July 22, 2025 • 30 mins
Join us on this edition of Takin a Walk as host Buzz Knight talks with Fitz, frontman of Fitz and the Tantrums, to explore the creative universe behind the band’s bold new album, Man on the Moon. Fitz opens up about embracing total artistic freedom and breaking away from expectations to craft a collection of soulful, pop-inflected tracks that are as daring as they are infectious. Hear stories behind the Motown-inspired title track, discover why this record feels like a homecoming for the band, and get transported into the dreamy, escapist themes that inspired “Man on the Moon.” Fitz reflects on letting go of industry rules, reconnecting with joy, and venturing into fresh musical territory. Plus, he hints at what fans can expect on their upcoming 31-city summer tour. Step inside the mind of an artist defying gravity—one walk at a time.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Buzzsnight, the host of the Taking a Walk podcast,
and imagine strolling down a sunlit street, the pulse of
the city in your ears. Then suddenly you hear the
unmistakable beat that makes you want to move. Today, I'm
taking a walk. We're gonna step into the rhythm and
soul of Fits and the Tantrums, the band that turn
(00:21):
retro grooves into modern anthems and made dancing in the
street cool again. From chart topping hits to electrifying live shows,
Fits in the Tantrums have redefined what it means to blend.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Old school soul with new school pop.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So lace up your sneakers and join us as we
take a walk with the band that's been keeping us
on our feet and on our toes ever since their
first infectious hook. Hang out a couple minutes, we'll pay
some bills and be right back with.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Fits Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Oh, Fits, it's so great to be with you on
the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Thank you now, thanks so much for having me pleasure
to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So, before we get with the festivities and we talk
about Man on the Moon and the tour, which I'm
so excited for, you and the band. I want to
ask you are opening questions, since we call the podcast
taking a walk, if you could take a walk with
somebody living or dead associated with music, more than likely,
(01:27):
who would you take a walk with and where would
you take that walk?
Speaker 4 (01:31):
M Me and my family were huge fans of going
to Europe every summer. Just got back from there, so
that's still fresh in my mind. Walking through ancient European
cities streets is pretty magical experience. I would say walking
through somewhere in excellent Provence in the south of France
(01:53):
with let's see Jimmy Hendricks or Jeff Buckley, one of
those two from those are my two picks.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I love that's that's that's quite a that's quite a range.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
My friend absolutely.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, I mean I'm Jeff Buckley obviously. For as a singer,
I bow to that man. I think he's one of
the most amazing singers of all time and also one
of the greatest songwriters in them just as a sheer
freak shredder. Jimi Hendrix ithing, you gotta kinda think he'd
have a good night out with him.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
That would be awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Jeff's father was not too bad of a musician either,
don't you say.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Oh yeah, I mean Tim was an incredible musician. It's
interesting to see their sort of competitive, estranged relationship. I
think it's part of the reason why Jeff Buckley was
so brilliant.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
You know, I think Tim Buckley and Jeff Buckley are
both very under appreciated by the masses.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So, Fitz, what inspired you way at the beginning to
form Fits in the Tantrums? Tell me how this all
first came together.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
You know for me, I you know, I've been a singer.
My whole entire life came out of the woman's singing
driving my parents crazy. My whole life just always been
a singer. But you know, I think it took me
a long time to kind of find my true natural voice.
And you know, I had many, many projects, many bands
(03:38):
where I was a singer, sometimes sometimes just the producer
making beats behind the singer. I had so many bands
before this one, and nothing ever worked out. And I
kind of had to put down the dream and pick
it up like two or three different times. But every
time I couldn't let the idea go because I just
(04:01):
felt like it was what I always kind of visualized
as what my life would be, and just you know,
when you're somebody making music, it's for me. It's never
been a choice, it's been a calling. And if I
don't do it on the regular, I don't feel balanced
(04:21):
as a human being. And I just couldn't let the
idea go. And so, you know, I had branched out
into writing music for film and television, started a company
from doing music for advertising, done all these things because
I kept getting outright rejected by the music business. Couldn't
(04:41):
get arrested, nobody cared, nobody wanted to hear any of it,
and ultimately, you know, I came back to it one
more time, and this time it was just like I
think I was finally had found what felt like. You know,
when you're sing a singer and your whole life, you
can sing in many different styles, and then the question
(05:03):
really becomes what is your authentic voice if you can
imitate many styles as a trained vocalist. And it was
really only with those first songs that I started to
write that I really found that, and those were the
songs that became fits in the tantrums. I think a
lot of the projects I had done before they try
(05:25):
to include all of my different tastes all in one
EP or LP, and this time I was trying to
be much more vigilant about staying true to this one vision.
