ARTIST: The Format
SPECIAL GUESTS: Dan Boeckner
DATE: Tuesday, December 9th
VENUE: Montage Music Hall | 55 Chestnut St |Rochester, NY 14604
SHOW TIME: Doors 7:00pm – Show 8:00pm
TICKETS: On Sale Friday, November 14th – 12:00pm EST
Please note there will be NO public on sale. Tickets go on sale Friday, November 14th at noon and are locked behind a city-specific code.
All customers must go to www.theformat.com to register for the CITY SPECIFIC code before on sale, in order to purchase tickets.
Sign up in advance at www.theformat.com to receive the code.
The Format will donate $5 from every ticket sold to support marginalized communities and fight food insecurity. This is a sponsored project of Catalyst Philanthropy Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity
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.
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.
Photo credit: Carlo Cavaluzzi
