94 AMERICANWAY
MAY 15 2007
Music
WhenyouandChriswrote“Stacy’sMom,”didyou
have themoment where you looked at each other
and said, “This is gonna sell like hotcakes”?
Well,
I think I’ve said that about every song we’ve ever
recorded, so nobody ever believes me. I certainly
thought that one had a good shot, but I’ve always
beenwrong, so that didn’t reallymean anything. It’s
funny—whenwewere looking foranew recorddeal
[after Atlantic Records dropped Fountains following
1999’s
Utopia Parkway
], we sent “Stacy’s Mom”
to everybody, and the only person who thought it
sounded like a hit was the guy who signed us and
made it a hit. A lot of other people said tome, “I like
this stuff a lot, but I don’t know how you’d sell it.”
And now, of course, whenwe hand in stuff, they say,
“We don’t hear ‘Stacy’sMom.’”
What did “Stacy’s Mom” do for the band in the
day-to-day sense?
What itmostly did for uswas al-
low us to keep going as a band. It brought us more
attention thanwe’d had in a long time andgave us a
reason to keepplaying and keepmaking records.
Were you looking for a reason? Your previous re-
cords definitely had their fans.
I think there was a
point, right after
Utopia Parkway
, whenwe weren’t
sure if we were going to keep going or not. Chris
and I certainlywould’vewanted to continuewriting
songs andplayingmusic, but as aband,wewere sort
of on the fence about it. I mean, we’d lost a record
deal, wewere sort of tired of touring, andwe didn’t
have much written at that point. But then we got
hired to do some music for a television show; it ac-
tually never got on the air, but it forced us to keep
workingon stuff together. Sowe took it really slowly,
and eventually, we had a bunch of songswe liked.
One of which became the honest-to-goodness hit
you’d never managed before.Was that gratifying?
Oh yeah. At the same time, youwant tobe careful of
being known for only that song tomost of theworld,
even though that’s probably the case for us at this
point. I’m not somebodywhowon’t listen to difficult
music; I like all kinds of stuff. But I think that what
works for us is working within this very traditional
pop-song structure. Writing stuff like that is more
gratifying, because it eitherworks or it doesn’t. Chris
says it’s likedoinga crosswordpuzzle: Youfigure out
the theme of thepuzzle, and then you just have tofill
in the boxes. There aren’t really twoways to do it.
And exchanging scruffy indie-rock guys for air-
brushedpop stars —
Was hilarious.We loved it.
Did knowing what worked last time affect how
you guys wrote the new album?
Our process was
prettymuch the same. Usually, one of us brings in a
song that’sbasicallywritten, and thenwe just kindof
work itoutarrangement-wise in the studio.With this
record, therewas a little experimentation early onof
doingmore jammingand stuff.Whenyoubuildmusic
up as a band— as opposed to writing by yourself
— you hit on different rhythms than you would on
your own. Thereare certain things youplayonguitar
or pianowhere youhave your own little feel that you
always come back to.Whereas if you’re bouncing off
other people in the room, youmight lock into differ-
ent rhythms.
And how’d that work out for you?
Eh. It sort of
didn’t go anywhere.
Adam Schlesinger andChris
Collingwood, the twopop-savant
songwriters at the heart ofNew
York’s Fountains ofWayne, are
masters of the alt-universe hit.
Virtually every tune they’ve
penned together — from “Leave
the Biker,” aboutwhywimps
make better boyfriends than
tough guys do, to “Hackensack,”
inwhich a guy (okay, awimp)
waits around for his high school
crush to come back fromHol-
lywood — sounds like the sort of
thing the radiowas invented to
play. Yet formost of their career,
the Fountains have operated as
a shared secret amongmusic
geeks — until 2003, that is,when
“Stacy’sMom,” a synth-streaked
ode toMay-December romance,
became aworldhit. That single
transported Schlesinger and
Collingwood (alongwith guitarist
JodyPorter anddrummer Brian
Young) to the rarefied air of Top
40 radio,where the Pussycat
Dolls rubbody-glittered elbows
with the dudes inNickelback.
Lastmonth, the Fountains re-
turnedwith
Traffic andWeather
,
their fourth studio full-length.We
called Schlesinger tofind out if
he’s ready for another ride.
