For the past year and a half, Fun.’s lead guitarist Jack Antonoff wrote and recorded music whenever he had a second to spare, until he realized he had created an entire album. “I knew I didn’t want to call it ‘Jack Antonoff’ cause I wanted it to have its own identity,” he explained last night over the phone from Seth Meyers’s new Late Night show, moments before he took the stage to perform. “There’s something suburban and disconnected about the wordbleachers,’” he said of his new band of the same name. “It reminds me of the shitty parts of being young that ended up being the most important moments in my life.” As for those who are wondering about the fate of his original band, Antonoff took to Fun.’s Facebook page last month to quell any rumors. “There is no world in which I’ve ever thought about leaving Fun. My new project is not about one thing taking over another, it’s about adding something new to the equation.” Vogue.com spoke with Antonoff about his new venture, girlfriend Lena Dunham, and the epicness that is John Hughes.
So you’re at Seth Meyers’s studio right now. What do you think of his new show?
I really love it. I think he’s so dry. When a lot of late-night hosts start off it’s like “biggest night of my life”—but he’s just sort of showing up doing his thing, and going home. It’s a cool vibe.
I heard your show at Music Hall of Williamsburg is completely sold-out!
Yeah it sold out right away. I put two shows on sale—New York and L.A. It was a big leap of faith. I had no idea if anyone was going to come. It’s really encouraging and wonderful that people are so great. I’ve been working on it for over a year and a half, so people get to see it for the first time.
And how did Bleachers come about?
It came about really organically. We had been on the road and making our respective music for ten years already—so we each had a lot going on. But I was always making my ownrecords. I have three music folders on my computer—Bleachers, Fun., and Other—the Bleachers folder started to fill up and I realized about a year ago that it was becoming an album that I felt strongly about—something I wanted to release and wanted people to hear.
And you found the time to do both?
That was actually very stressful because of schedule and time—I didn’t know how I was going to make it all work. So what I started doing was making the record whenever I could—For instance, for the Bleachers single, “I Wanna Get Better,” I did the vocals in Malaysia, recorded the guitars in Stockholm, mixed it in New Zealand, and then flew home to New York. If I thought about it all too much in advance I would have gone to bed forever. I take it one day at a time.
So who’s in Bleachers?
Just me. Fun. and Bleachers are very separate and I want them to feel separate because if they’re too similar it would be pointless to do. Artistically they’re really different which is why they’re both satisfying.
What makes Bleachers so different?
The sound for Bleachers is rooted in where I grew up in New Jersey. I became really obsessed with this moment in time—the time when John Hughes was making his best films.
John Hughes is epic.
The best. It was this time when music on the radio and films was so cool—I grew up in the nineties, when mainstream music was really good and really cool. You’d meet someone your age, and you’d think, “I know we’ll be friends because you like Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana.” That’s gone—it died in the late nineties. The theory that we have with Fun. is not being apologetic, and not being afraid to be mainstream—but trying to be the best within that mainstream genre, which harkens back to a time when you could be great and mainstream.
A time when MTV actually played music videos . . .
Yeah, and that feeling is disconnected now. I have a lot to say, I’ve been through a lot the past ten years of my life. I want to write about it in an honest and hopeful way.
What’s your favorite John Hughes film?
Probably The Breakfast Club.
I knew you were going to say that. Who’s your favorite character? Everyone has one.
Ally Sheedy’s character.
Very nice. So is Lena coming to the show tonight? How has she assumed the supportive rockstar-girlfriend role?
The same way all the people I love factor in—my parents, my sister, my girlfriend, my best friend, all the people I love are always right there. I don’t have a lot of people in my life, but there’s a small group of people that I don’t like to do things without.
Including your dog—who found his way into our Vogue shoot!
Yeah (laughs). I knew things were getting weird on Instagram when somebody recognizedLamby on the street. I was like, “Oh. This is a famous dog.” People can handle this kind of thing, but a dog shouldn’t have to go through it.
Jack Antonoff is playing his first New York show as Bleachers at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.
So you’re at Seth Meyers’s studio right now. What do you think of his new show?
I really love it. I think he’s so dry. When a lot of late-night hosts start off it’s like “biggest night of my life”—but he’s just sort of showing up doing his thing, and going home. It’s a cool vibe.
I heard your show at Music Hall of Williamsburg is completely sold-out!
Yeah it sold out right away. I put two shows on sale—New York and L.A. It was a big leap of faith. I had no idea if anyone was going to come. It’s really encouraging and wonderful that people are so great. I’ve been working on it for over a year and a half, so people get to see it for the first time.
And how did Bleachers come about?
It came about really organically. We had been on the road and making our respective music for ten years already—so we each had a lot going on. But I was always making my ownrecords. I have three music folders on my computer—Bleachers, Fun., and Other—the Bleachers folder started to fill up and I realized about a year ago that it was becoming an album that I felt strongly about—something I wanted to release and wanted people to hear.
And you found the time to do both?
That was actually very stressful because of schedule and time—I didn’t know how I was going to make it all work. So what I started doing was making the record whenever I could—For instance, for the Bleachers single, “I Wanna Get Better,” I did the vocals in Malaysia, recorded the guitars in Stockholm, mixed it in New Zealand, and then flew home to New York. If I thought about it all too much in advance I would have gone to bed forever. I take it one day at a time.
So who’s in Bleachers?
Just me. Fun. and Bleachers are very separate and I want them to feel separate because if they’re too similar it would be pointless to do. Artistically they’re really different which is why they’re both satisfying.
What makes Bleachers so different?
The sound for Bleachers is rooted in where I grew up in New Jersey. I became really obsessed with this moment in time—the time when John Hughes was making his best films.
John Hughes is epic.
The best. It was this time when music on the radio and films was so cool—I grew up in the nineties, when mainstream music was really good and really cool. You’d meet someone your age, and you’d think, “I know we’ll be friends because you like Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana.” That’s gone—it died in the late nineties. The theory that we have with Fun. is not being apologetic, and not being afraid to be mainstream—but trying to be the best within that mainstream genre, which harkens back to a time when you could be great and mainstream.
A time when MTV actually played music videos . . .
Yeah, and that feeling is disconnected now. I have a lot to say, I’ve been through a lot the past ten years of my life. I want to write about it in an honest and hopeful way.
What’s your favorite John Hughes film?
Probably The Breakfast Club.
I knew you were going to say that. Who’s your favorite character? Everyone has one.
Ally Sheedy’s character.
Very nice. So is Lena coming to the show tonight? How has she assumed the supportive rockstar-girlfriend role?
The same way all the people I love factor in—my parents, my sister, my girlfriend, my best friend, all the people I love are always right there. I don’t have a lot of people in my life, but there’s a small group of people that I don’t like to do things without.
Including your dog—who found his way into our Vogue shoot!
Yeah (laughs). I knew things were getting weird on Instagram when somebody recognizedLamby on the street. I was like, “Oh. This is a famous dog.” People can handle this kind of thing, but a dog shouldn’t have to go through it.
Jack Antonoff is playing his first New York show as Bleachers at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.