And that was easy because I've really found that my
voice exploded when I sang in a soulful style. It's
(05:48):
where my voice sang out the best and where I
felt the most at ease and natural about it. So
I just really made that first record trying to be
true to that one vision, and after fifteen years of no's,
all of a sudden, the universe started saying yes, and
it felt supremely different than any other experience I had
(06:11):
ever had before, and that just kind of fed me
to believe that I should, you know, at thirty eight
years old, take one more swing at trying to be
in a band, and you know, got my first record
deal when I was forty forty one, something unheard of,
(06:34):
you know, And here I am, you know, days away
from turning fifty five and releasing my band's sixth studio
album on a major record label. You know, did two
solo records as well during that time. So this is
my eighth album coming out in the last sixteen years,
and it's pretty pretty incredible, and I'm super proud of
(06:59):
this new album.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I'm so privileged that I've got to hear it all
and I have the chills with gratitude just thinking about it,
and it's just so wonderful. But I have to ask you,
going back again to what you were talking about, where
did you get instilled in you this incredible resilience that
(07:22):
kept you on this path that you're still on today.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
You know, honestly, anybody that's in these kinds of fields,
whether it's trying to be a movie maker, a songwriter
with a band, or an actor, there's so much of
your life as waiting for somebody else to say yes
to your dreams. And that's honestly also why I switched,
because I also went to film school. I switched from
(07:49):
film back to music because, at least with the way
that the convergence of technology happened, I could make a
song in my room by myself. I didn't need thirty
people to go make a movie take months to do it.
I could wake up in the morning with nothing, and
by the evening I could be driving around listening to
a song that I just created out of thin air,
(08:12):
and that that was a drug to me that that
experience of creation from nothing to something and having something
to show at the end of the day was so
rewarding to me, and it just kept me. It kept
me going, and at every turn I just couldn't deny
(08:33):
what I knew I wanted to do, and I just
kept persevering and taking one more swing and taking one
last swing. When my life was very comfortable, I had
a successful company, I basically risked everything. I took my
whole entire savings and float threw it into the band
while we toured the world, you know, with Sharon Jones
(08:54):
and the Dad Kings, Maroon five, all these amazing things.
But I was doing paying for the whole thing at
the beginning, and it was just one huge leap of faith.
But I will say again that I knew what rejection
felt like because I had felt that so for so
many years record labels passing on my projects and stuff.
That this the universe was just saying, there's a magic happening.
(09:18):
And there was this whole word of mouth. This was
at the height of Facebook exploding, you know, there was
this whole word of mouth where people are just like,
you have to go see this band fits in the
tantrums live they you know, it's like going to the
church of music. It's like nothing I've ever experienced. And
we just set this high energy show celebration, Come let
(09:39):
your hair down, get crazy with us, and that word
of mouth traveled via the internet and help propel us
to the point where we could get a record deal
and get the supporting and keep going. You know, I'd say,
for me, work ethic, that's you know, I'm modestly talented
and incredibly hard working.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
What honestly talented, I know, hardworking, But you're incredibly talented
and you have incredible vision.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
And what I love about.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
This particular project is how you had this vision to
throw caution to the wind.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
So talk about.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
The genesis of Man on the Moon and the comfort
that you you know, had in that process.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Yeah, well I think, you know, one being our six
studio album, you know, I don't feel like I have
much to prove to anybody anymore. But also, you know,
I went to so many different album cycles with so
much pressure for radio singles and this, that and the other.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I mean, the thing is that once you have a
couple of hit songs on the radio, it's a pretty
amazing experience to see how that can travel around the
world and show up and everybody knows who music. It's
an amazing experience, But that's where the bar is there,
and then you always have to maintain that, and anything
(11:10):
less than that it's going to feel like a failure
or be perceived by the label or whoever as that.
And just with the way that the whole world has
changed the way people consume content and media, with TikTok
and Instagram reels and all that stuff, there's just such
a different way that people are integrating with that, then
(11:32):
it's really turned the whole music business on its head.
There's nobody really able to dictate or even know what
necessarily is a hit anymore. There's very few of those anymore.
