Interview #709: Fitz and The Tantrums

Less than 18 months after forming in LA, the six musicians that make up Fitz and The Tantrums have gone from jamming in their living room to a sold-out nationwide US tour. The band have a wealth of experience between them, Jeremy Ruzumna played piano for Macy Gray, saxophonist James King has played with De la Soul and Big Daddy Kane and female singer Noelle Scaggs has sung with Black Eyed Peas and Dialated Peoples, to name a few.

Channeling a strong love for Motown soul, Fitz and The Tantrums are now preparing to release their debut album Pickin' Up The Pieces on 22nd August 2011 via Dangerbird Records, preceeded by the single Moneygrabber on 15th August. I Like Music sent some questions across to the band to find out how they came together, music they discovered in Australia and their plans for the future.

ILM: How did Fitz & The Tantrums come to be, how did you all meet?

Fitz and The Tantrums: The band started when Michael Fitzpatrick got possession of a vintage 60's Conn organ. His at-the-time recent ex-girlfriend called him to let him know that her next door neighbor was getting rid of this organ and he told her to buy it sight unseen right then. Getting it back to his house that night and still feeling the pangs of the fresh break-up, the sound of the organ inspired him to write what would be the first song for the band, Breakin the Chains of Love, in an hour. He then called his old college friend James King to record saxophone on the new song. The idea for the band had begun. Wanting to add a female co-vocalist to the mix, Fitz asked James to recommend someone and that someone was Noelle Scaggs. A gig was booked and the rest of the band fell into place as easy as three more phone calls.

ILM: A lot of you have played with other bands and artists before. Can you tell us a little about your past experiences and how they've shaped you as musicians?

Fitz and The Tantrums: As musicians, every experience before you informs the next one. So whether it's playing with hip hop legends De La Soul, Money Mark, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, neo-soul band The Rebirth, the Velvet Underground's John Cale or Macy Gray, as the various band members have done in the past, all of those voices have become part of our collective vocabulary. Hopefully it comes across as a blend of something new and unique so that we can add to the musical lineage we are all a part of.

ILM: How would you describe your music?

Fitz and The Tantrums: Our music has been described as Motown-influenced indie pop, which is as good a description as any we have heard.

ILM: How do tracks typically come together? From initial idea to finished tune?

Fitz and The Tantrums: Every song comes about in a different way. We don't have a formula for songwriting. Sometimes chords will come first or a lyrical idea. Sometimes tunes will be born from a collective jam at soundcheck or written on the fly while we're in the studio recording something else. Each method is as unique as the songs themselves.

ILM: Who are some of your biggest musical inspirations?

Fitz and The Tantrums: Certainly the artists from the Motown/Stax and 60's soul movement are big influences on us but we are also heavily influenced by 80's bands like Talking Heads, ABC and Style Council.

ILM: What can we expect from your debut album?

Fitz and The Tantrums: You can expect a record of ten quality songs that hopefully will get you up off your feet and dancing.

ILM: What can we expect if we come to see you live?

Fitz and The Tantrums: Nothing less than 100% energy. We love playing live and getting the audience involved from the first note to the last. You will be dancing, clapping and singing along all night, our audience is basically the seventh member of the band.

ILM: Out of all the live shows you've played so far, which have been some of the most memorable?

Fitz and The Tantrums: My most memorable show was when we headlined the El Rey Theatre in our hometown of Los Angeles. The last place we had played in LA before that was a great smaller club called Spaceland and we made a big leap to the 900 capacity El Rey. When the curtains opened to a sellout crowd of Angelenos it blew us all away and was our first real marker that we might actually be on to something.

ILM: Out of all the live shows you've seen by other artists, which will you never forget?

Fitz and The Tantrums: For me, Radiohead during the OK Computer tour in 1998 was about as perfect a show as I have ever seen.

ILM: What have you been listening to recently?

Fitz and The Tantrums: Lately we've been listening a lot to one of our favorite new bands, Stepdad, out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. We had the opportunity to have them open for us on tour and we expect big things from them. As well, we've been digging Tune-Yards, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, Prince, Neon Indian and the Belle Brigade.

ILM: Can you tell us a little about the music scene where you're from? What's it like?

Fitz and The Tantrums: Los Angeles has an incredibly vibrant and diverse music scene. It's one of my favorite things about living in LA. There's everything from heavy latin, reggae, funk, indie rock, singer-songwriter, americana, electropop and various combinations of all of these and more. From my perspective, it's a very inviting and creative scene but diverse as well. It's interconnected by different musicians but large enough to where there's always something new to discover.

ILM: What's been your latest musical discovery?

Fitz and The Tantrums: The most recent musical discovery has been a couple of cool artists from Australia, Lanie Lane, who opened for our recent shows in Sydney and Melbourne and a cool young band called Tim & Jean, who we caught at the Splendour in the Grass Festival outside of Brisbane. Two totally different acts that showed us the tip of the iceberg that is amazing new music coming out of Australia. Another notable Australia mention is Gotye.

ILM: What are your future plans?

Fitz and The Tantrums: Our future plans include touring and promoting this record till at least the end of the year if not beyond that, getting it out to as many people and countries as will have it. We're also excited about starting the next record but that may have to wait till next spring at the earliest to begin.

ILM: Anything else we should know / check out?

Fitz and The Tantrums: We can't say it enough. Check out Stepdad's video for their song My Leather, My Fur, My Nails on Youtube. It's is an incredible way to start your day. Only if you like being in a good mood though...