Fountains of Wayne - Al Muzer

One blast of "Radiation Vibe's" joyous, "baby, baby, baby" chorus is generally enough to convert most casual listeners into card carrying Fountains Of Wayne fans.

By adroitly blending the modern power-pop feel of bands such as Weezer, You And What Army and Ruth Ruth with classic, AM radio inspired hooks, reverential blasts of energetic garage-rock jangle, shameless pop cliches, McCartney-sweet choruses and soaring, multi tracked harmonies - the New York-based four-piece have come up with a 12-song genre-masterpiece their first time out.

Led by Chris Collingwood (also a member of the country band, Mercy Buckets) and Adam Schlesinger (currently with Ivy), the group's lineup also includes guitarist Jody Porter and drummer Jeff Perrott.

Although four in number, the genius spark behind the infectiously-poppy sound heard on Fountains Of Wayne's self-titled debut is clearly the songwriting partnership of Collingwood and Schlesinger. In fact, a good portion of the industry buzz surrounding the record's release has focused on the duo's winning way with a melody.

"Radiation Vibe," "She's Got A Problem," "Survival Car," "Sick Day," "Leave The Biker," "You Curse At Girls," "Please Don't Rock Me Tonight" - all are brilliant, memorable, hit-worthy songs much deeper, twisted and, occasionally, outright dumber than a quick listen allows time to grasp.

Case in point is the hilarious "Leave The Biker"; in which Collingwood pleads with "every man's dream" to, "please leave the biker (break his heart)" who has, "crumbs in his beard from the seafood special" - all set to one of the catchiest melodies this side of Nada Surf.

"We taught each other to write pop songs by listening to great songwriters like The Beatles, Squeeze and Jules Schear and trying to figure out what they did," says Collingwood of the duo's partnership.

"You can't really make too much of a conscious decision as to what sort of music you're gonna be drawn to or like," adds Schlesinger. "It just seems that when Chris and I get together, pop music is what we naturally come up with."

In addition to his work with Fountains Of Wayne and Ivy and a partnership with James Iha and D'arcy of The Smashing Pumpkins in the Chicago-based Scratchie label - Schlesinger is also getting attention for the title track he composed for the latest Tom Hanks film, That Thing You Do.

"The movie is a 1964 kind'a early-Beatles thing and the song is a big hit for the band in the movie," he chuckles. "But, I don't know if a song written with that era in mind will work as a hit in 1996. Oh well," he laughs, "better a fictitious hit song than no hit song at all."

After a few hilarious "mother" jokes (Chris has a million of 'em!), a bit of pre-tour jitters over the band's upcoming cross-country trek, juicy details of Schlesinger's business relationship with two thirds of the 'Pumpkins, a discussion on the sudden re-emergence of pop music and a tale or two about Collingwood's vocal contributions during recent tributes to Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach - the talk turns, once again, to Fountains Of Wayne songs.

"It was a challenge to see if we could actually write a good song with a title that bad and get away with it," laughs Collingwood of the gentle, lilting, hopelessly-naive "You Curse At Girls."

"A real important part of the writing process for this record," chuckles Schlesinger, "involved the two of us sitting in a bar throwing song names at each other and writing 'em down on napkins."

As for the return of pop?

"Nirvana was, technically, a pop band," remarks Schlesinger. "They just found a new sound and a fresh approach."

"I think people have always responded to 'good' pop music," concludes Collingwood, "and they always will."

"Besides, I don't think pop music ever really went away in the first place," he adds. "Bands just do different things with it now."

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