- Title: Can Fitz and the Tantrums make your hands clap?
- Date: 22nd June 2016
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) LEAD SINGER MICHAEL FITZPATRICK, SAYING: "You're lucky as if you have one of those lightning in a bottle moments where a song almost writes itself and that song came together in about 10 minutes - the beat, the groove was very fast and then we wrote the lyrics very quickly and I went in and rec
- Embargoed: 7th July 2016 19:29
- Keywords: Fitz and the Tantrums music dance energy music licensing
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA0024NBZH3H
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Fitz and the Tantrums have been a band to watch for a few years and now their self-titled album has gone in at number 17 in the Billboard 200 album chart.
Their album has been launched off the catchy single 'HandClap' which has been in the Billboard 100 for 12 weeks now.
"You're lucky as if you have one of those lightning in a bottle moments where a song almost writes itself and that song came together in about 10 minutes," explained Michael Fitzpatrick. "The beat, the groove was very fast and then we wrote the lyrics very quickly and I went in and recorded the vocals and I could feel as we were making it that this feels like something special, this is something we've been searching for and that vocal take actually ended up being on the final recording because you can feel my excitement - it's going down. It's happening!"
Fitz and the Tantrums, which are fronted by Michael Fitzpatrick (Fitz) and Noelle Scaggs, are a high-energy indie pop group from Los Angeles known for their catchy choruses.
"That's the secret to Fitz and the Tantrums is we do all our research with babies," explained Fitzpatrick. He added "I'm joking but I'm also not at the same time - if they respond to it on this primal level then you know you've tapped into something special and this band will always have people sending us videos or posting them of kids in their car seats singing along dancing along, babies dancing in the living room."
Unlike most pop acts, the band made a point of omitting a certain instrument from their music.
"We really from the beginning said that we're going to create a big sound without the mainstay of rock and roll which is the guitar and can we do it? Can we build this big sound? And we did and what's amazing is it made it really be about the groove and the beat and it created this awesome pocket to allow me and Noelle's vocals to shine," explained Fitzpatrick.
Their music has had further reach through advertising, with many of their tracks appearing on TV and film trailers, as well as TV commercials. 'HandClap' was recently picked up by Fiat to advertise the Fiat 500X Crossover.
"It's really become this amazing experience you know and this really translates when you're looking at licensing," Scaggs told Reuters. "Not a lot of people get that so we're really lucky to have that bone in the world because it really spreads our music in the world further."
The band are now taking their album on the road with their tour "Come Get Your Love" which will begin in Oakland, California in October.
"It's going to be a lot of fun," said Scaggs. "We took a long time getting this record done so it's going to be a lot of fun playing in front of fans, our old fans, new fans that have really been into 'HandClap' our first single on this record and it's going to be exciting. We're looking forward to losing a lot of weight on tour this year." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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