It’s rather ironic that Five for Fighting’s John Ondrasik speaks via his cell phone as he drives through Southern California. Steering through the state’s hilly countryside, his cell phone cuts in and out as he speaks about the ups and downs of his music career thus far.

Ondrasik bounced between labels before thankfully parking at Aware/Columbia at the end of the millennium. Last fall saw the release of America Town, an album full of piano, acoustic-guitar heavy, soothing pop/rock, and with it gave America its own David Gray.

Sales of the album were fueled by the single “Superman (It’s Not Easy),” which began to see significant airplay last summer on the radio, MTV and VH1. The song, however, found new momentum after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Obviously with Sept. 11, everything has been taken to a different dimension,” he says clearly having come out of the mountains and on to more solid driving (and occupational) terrain. “For some people, it was tribute. For some people, it comforted them. For me, it just makes me feel good when the song makes people feel better and get through things.”

CDNow.com called “Superman” the “unofficial ode to heroism in post-Sept. 11 America,” a title not lost on the gracious, down-to-earth singer.

“It’s very humbling when people say your song has become this anthem for America,” Ondrasik says. “It’s other people’s song now, and that’s the way it should be. If it helps people get through things, if it helps pay tribute to some of the heroic things we’ve seen in the last couple of months, that’s a wonderful thing.”

Ondrasik was invited to play “Superman” during the Oct. 20 Concert for New York, an experience he describes as “an emotional whiplash.”

“When you walk out to a piano and people are holding up signs or pictures of people and you know what that means, it’s incredibly sad. But at the same time, you could touch and feel the courage and unity and patriotism in Madison Square Garden. It was a tangible,” he says.

“The ironic thing about it is that ‘Superman’ is really not about Superman. It’s about us. And we cannot be super-human. We’re just good people doing the best we can. The unique twist I see on it since Sept. 11 is that we saw ordinary, everyday American citizens perform super-human acts.”

Stuck now in L.A traffic, Ondrasik addresses the pressure of Five for Fighting’s potential to stall in one-hit wonderland. “Easy Tonight,” the album’s next single, reaffirms the band’s pop/rock comforting sound. Ondrasik shrugs off the notion contently. “I think it’s the perfect follow up for ‘Superman.’ And it be nice to have another successful song. But I just feel so fortunate that I am getting a chance to make records and that people are responding that if ‘Superman’ went away today and ‘Easy Tonight’ never happened, I’d [still] feel very lucky.”

But there will be no pressure tonight when Ondrasik and Five for Fighting coast into the Barrymore Theatre.

“We played the Barrymore almost a year ago and I remember that gig — we were just talking about it the other day,” Ondrasik says. “It was one of our favorite gigs of the tour. Wisconsin fans have been so passionate and so awesome for our band. It’s always a pleasure to come play there.”

Five for Answering

1) Five for Fighting is a hockey term used to describe a penalty — five minutes in the box for fighting. Who in the music industry would you put in the box and what would the penalty be?

Boy Bands — 20 years for being lame. It’s really gotten so annoying.

2) Who would you most like to tour with?

U2. They’re the world’s greatest rock band. Nobody’s close right now.

3) Three words that sum up playing at the Concert For New York:

Emotional, sad, but also triumphant

4) Who are you with at the end of the “Superman” video?

My wife and son. But my daughter is sort of in it, too; my wife was seven months pregnant at the time.

5)”Favorite” UW football memory?

I went to UCLA, and I will never forget the Rose Bowl six or seven years ago where we played Wisconsin. I walk into that place and it was a sea of red. And Wisconsin ended up winning that close game and I was so pissed off. But it was the fans who made the difference. That’s why you guys are the real deal and we ? we live in L.A.