And so you look at some of the biggest songs
of last year and there's no way that any label
would have backed that as a song. But guess what,
(11:53):
the people decided it. The interwebs. The internet decided it,
and it was a hit. And so I think in
that going into this record, I was free from the
burden of trying to take a very specific swing. That's
kind of like a part of being on a major label,
you know, And I think I was just able to
(12:16):
have that freedom to just do whatever the hell I wanted,
and I didn't want to go. You know, we write
in big songs love. I love pop music, I love
an infectious melody. But on this album, I wasn't so
concerned with like trying to go with a one listen
hit song, radio single, you know, like I could care
(12:36):
less about that. Jonasterberg, who I did a lions share
of the record with, we sat down at the beginning
and talked for hours and listened to my whole catalog
and really had a discussion of what felt like it
was working, and you know, honest conversation about like what
songs didn't work or what you know, what parts of
this album could have been better, or what kind of
(13:00):
in retrospect was not the right choice, being pretty critical
about some of the past stuff, you know, and just
saying that we wanted to really set this bar where
no line was a disposable lyric, no part was just
(13:20):
an afterthought, that everything was challenged and held to a
standard of just being a vibe, of being an experience.
Did we feel something and who gives a shirit whether
it sounds like a radio song or not. We're just
gonna make a record of atmosphere and mood and feelings
and things that make us feel something and feel like
(13:44):
that deep conversations and that compass that we set at
the beginning really set a great path and map for
how to make the record.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well, you've just laid out a masterclass in creativity. So
thank you first of all for that, but thank you
for this release. Do you think about the live performance
aspect of a new release when you're putting it together?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
My guess is from what you just said, you don't.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
You know it's all going to fall together, but do
you think about the live performance piece?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
I mean, I would say for us, because our live
show has become such an experience for us and such
an expectation from our audience, we set the bar like here,
you know, I am belting and dancing my ass off
for an hour and a half every night.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
No, it is going.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
Absolutely crazy, you know, don't. We don't ever do anything
here energetically, and it's been a part of what's made
our show so fun. So there's never not an experience
where we're thinking, how is this going to tie into
our show? And that honestly was some some of the challenges,
(15:01):
like our set is so high energy and now, you know,
six albums in, we're able to cherry pick the best
moments from every album and put it into one set,
and it's just a punch in the face from the
beginning to the end. And on this new album, there's
some some vibe your tracks, some mid tempo tracks, some
(15:22):
tracks that aren't on Adrenaline and at level ten, and
so it's been really interesting to see slotting those into
the live set set. We've played a couple of them
and it's it's been an amazing experience to see people
already gravitating to those songs and honestly, it's like just
(15:43):
a nice hills and valleys for a set for a
live night.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So I want to talk about a couple of the
songs and get your reflection on them. First of all,
the title track, Man on the Moon. Absolutely love that,
love the whole feel of it. But talk about what
that song means to you and the creative process behind it.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah, well, you know, I mean, I think that song
was just a very of the moment experience, just with
everybody sort of coming into the studio every day working
looking at their phones, scrolling through this insanity of news
where you're just in shock about everything you're reading every day,
(16:42):
you know, just trying to that just kind of kicked
off the first lyrics of that song. I feel too much.
I want to get out of this place. You know,
there's just too much information. Also because I'm not sure
how much worse or better the world is. But what
I do know is that ever reach human being is
consuming like gigabytes worth of information every day in a
(17:06):
way that no human being has ever So is the
world on fire? Or are we just reading about every
fire that's always been happening in the world, but now
we're reading about it? So the world feels on you
know what I mean. It feels very intense and overwhelming,
and doom scrolling is not a healthy activity, and I
think we are, Oh, can all get sucked very easily
(17:29):
into it because guess what, the algorithm loves a doom
scroll because they've kept all of our attention for that
much longer.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Like me, do you really sometimes curse the person that
invented the infinite scroll?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I find myself trapped in it. I've found my attention
span has been affected by it. You know, I have kids.
I have to really pay attention to how I consume
it and how they see me consume it. And then
either me or my wife are in the house and
we turn on a screen or we scroll once and
they hear one little SoundBite. They literally are like flies
(18:07):
to you know, mos to a flame. They're just all
around me all look trying to see what that little
dopamine hit is. You know, I'm not sure where we're
all headed as a society with the way that we're
consuming all this content. But it's you know, having just
took a substantial little break of seriously detoxing from being
(18:30):
in front of it for the last few weeks on vacation,
I can see the difference mentally that it has in
terms of how you perceive the world. And I'm not
sure we would have the same world we are living
in right now without this form of content and the
division we have in this world.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
All of this.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Stuff, it's insane. It's all algorithm based, tailor made living
for all of us.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
The album opens up with one of my other favorites,
the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Maybe you could talk about that one.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
You know, I love this whole record because there's a
lot of full circle moments back to our first record
that had a lot of sixties of soul influence to it,
and this one has a lot of that. Not in
the exact same way. It's got a little more of
a twist to it, but I just love that song
because it just makes me think of just all the
(19:27):
amazing just spaghetti westerns. You know, it just has that
vibe to it. I just love the energy of it.
