Making All Stops

''Sometimes you just have a title that you try to use,'' says Schlesinger, ''or else [you] free-associate a few lines, see what it suggests, and try to turn them into a story.''

Impressed by the results, Yegelwel secured the guys a slot on Atlantic imprint Seed Records, which folded just before their 1996 self-titled debut was released. Still, ''Radiation Vibe'' took off, and an arena tour with the Smashing Pumpkins helped the album sell a respectable 118,000 copies -- enough to inspire high expectations for the follow-up. ''Everyone hoped they'd expand on that fan base,'' Yegelwel says. They didn't.

Despite critical laurels and a bounty of potential hit singles, the buoyant Utopia Parkway couldn't have been more out of tune with modern-rock avatars of the time, like Korn and limpbizkit. It didn't help that Yegelwel left Atlantic even before Parkway's release. Just as the band was ending a near-yearlong tour in December 1999, the label decided not to renew its contract.

''It'd be really easy to blame Atlantic,'' says Collingwood. ''But bands like us weren't getting on the radio anymore.''

Burnt out by touring, Collingwood returned to Boston and his pre-FOW gig as a computer technician; Schlesinger produced records by, among others, the Verve Pipe. It was their longest hiatus. ''We've played together since we were 18,'' Schlesinger says. ''We knew we'd eventually gear up again.''

Inspiration arrived, strangely enough, courtesy of old Atlantic allies. In summer 2001, a former label executive asked them to write tunes for VH1's upcoming animated sitcom Hey Joel. An offer to score Comedy Central's Crank Yankers shortly followed. The TV work paid well enough to finance Welcome Interstate Managers sessions, and the band began shopping its new demo -- cautiously.

As luck would have it, Yegelwel had just started at a boutique label called S-Curve and signed FOW this past winter. And though he's confident there's still an audience for catchy rock & roll (the album is due June 3), it'll take more than killer choruses and, by comparison with the big machinery at Atlantic, the modest marketing muscle of S-Curve to regain a footing in the era of wankstas and skankstas. No one knows this better than the Fountains themselves.

''We're not kidding ourselves about having a massive hit,'' says Collingwood. ''I think at this point we'll take whatever we can get.''

''MAYBE THEY HAVEN'T FIT INTO THE TRENDS OF THE TIME,'' SAYS EX-SMASHING PUMPKIN JAMES IHA OF THE FOUNTAINS' STRUGGLE FOR MAINSTREAM SUCCESS. ''THEY'LL HAVE THEIR FANS, REGARDLESS.''

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''MAYBE THEY HAVEN'T FIT INTO THE TRENDS OF THE TIME,'' SAYS EX-SMASHING PUMPKIN JAMES IHA OF THE FOUNTAINS' STRUGGLE FOR MAINSTREAM SUCCESS. ''THEY'LL HAVE THEIR FANS, REGARDLESS.''