The new album from The Format, Boycott Heaven, was several years in the making, and as it turns out, so was their appearance at the 2026 Hinterland festival. It was a homecoming of sorts for the duo of lead vocalist Nate Ruess (an Iowa native, also known for his time in the band fun.), and multi-instrumentalist Sam Means.
“As guys who have spent a considerable amount of time in Iowa, it just feels right to be here,” said Ruess, as he enjoyed one of the offerings from the artists-only pickle bar backstage at Hinterland. “I actually have a giant tub of pickle juice in my basement made just to drink. Only in Iowa!”
“We've been asked to do (Hinterland) at least a couple times,” said Means. “And I think we even almost considered it once before we got back together, just because it looked like such a cool festival. So we were happy to get invited again. I'm glad we did — this is my first festival in a very, very long time. So I'm feeling really good being here.”
It may have been The Format’s first festival in a long time, but their performance didn’t show it. They sounded great, and on two separate occasions during their set, Ruess unintentionally engaged in one of Hinterland’s most time-honored traditions: forgetting what day it is. For both touring musicians and festival goers, thinking Saturday is actually Sunday is an easy mistake to make, so Ruess can be forgiven here.
Boycott Heaven, released in January, is the third album from The Format, and it arrived after a long hiatus that began in 2008. It was originally going to be a solo album by Ruess, and he began writing it after learning to play guitar.
“(It was) very weird to do that,” said Ruess. “I just write songs in a whole bunch of different ways. The way we would do it, Sam would play and I'll write a melody or something like that over it. But I've just always been a huge fan of guitars, particularly electric guitars, and this old man wanted to rock!” (For the record, I’m older than both Ruess and Means, but I didn’t say anything.)
For his part, Means was excited when Ruess reached out about making another Format record. "I feel like it's (been) kind of a long time coming, but also just the perfect time to do it,” he said. “I tried to convince him about five years ago, and it just wasn't right. So I just keep thinking how grateful I am to be in this timeline exactly the way it worked out. I think it's exactly where we're supposed to be, and we're trying to make the best of it.”
Listening to Boycott Heaven, it’s also clear that Ruess and Means have a lot on their minds. That came through in their Hinterland set, when the duo performed “Holy Roller” and Ruess followed up the line “is Jesus gonna save my soul?” with an ad-libbed shout of “I don’t think so!” The album is a fun listen, but it’s also full of that kind of righteous frustration.
“I think we're disappointed with the world that we're seeing around us, and we're trying to figure out how we can make a difference,” said Ruess. “And I think we're trying to find ways within what we have, knowing that we have this fan base, this amazing group of people who have been waiting for 20 years for us. I think that we're just ready in our personal lives, (and) I think we just feel very fulfilled.”
Boycott Heaven is available at Bandcamp, the band’s official website and streaming services. The Format will be playing three shows in Minneapolis Sept. 18 — 19; as of this writing, only the Saturday night show at First Avenue is sold out. They’ll also be in Chicago for Riot Fest on Sunday.