It's such a mood and I love singing it. It
sits in that specials yet again, another soulful song that
really lets me sing that one, belt it hard.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Another amazing one. They're all amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
But another one that absolutely I adore is Withdrawals. Maybe
you can talk about that one.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
That was It was a real strong one and a
special one because when we were starting to write for
the album, that was one of the first ones that
that came out and of the of the songwriting process,
and it was at a moment where I wasn't totally sure.
(20:18):
I was like, can I go this far back into
our history to like go back full circle to this
very soulful sixties moment. And I was a little trepidacious
at first, but we had had our conversation and took
the leap of faith and just leaned into it, you know.
(20:38):
And it was just like as soon as I got
in the vocal booth and started laying down the vocal track,
it was like, come on, this is like made for
my voice, this song.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
It feels like the entire work of this project that
you and the band really in the zone is a
fair analogy the feeling of being in the zone, just
like athletes and everybody talk about as well.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Yeah, I think so, you know, and I noticed it,
you know. I mean because I have made a lot
of records. This was my eighth, between my Theays, sixth
band and two solos, this was my eighth record, you know,
and I've played thousands of shows, and I think about
it all the time when I'm performing live too. It's
like I have a great time out there, but I'm
(21:28):
so comfortable out there because I've done it so much
now that I'm like, oh wow, this is like this
is beyond Malcolm Gradwell's ten thousand hours. This is more
like thirty forty thousand hours. And Wow, what an experience
to like be actively working doing this thing and just
(21:48):
feeling like all that work, all those shows, all those records,
all those songwriting, it's all culminated into a very you know,
season performer who you know, it's like I rarely get
stage fright or nervous anymore. You know, it's like it's
nothing to me. And that's a crazy thing from where
(22:10):
I started, this petrified little kid walking on on a stage.
You know.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Talk about what it means to.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
See that community when you're out playing live, all united
in a place where everybody's forgetting their troubles, they're forgetting
the way the world is or.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
The way their personal life is.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
And you're out there with the band performing and you're
looking out and you're seeing the impact that you've made
in that little community on that particular event. Describe that
feeling for someone who's never experienced it myself or others
who haven't.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Yeah, you know, I mean, it's a really humbling thing.
Especially I think I think I'm specially play in that
it took so long for my dream to come true
that I came into it with a little bit more
wisdom and maturity just invariably through my age, and to
(23:15):
get to really experience and witness that power is I
never have taken too seriously myself as an artist or
that my songs were that great. But what I do
have reverence for is the fact that once you put
a song out into the world, people will take that
(23:38):
song and make it theirs and put meaning into it
and it becomes something for them. And that experience of
getting to see and meet people out on the road
that pulled me to the side, and they say, you know,
I was in such a dark place personally. I was
suicidal last year and your album literally I like put
(24:01):
it on every morning and forced myself to go running.
And your music brought me out of one of the
darkest peers in my life. And you're like, holy, holy crap.
It just gives me chills even talking about it. And
it's not that I wrote such an amazing song. It's
just that I've created something. I put my heart into it,
somebody else listened to it and it meant something to them.
(24:24):
And that experience you know we've met, you know, going
to a show and then get an email from a
family saying, hey, you're coming to Texas. Can we come
backstage and meet you. Our daughter just finished doing chemotherapy
and Handclap was her like warrior song to get through
all the treatments. And we're like, of course, and we're
(24:45):
all parents and stuff and meeting this kid and just
all weep and you know, trying to not just shed
buckets of tears as we look into those parents' eyes
and they say with like so much sincerity, like thank
you for what this song provided to our daughter. You know,
it's just so humbling. So I never take even a
(25:09):
silly pop song, even something with a silly I never
take it lightly or for granted the effect or the
power that that stuff can have for other people and
how they experience it. And then you take that and
you play those shows live and you see the joy
on people's faces. We've never tried to be the coolest
(25:32):
band in the world, but we've always tried to just
give people a safe space to let their hair down,
have a weird, ugly dance session on the dance floor
and get crazy with us and just sing and have
fun and celebrate a moment. Because life is stressful, life
(25:53):
is hard, and you know, being on the road is
not the funnest thing, you know, It's twenty three hours
of grind for one hour of fun sometimes when you're
not frigging totally exhausted, you know, it's a lot of work.
