The Format

Nate Ruess and Sam Means had been friends since grade school and had already played together in an earlier band, Nevergonnascore, before forming the Format in Peoria, Arizona, in February 2002. A demo single, "The First Single," caught on with Phoenix radio station KEDJ and led the pair to a deal with Elektra Records that same year.

Their music paired Ruess's high, unguarded voice with arrangements that reached beyond guitar-band convention, horns, strings and layered harmony vocals built into straightforward pop songwriting. The debut album, Interventions + Lullabies, came out in October 2003 and eventually sold more than 100,000 copies in the US, spread mostly by word of mouth and constant touring.

After Elektra folded, the Format released the Snails EP through sister label Atlantic in 2005. Sessions for a second album drew on 1970s pop, with Harry Nilsson, Electric Light Orchestra and the Beach Boys among the reference points, and Redd Kross's Steven Shane McDonald producing. Atlantic was unconvinced by the demos and dropped the band before the record was finished.

The finished album, Dog Problems, was released independently in 2006 through the band's own Vanity Label after an early copy leaked online, and it drew some of the strongest reviews of the band's career. The Format split in 2008, after which Ruess formed fun. and Means continued working in Phoenix.

The band's records kept a devoted following through the years that followed. A reunion tour was announced in 2020 but cancelled because of the pandemic, and the Format reunited again in 2025, announcing a third album, Boycott Heaven, released in January 2026, and returning to playing live.