Brimming with imagination, energy, and genre-smashing scope, Fitz & The Tantrums defied the
odds to become an indisputable phenomenon, a chart-topping, show-stopping modern pop
combo unlike any other. Now, with their spectacular Elektra Records debut, More Than Just A
Dream, the Los Angeles-based sextet have ramped up the timeless songcraft and soul sonic
force that made them a worldwide sensation to fashion a kaleidoscopic milestone that delivers
on the promise of their 2010 breakthrough, Pickin’ Up The Pieces. Songs like the impossibly
catchy first single, “Out Of My League” are positively brazen with verve and vivacity,
demonstrating all the drama and passion of the band’s famed live shows. From the charged
back-and-forth between co-lead vocalists Fitz and Noelle Scaggs to the incontrovertible power
of The Tantrums in full flight, More Than Just A Dream is the sound of a great band taking it
right to the edge.
“The only rule in making this record was that there were no rules,” says Fitz. “Nobody was
allowed to say, ‘We can’t do that.’ We didn’t limit ourselves.”
A longtime studio engineer and aspiring musician, Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick founded Fitz & The
Tantrums in 2008, driven simply by “a need to be creative and not lose my mind over a
breakup.” He convened an “amazing set of people” – including Noelle, James King (saxophone,
flute), Jeremy Ruzumna (keyboards), Joseph Karnes (bass) and John Wicks (drums, percussion)
– and quickly recorded the band’s debut EP, Songs From A Breakup, Vol. 1, in his Silverlake
home studio. Fitz felt so strongly about the band that he put it all on the line, investing his life
savings in the project. Belt buckles were pulled as tight as the band itself, which spent the next
year captivating audiences with their outrageously entertaining live set.
“We busted our butts,” he says. “We just kept building a name for ourselves, getting our music
out there in a really old school way – playing as many shows as we could, winning over five, ten,
fifty people at a time.”
It wasn’t long before Fitz & The Tantrums were being spoken of as one of the most exciting live
acts in the country. This led to the band’s 2010 signing with Fitz’s Silverlake neighbors,
Dangerbird Records, a feat the singer describes as both “an accomplishment and the beginning
of the hardest work we’ve ever done.”
Pickin’ Up The Pieces was released in August 2010 to unanimous critical acclaim. Fitz & the
Tantrums did anything and everything to spread the word. Things soon began to break their
way as irresistible singles like “MoneyGrabber” and “Don’t Gotta Work It Out” began drawing
national radio airplay. The next 20 months proved both exhilarating and exhaustive as Pickin’
Up The Pieces ultimately ascended to #1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, and sales numbers to
match. The band embarked on an unrelenting schedule that included high profile TV
performances, sold-out headline shows, and so many festival appearances that Vogue declared
them to be the “Hardest Working Band” of Summer 2011. The first time the FATT
camp noticed the ball starting to hover above their palms was at Lollapalooza 2011. As the
band tore through the set, the audience sang not only the radio hit "Moneygrabber," but
deeper cuts from the album—finally, this road-proved sextet had conjured the lush, holy glow
all performers pine for. And judging from the smiles on both sides of the mic, it was hard to
know who was being entertained more, the band or the crowd.
That sense of purpose and commitment suffused the second Fitz & The Tantrums album right
from the outset. The band wrote over 30 songs in just two months, toiling in their practice
space “to the point of hallucinating.”
In May 2012, Fitz & The Tantrums arrived at Hollywood’s Sound Factory eager to grab hold of
the “raw, in-your-face, non-stop energy” of their live show and put some of their spilt blood to
work. A self-proclaimed “studio nerd,” with an abiding faith in “creating mood and atmosphere
through production,” Fitz considered once again producing himself, but instead opted to enlist
producer Tony Hoffer, known for classic collaborations with such artists as Beck, M83, and
Phoenix.
While their first record was conceived as a homage to 60’s pop soul music, More Than Just A
Dream sees Fitz & The Tantrums propelling their sound towards their own distinctive, utterly
contemporary vision. Nothing was off the table as the band sought to “create these interesting
hybrids of styles and influences that embrace and repel each other all at the same time,”
synthesizing everything from soul to pop, from indie to electronic with a dose of hip-hop.
Songs like “Spark” and the anthemic “Break The Walls” celebrate “pushing through, personally
and artistically,” while “The End” and “6AM” find Fitz continuing to grapple with questions of
the heart. To record the latter song – a much-loved staple of The Tantrums’ live set – Hoffer
suggested Fitz and Scaggs sing together at the same time for the recording, much like they do
on stage. The result is a stunningly soulful dialogue that defines the two lead singers’ special
chemistry.
“It was this pure moment,” Fitz says. “We sang the song to each other, looking into each
other’s eyes, it was incredibly powerful and emotional. That’s the take that’s on the record.”
FATT's own single-minded determination comes to the fore in “The Walker,” a dizzyingly
delightful discoball inspired by the “almost mythological” Silverlake Walker, the shirtless (and
now sadly deceased) neighborhood fixture known for his perpetual power-walking around the
Silverlake Reservoir rain or shine, night or day.
“The song sounds happy and playful,” Fitz says, “but it’s a dark tale of obsession that is really
about our own fixation with chasing our dreams and knowing there is always a price to pay, but
with that said this has truly been more than we could have ever dreamed for.” Thus, the title of
the record.
The album reaches a moving climax with “Merry Go Round,” a potent paean to “the loneliness
and the sadness of being on the road.” "When it came time to laying my vocals down for this
song, the words held more truth for me than ever,” recalls Fitz. “I had been away for two years
and came home to an empty house. I had experienced so much on the outside, but inside was
still damaged. It was hard to get through a single take without breaking down."
From the studio to the stage, Fitz & The Tantrums give everything they have to anything they
do, leaving it all on the floor night in and night out. With its artistic audaciousness and pure pop
punch, More Than Just A Dream fully confirms Fitz & The Tantrums are here to stay.
fitzandthetantrums.com
elektra.com
January 2013