So that joy that you see on people's face sometimes
(26:14):
is the only thing getting you to somehow find the
energy to do that level of show that we do
every night of the week. It's very hard to pull off,
and so that joy that you see and experience sometimes
is the only thing that's keeping you going.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
How do you keep the balance when you're on the road,
you know, because it is such a grind, you.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Know, I've been doing it for so long now, and
I've spent so much time on the road that ultimately
I have a very regimented routine. I wake up, me
and two of the other guys. We go to the gym,
We work out, We get oh first, sorry, first, we
find the best twisty mustache cup of coffee we can
whatever tow we're at, have way too much caffeine. Then
(27:03):
we go to the gym, we work out, come back,
have dinner, do the show, and then get in the
bus and drive to the next town, and then so
and repeat. As a singer. I got to take supreme
good care of myself. I'm the best shape of my
life on the road because I'm working out every day
and I'm doing a super high intense workout show, live
(27:26):
show while belting the whole time. So my resting heart
rate at the end of tour is like forty three.
And I'm not even joking.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
I love it. I absolutely love it.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
What would we be surprised at that's on your personal playlist?
Speaker 4 (27:46):
You know, I mean people, no, no, I'm a you know,
I'm a sucker for a big pop song, for a
dua lipa pop song, or you know. This summer with
my family, it's been summer of Siza. We've just been
we like big, big R and B pop songs and
stuff like that. I don't know if that would surprise everybody.
(28:09):
I also grew up in a house full of classical
music and opera, so I like to put that on.
Sometimes comes the children and is nostalgic for me.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
What is your take on the evolution of pop and
soul music today?
Speaker 4 (28:27):
You know, I mean, I think technology has created so
much innovation and independence. The amount of music is impossible
to even comprehand how to even begin to consume one
one hundredth of it when there are millions of songs
(28:47):
coming out every week. But there is some pretty amazing stuff,
and I think like I was going back to the
inspirations or the freedom of what today is for music.
I'm not sure anybody knows anymore what's fully pop or
not or you know, or what is the thing you know?
(29:08):
I mean, there's there's always the standards, but I feel
like people are saying yes to those sort of contrived
pop songs less and less. You know, it's it's user
generated now, and it can be for the weirdest reason.
Having been a band that had you know, has had
several hit songs and have one of them out of
(29:29):
My League, which is already twelve years old, is you know,
about to hit a billion streams here and it's streaming
like crazy because it's on its third or fourth viral
TikTok Instagram moment whatever that means. The Internet giveth and
the Internet taketh. I love it and hate it all
(29:51):
at the same time.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Oh, congratulations Fits on the new album Man on the
Moon and the upcoming tour, And I'm so grateful that
you took the time to be on the Taking a
Walk podcast.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Thanks something my pleasure. That is such a great interview.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Buzzsnight, the host of the Taking a Walk podcast,
and imagine strolling down a sunlit street, the pulse of
the city in your ears. Then suddenly you hear the
unmistakable beat that makes you want to move. Today, I'm
taking a walk. We're gonna step into the rhythm and
soul of Fits and the Tantrums, the band that turn
(00:21):
retro grooves into modern anthems and made dancing in the
street cool again. From chart topping hits to electrifying live shows,
Fits in the Tantrums have redefined what it means to blend.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Old school soul with new school pop.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So lace up your sneakers and join us as we
take a walk with the band that's been keeping us
on our feet and on our toes ever since their
first infectious hook. Hang out a couple minutes, we'll pay
some bills and be right back with.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Fits Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Oh, Fits, it's so great to be with you on
the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Thank you now, thanks so much for having me pleasure
to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So, before we get with the festivities and we talk
about Man on the Moon and the tour, which I'm
so excited for, you and the band. I want to
ask you are opening questions, since we call the podcast
taking a walk, if you could take a walk with
somebody living or dead associated with music, more than likely,
(01:27):
who would you take a walk with and where would
you take that walk?
