The Format couldn’t look away when ICE came to Minnesota

Vocalist Nate Ruess and multi-instrumentalist Sam Means were gearing up for their big comeback as the band The Format in January. But just as their new album was being released, Alex Pretti was killed on the streets of Minneapolis. Like many artists and musicians around the country and the world, Means and Ruess were shaken by what they were seeing on the news — and they wanted to use their creative powers to act. 

The band directed proceeds from its new single “The Bar is Set So Low,” an emotionally stirring and extremely catchy political anthem, to three Minnesota nonprofits: Women’s Foundation of Minnesota’s Immigrant Rapid Response Fund...