The Format

An indie-pop band from the Phoenix suburbs, The Format was formed in February 2000 by songwriters Nate Ruess and Sam Means. Based in Peoria, Arizona, the group released a debut EP in 2002 and earned radio airplay throughout the Phoenix valley with the record's leadoff track, "The First Single." Offers arrived from multiple labels, and The Format signed with Elektra Records before releasing their debut album, Inventions + Lullabies, in October 2003. The album was moderately successful, selling 100,000 copies in America. The Format returned in 2005 with a second EP, Snails, then released the sophomore album Dog Problems as an independent act in May 2006. The group toured relentlessly for nearly two years in support of Dog Problems, then announced an indefinite hiatus in February 2008, with Ruess going on to win two Grammy Awards as frontman of the diamond-certified pop band Fun. "We Are Young," Fun's biggest single, topped the charts in America, the UK, and five additional countries in 2011, and the follow-up hit "Some Nights" reached Number 3 in America one year later. Meanwhile, Means spent the 2010s focusing on film scores, side projects, and solo work. Ruess and Means briefly reunited in February 2020 to reissue The Format's concert album, Live At The Mayan, but plans for a springtime tour in support of the album were halted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the band's inability to tour, The Format surprised fans by releasing "Your New Name," the band's first single in years, in 2022.

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