Speaker 4 (01:31):
M Me and my family were huge fans of going
to Europe every summer. Just got back from there, so
that's still fresh in my mind. Walking through ancient European
cities streets is pretty magical experience. I would say walking
through somewhere in excellent Provence in the south of France
(01:53):
with let's see Jimmy Hendricks or Jeff Buckley, one of
those two from those are my two picks.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I love that's that's that's quite a that's quite a range.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
My friend absolutely.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Well, I mean I'm Jeff Buckley obviously. For as a singer,
I bow to that man. I think he's one of
the most amazing singers of all time and also one
of the greatest songwriters in them just as a sheer
freak shredder. Jimi Hendrix ithing, you gotta kinda think he'd
have a good night out with him.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
That would be awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Jeff's father was not too bad of a musician either,
don't you say.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Oh yeah, I mean Tim was an incredible musician. It's
interesting to see their sort of competitive, estranged relationship. I
think it's part of the reason why Jeff Buckley was
so brilliant.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
You know, I think Tim Buckley and Jeff Buckley are
both very under appreciated by the masses.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So, Fitz, what inspired you way at the beginning to
form Fits in the Tantrums? Tell me how this all
first came together.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
You know for me, I you know, I've been a singer.
My whole entire life came out of the woman's singing
driving my parents crazy. My whole life just always been
a singer. But you know, I think it took me
a long time to kind of find my true natural voice.
And you know, I had many, many projects, many bands
(03:38):
where I was a singer, sometimes sometimes just the producer
making beats behind the singer. I had so many bands
before this one, and nothing ever worked out. And I
kind of had to put down the dream and pick
it up like two or three different times. But every
time I couldn't let the idea go because I just
(04:01):
felt like it was what I always kind of visualized
as what my life would be, and just you know,
when you're somebody making music, it's for me. It's never
been a choice, it's been a calling. And if I
don't do it on the regular, I don't feel balanced
(04:21):
as a human being. And I just couldn't let the
idea go. And so, you know, I had branched out
into writing music for film and television, started a company
from doing music for advertising, done all these things because
I kept getting outright rejected by the music business. Couldn't
(04:41):
get arrested, nobody cared, nobody wanted to hear any of it,
and ultimately, you know, I came back to it one
more time, and this time it was just like I
think I was finally had found what felt like. You know,
when you're sing a singer and your whole life, you
can sing in many different styles, and then the question
(05:03):
really becomes what is your authentic voice if you can
imitate many styles as a trained vocalist. And it was
really only with those first songs that I started to
write that I really found that, and those were the
songs that became fits in the tantrums. I think a
lot of the projects I had done before they try
(05:25):
to include all of my different tastes all in one
EP or LP, and this time I was trying to
be much more vigilant about staying true to this one vision.
And that was easy because I've really found that my
voice exploded when I sang in a soulful style. It's
(05:48):
where my voice sang out the best and where I
felt the most at ease and natural about it. So
I just really made that first record trying to be
true to that one vision, and after fifteen years of no's,
all of a sudden, the universe started saying yes, and
it felt supremely different than any other experience I had
(06:11):
ever had before, and that just kind of fed me
to believe that I should, you know, at thirty eight
years old, take one more swing at trying to be
in a band, and you know, got my first record
deal when I was forty forty one, something unheard of,
(06:34):
you know, And here I am, you know, days away
from turning fifty five and releasing my band's sixth studio
album on a major record label. You know, did two
solo records as well during that time. So this is
my eighth album coming out in the last sixteen years,
and it's pretty pretty incredible, and I'm super proud of
(06:59):
this new album.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I'm so privileged that I've got to hear it all
and I have the chills with gratitude just thinking about it,
and it's just so wonderful. But I have to ask you,
going back again to what you were talking about, where
did you get instilled in you this incredible resilience that
(07:22):
kept you on this path that you're still on today.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
You know, honestly, anybody that's in these kinds of fields,
whether it's trying to be a movie maker, a songwriter
with a band, or an actor, there's so much of
your life as waiting for somebody else to say yes
to your dreams. And that's honestly also why I switched,
because I also went to film school. I switched from
(07:49):
film back to music because, at least with the way
that the convergence of technology happened, I could make a
song in my room by myself. I didn't need thirty
people to go make a movie take months to do it.
