award Ceremony . Entertainment Weekly predicted the band won the “ Best Record of the Year ”, “ Best Song of the Year ” nominations (both for “We Are Young”) and “ Best Vocal Pop Album ” (for Some Nights ). As a result, the song became the best song of the year, and the band itself won an award to the best new performer ^[35] . After the victory of "We Are Young", Neit Ryuss jokingly stated ^[36] :

February 26, 2013 fun. released the music video of the fourth single of the album - "Why I Am the One". In September of the same year, the group joined the legends of British rock music - the Queen group - to record a special version of the hit " Somebody to Love ", and after that - a duet with a more modern version of the group to perform the song " Fat Bottomed Girls " in Queen format + Adam Lambert at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas ^[37] .

On December 17, the release of the Before Shane Went to Bangkok mini-album took place : Live in the USA - a concert mini-album consisting of the songs from both the group's studio albums and the song “What the Fuck”, which was not previously released. The release of the mini-album on vinyl was held in March 2014 ^[38] .

In 2014, the group announced that it was already working on the upcoming untitled album, as there was no time before. On June 18th, “fun.” Performed a new song “Harsh Lights” on the Jimmy Fallon show.

On February 4, 2015, the group stated on its Facebook page that they take a break to tackle other projects ^[39] :

On June 16, frontman and vocalist Neith Russe released a debut solo studio album called Grand Romantic ^[40] .

Group members

Touring musicians

Invited musicians

• Aim and Ignite (2009)
• Some Nights (2012)

fun. He is a laureate of two Grammy awards, two Teen Choice Awards , one Billboard Music Awards and many other awards.

• - the official site of Fun
• Interview After the Press