fun. recently took a break from skiing to chat with 96.5 TIC/Hartford about their upcoming performance at President Obama’s Inauguration and confessed that they still get starstruck. It happened recently, as the band had the chance to play with Counting Crows, and there’s more artists they’d love to collaborate with in the future.

“Paul McCartney would be pretty cool,” Nate Ruess confessed.

Jack Antonoff added an explanation for what he feels makes a great artist team-up, saying, “Playing with someone is like [seeing] a free show with a band you love. It’s cool to do things that you would have paid money for.”

fun. will be star struck in a very different way soon, as they approach their big appearance at the White House for one of President Obama’s Inauguration events. They’ll get the chance to shake hands with the President but fans shouldn’t expect any Al Roker situations. The newscaster admitted publicly last week that he had an accidental bowel movement at the White House, which was news to the guys from fun.

“That’s really disrespectful [to admit],” said Nate. “I’m not trying to start an Al Roker beef.”

While he’s excited about playing for the President, Nate did admit he’s a little nervous.

“I’m stressed out in situations where my normal antics could mean me getting mowed down,” he joked.

We are honored to be playing President @barackobama‘s inaugural ball. #inaug2013 @obamainaugural 2013pic.org

— FUN. (@OurNameIsFun) January 11, 2013

Although based on their past experience, Andrew Dost is the one who should be concerned, as he has a tendency to get the short end of the stick in their travels.

“Andrew should be the most worried because whenever we go to foreign countries they pick him out,” Jack joked. “He’s always the one getting picked out and checked for diseases and whatnot.”

But it’s a false alarm, as Andrew quickly points out. “I’m really quite healthy,” he quipped.

The Inaugural events will kick off on Saturday (January 19) in Washington, D.C.

-Bill Sencio, 96.5 TIC/Hartford