I could wake up in the morning with nothing, and
by the evening I could be driving around listening to
a song that I just created out of thin air,
(08:12):
and that that was a drug to me that that
experience of creation from nothing to something and having something
to show at the end of the day was so
rewarding to me, and it just kept me. It kept
me going, and at every turn I just couldn't deny
(08:33):
what I knew I wanted to do, and I just
kept persevering and taking one more swing and taking one
last swing. When my life was very comfortable, I had
a successful company, I basically risked everything. I took my
whole entire savings and float threw it into the band
while we toured the world, you know, with Sharon Jones
(08:54):
and the Dad Kings, Maroon five, all these amazing things.
But I was doing paying for the whole thing at
the beginning, and it was just one huge leap of faith.
But I will say again that I knew what rejection
felt like because I had felt that so for so
many years record labels passing on my projects and stuff.
That this the universe was just saying, there's a magic happening.
(09:18):
And there was this whole word of mouth. This was
at the height of Facebook exploding, you know, there was
this whole word of mouth where people are just like,
you have to go see this band fits in the
tantrums live they you know, it's like going to the
church of music. It's like nothing I've ever experienced. And
we just set this high energy show celebration, Come let
(09:39):
your hair down, get crazy with us, and that word
of mouth traveled via the internet and help propel us
to the point where we could get a record deal
and get the supporting and keep going. You know, I'd say,
for me, work ethic, that's you know, I'm modestly talented
and incredibly hard working.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
What honestly talented, I know, hardworking, But you're incredibly talented
and you have incredible vision.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
And what I love about.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
This particular project is how you had this vision to
throw caution to the wind.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
So talk about.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
The genesis of Man on the Moon and the comfort
that you you know, had in that process.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Yeah, well I think, you know, one being our six
studio album, you know, I don't feel like I have
much to prove to anybody anymore. But also, you know,
I went to so many different album cycles with so
much pressure for radio singles and this, that and the other.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I mean, the thing is that once you have a
couple of hit songs on the radio, it's a pretty
amazing experience to see how that can travel around the
world and show up and everybody knows who music. It's
an amazing experience, But that's where the bar is there,
and then you always have to maintain that, and anything
(11:10):
less than that it's going to feel like a failure
or be perceived by the label or whoever as that.
And just with the way that the whole world has
changed the way people consume content and media, with TikTok
and Instagram reels and all that stuff, there's just such
a different way that people are integrating with that, then
(11:32):
it's really turned the whole music business on its head.
There's nobody really able to dictate or even know what
necessarily is a hit anymore. There's very few of those anymore.
And so you look at some of the biggest songs
of last year and there's no way that any label
would have backed that as a song. But guess what,
(11:53):
the people decided it. The interwebs. The internet decided it,
and it was a hit. And so I think in
that going into this record, I was free from the
burden of trying to take a very specific swing. That's
kind of like a part of being on a major label,
you know, And I think I was just able to
(12:16):
have that freedom to just do whatever the hell I wanted,
and I didn't want to go. You know, we write
in big songs love. I love pop music, I love
an infectious melody. But on this album, I wasn't so
concerned with like trying to go with a one listen
hit song, radio single, you know, like I could care
(12:36):
less about that. Jonasterberg, who I did a lions share
of the record with, we sat down at the beginning
and talked for hours and listened to my whole catalog
and really had a discussion of what felt like it
was working, and you know, honest conversation about like what
songs didn't work or what you know, what parts of
this album could have been better, or what kind of
(13:00):
in retrospect was not the right choice, being pretty critical
about some of the past stuff, you know, and just
saying that we wanted to really set this bar where
no line was a disposable lyric, no part was just
(13:20):
an afterthought, that everything was challenged and held to a
standard of just being a vibe, of being an experience.
