Fountains of Wayne has a lot more goin' on than "Stacy's Mom."

True, the New York-based power-pop band hasn't had a hit single since the '80s-new-wave-channeling rocker became a radio smash in the summer of 2003 — and arguably the greatest hot-mom-associated anthem since "Mrs. Robinson" koo-koo-ka-chooed onto Top 40 radio. But with two of music's most intelligently witty, blatantly retro-diving pure pop songwriters on board in co-founders Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood, Fountains of Wayne has had many contenders despite radio indifference.

(Want proof? Check out my sidebar recipe for a totally bitchin' Fountains of Wayne mix-CD.)

The Wayne returned this year with the new disc "Traffic and Weather." Schlesinger, meanwhile, continued a prolific side career crafting songs for film (the title track and Wham!-a-licious "Meaningless Kiss" warbled by Hugh Grant in "Music & Lyrics"), Broadway (a 2008 stage version of John Waters' filmed musical "Cry Baby") and his dreamy indie-pop side-band, Ivy.

Schlesinger phoned from his home in New York state last week to answer Five Questions.

Q. What came first for you and Chris ... wanting to be songwriters or wanting to put together a band?

A. I guess it was both at the same time. But we were always interested in being songwriters and we always saw the band as just a vehicle for a way to play our own songs. When we met in college I was playing in a cover band that played around our school, and Chris was never really interested in doing that. He really just wanted to write and have a way to play the stuff that he was writing. I wanted to do that as well.

Q. What else did you and Chris share in common musically?

A. We both liked a lot of '60s music. We had both grown up listening to a lot of the same stuff on the radio in the '70s when we were kids. But in terms of what was current (when they met in the mid-'80s), we ... turned each other on to a lot of different things.

Chris was listening to a lot of stuff from England ... like Aztec Camera, Prefab Sprout, Everything But The Girl, Billy Bragg, The Cure and The Smiths. I (listened) to some of that stuff, but my tastes were a little more mainstream at the time. I liked The Police, The Pretenders and XTC.

It wasn't really different worlds or anything. But we had different records in our collection and just sort of traded a lot.

Q. Fountains of Wayne songs are filled with a variety of pop culture references, brand names, oddball characters, places, interstates. Where did that influence come from?

A. I think that style of writing just grew out of wanting to write about stuff that seemed more real to us. Stuff from our real lives. Even if the stories were made up, the setting ... felt more real and grounded in, sort of, day-to-day things. We didn't always write like that.

When we started writing songs together for Fountains of Wayne, we tended to be much more general. When we started putting in those kinds of little details about the things we actually knew or pop culture or places that we'd actually been ... the songs had a lot more personality and felt a lot more like us and not just like we were imitating our heroes anymore.

Q. The band had been critically, if not commercially, recognized for its music long before "Stacy's Mom" became a huge radio hit. What's the good and bad of having a song hit as big as that one did, when it did?

A. Obviously, the good part for us is that it saved our career. We were really at the point where we didn't know if we were going to be able to continue as a band. And so the good part is that it kind of gave us a new lease on life and allowed us to keep making records and keep touring and play for more people and all that stuff.

Obviously, the potential downside is that you're (perceived as) a one-hit wonder or you're just always going to be known for that one song. ... But that's a problem that I can deal with. (Laughs.) I mean, I'd rather have that problem than just be finished as a band. I try to keep that in perspective.

Q. Driving and travel have always seemed an important subject for the band. From album titles "Utopia Parkway," "Welcome Interstate Managers" and "Traffic and Weather" to songs like "I-95," "'92 Subaru" and "Survival Car." Do you like listening to music when you're driving?

A. I had lived in Manhattan for the last 15 or 16 years, so I really didn't ever drive very much. But I just moved a week ago slightly outside of Manhattan and now I actually have to drive every day again. So I'm sort of rediscovering the pleasures of driving and listening to music. And it's great!

I have two little kids at home, so I can't sit around in my house and blast (music). But now I can actually sit in the car and listen to loud music again. ...

What's funny is the last couple of days I've been listening to the first Stone Roses record a lot. I found it when I was moving and I totally forgot that I even had that record and I love it. So for the last couple of drives, all I've been listening to is Stone Roses. (Laughs.) It's great!

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.