The sounds of the '60s, '70s, '80s and the future is the kind of rounded music that appeals to today's crowd of audiophiles.
Fitz and The Tantrums are mixing that sonic soundscape into their own decidedly retro-pop dance style and opening for Bruno Mars at the Verizon Center June 22.
The Eagle's Tam Sackman talks to band member James King (Saxaphone, Flute, Trumpet, and Harmonica) about Motown, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, and more.
Tam Sackman: What about your own personal musical background has allowed you to contribute to Fitz and the Tantrums as it is today?
James King: I've been a horn player for more years than I can count, and I've played in dozens of different projects. Fitz and I went to college together and collaborated on a few projects back then. When he approached me for the first record, it was to provide horn sections and saxophone and things like that for the record, which was kind of a Motown-sounding throwback album and was easy to translate to everything I had done before. Now with this new record, I have a lot more duties including keyboards, guitar, and other instruments...and for that my experience as a composer came in handy.
TS: Your name is perfectly reflective of the type of music you make. How did you arrive at "The Tantrums"?
JK: It was just kind of a funny play on words. We thought it would be a nice reflection of the frenetic energy that we bring to the stage.
TS: Your music is a nod to what we loved about the '80s, and in the case of your newest album, "More Than Just A Dream," the '60s. What was it about these time periods that made you want to incorporate their styles into your own music?
JK: We just all grew up being lovers of different eras of music. For myself, I was brought up by a classical cellist mother and a jazz guitarist father, so I grew up around the best of many great traditions of music, not the least of which was their great record collection, which included everything from Stevie Wonder to The Beatles to the Doors to The Kinks. When I was a kid I just gravitated towards everything from New Wave to the mid- to late-'80s music to early MTV sounds. All of these sounds are kind of embedded in our heads, and in this latest album "More Than Just a Dream," that's kind of what we ended up drawing on.
TS: What do you hope someone who is listening to your music for the first time will take away from it?
JK: Joy. Just forgetting the moment, where they are, and letting themselves have a moment of musical joy.
TS: With a lot of the music on the radio now, there's kind of this misguided correlation between danceability and shallowness. How does Fitz and the Tantrums avoid shallowness while still making danceable music?
JK: I don't think that danceability and shallowness have to go hand in hand. If you can pull a message away from it, I think that's great. If you just want to lose yourself in movement and happiness, then that's even greater. I don't think that music needs to cater to anybody, or insult anyone's intelligence. You should be able to listen to something with a clear mind in knowing that you're being respected as a listener.
TS: Your upcoming tour involves a bunch of dates with Bruno Mars. How do you feel your music is compatible for touring with his?
JK: We've had a chance to play with him once already. His band is cream of the crop, just really great musicians. Bruno himself is a great performer and really humble in person. He's a great guy. I think on a personal level, we're really compatible. On a musical level, he's appealing to a broad audience because the quality of his singing and his great songwriting and production, which is what we aspire to have.
TS: It was recently announced that Fitz and the Tantrums would be participating in the "Made in America" Tour. Do you prefer performing in a festival or closed-venue setting?
JK: Well, part of it is seasonal. Every summer we just look forward to getting out in the open air with that group of people. It's a great setting, the festival, if you're in a good place. With a festival versus a live club, they both have their advantages. I love the setting of a live, intimate space with only a couple of hundred people because you feel like you're actually interacting with the audience. They're sweating with you, they're dancing with you and singing along. It just feels like you're kind of in your living room, in a way. But, we definitely are looking forward to some really big festival dates, and we relish the opportunity to be involved with something like that.
TS: Your music has been described as "soul-influenced indie-pop." What about these two distinct genres make them prime for mixing?
JK: I don't know. That label was kind of a way of explaining our presence. In 2010, we were kind of uncategorizable. The soul-influence thing was a no-brainer just because the production and songwriting was so influenced by that time and it was easy to lump us in with a lot of bands like Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Mayer Hawthorne and some of the other Motown revival acts that were coming out at that time. But we needed to kind of let people know that we were coming with an indie-pop versatility, working soul influences in and appreciating it the whole time.
TS: That's cool, because your music really is kind of genre-less, but that's a way to describe it to someone who has never listened to you before.
JK: We take that as a compliment. Its really a way of coming as close as we can to categorizing it.
TS: And that makes it even more wide-appealing. Is there anywhere you're particularly excited to go on your upcoming tour?
JK: Oh yeah. All over the states, I mean, we've kind of forged new friendships in different states as we've travelled the last couple of years, and we're just always happy to return to most of them. I'm really excited to get back up to Canada and see Montreal in the summer for once and not in the bitter cold. I think the last time we were there it was like 10 below or something. The summer is a good place to be in a lot of North America.
TS: What can audiences expect from seeing Fitz and the Tantrums live?
JK: A sweaty good time!
When: Catch James and the rest of Fitz and the Tantrums when they open for Bruno Mars on June 22 Where: Verizon Center Price: $50-60 How: Call Ticketmaster at (202) 397-7328 or order online.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