Did we feel something and who gives a shirit whether
it sounds like a radio song or not. We're just
gonna make a record of atmosphere and mood and feelings
and things that make us feel something and feel like
(13:44):
that deep conversations and that compass that we set at
the beginning really set a great path and map for
how to make the record.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well, you've just laid out a masterclass in creativity. So
thank you first of all for that, but thank you
for this release. Do you think about the live performance
aspect of a new release when you're putting it together?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
My guess is from what you just said, you don't.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
You know it's all going to fall together, but do
you think about the live performance piece?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
I mean, I would say for us, because our live
show has become such an experience for us and such
an expectation from our audience, we set the bar like here,
you know, I am belting and dancing my ass off
for an hour and a half every night.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
No, it is going.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
Absolutely crazy, you know, don't. We don't ever do anything
here energetically, and it's been a part of what's made
our show so fun. So there's never not an experience
where we're thinking, how is this going to tie into
our show? And that honestly was some some of the challenges,
(15:01):
like our set is so high energy and now, you know,
six albums in, we're able to cherry pick the best
moments from every album and put it into one set,
and it's just a punch in the face from the
beginning to the end. And on this new album, there's
some some vibe your tracks, some mid tempo tracks, some
(15:22):
tracks that aren't on Adrenaline and at level ten, and
so it's been really interesting to see slotting those into
the live set set. We've played a couple of them
and it's it's been an amazing experience to see people
already gravitating to those songs and honestly, it's like just
(15:43):
a nice hills and valleys for a set for a
live night.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So I want to talk about a couple of the
songs and get your reflection on them. First of all,
the title track, Man on the Moon. Absolutely love that,
love the whole feel of it. But talk about what
that song means to you and the creative process behind it.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah, well, you know, I mean, I think that song
was just a very of the moment experience, just with
everybody sort of coming into the studio every day working
looking at their phones, scrolling through this insanity of news
where you're just in shock about everything you're reading every day,
(16:42):
you know, just trying to that just kind of kicked
off the first lyrics of that song. I feel too much.
I want to get out of this place. You know,
there's just too much information. Also because I'm not sure
how much worse or better the world is. But what
I do know is that ever reach human being is
consuming like gigabytes worth of information every day in a
(17:06):
way that no human being has ever So is the
world on fire? Or are we just reading about every
fire that's always been happening in the world, but now
we're reading about it? So the world feels on you
know what I mean. It feels very intense and overwhelming,
and doom scrolling is not a healthy activity, and I
think we are, Oh, can all get sucked very easily
(17:29):
into it because guess what, the algorithm loves a doom
scroll because they've kept all of our attention for that
much longer.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Like me, do you really sometimes curse the person that
invented the infinite scroll?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I find myself trapped in it. I've found my attention
span has been affected by it. You know, I have kids.
I have to really pay attention to how I consume
it and how they see me consume it. And then
either me or my wife are in the house and
we turn on a screen or we scroll once and
they hear one little SoundBite. They literally are like flies
(18:07):
to you know, mos to a flame. They're just all
around me all look trying to see what that little
dopamine hit is. You know, I'm not sure where we're
all headed as a society with the way that we're
consuming all this content. But it's you know, having just
took a substantial little break of seriously detoxing from being
(18:30):
in front of it for the last few weeks on vacation,
I can see the difference mentally that it has in
terms of how you perceive the world. And I'm not
sure we would have the same world we are living
in right now without this form of content and the
division we have in this world.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
All of this.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Stuff, it's insane. It's all algorithm based, tailor made living
for all of us.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
The album opens up with one of my other favorites,
the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Maybe you could talk about that one.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
You know, I love this whole record because there's a
lot of full circle moments back to our first record
that had a lot of sixties of soul influence to it,
and this one has a lot of that. Not in
the exact same way. It's got a little more of
a twist to it, but I just love that song
because it just makes me think of just all the
(19:27):
amazing just spaghetti westerns. You know, it just has that
vibe to it. I just love the energy of it.
It's such a mood and I love singing it. It
sits in that specials yet again, another soulful song that
really lets me sing that one, belt it hard.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Another amazing one. They're all amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
But another one that absolutely I adore is Withdrawals. Maybe
you can talk about that one.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
That was It was a real strong one and a
special one because when we were starting to write for
the album, that was one of the first ones that
that came out and of the of the songwriting process,
and it was at a moment where I wasn't totally sure.
(20:18):
I was like, can I go this far back into
our history to like go back full circle to this
very soulful sixties moment. And I was a little trepidacious
at first, but we had had our conversation and took
the leap of faith and just leaned into it, you know.
(20:38):
And it was just like as soon as I got
in the vocal booth and started laying down the vocal track,
it was like, come on, this is like made for
my voice, this song.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
It feels like the entire work of this project that
you and the band really in the zone is a
fair analogy the feeling of being in the zone, just
like athletes and everybody talk about as well.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Yeah, I think so, you know, and I noticed it,
you know. I mean because I have made a lot
of records. This was my eighth, between my Theays, sixth
band and two solos, this was my eighth record, you know,
and I've played thousands of shows, and I think about
it all the time when I'm performing live too. It's
like I have a great time out there, but I'm
(21:28):
so comfortable out there because I've done it so much
now that I'm like, oh wow, this is like this
is beyond Malcolm Gradwell's ten thousand hours. This is more
like thirty forty thousand hours. And Wow, what an experience
to like be actively working doing this thing and just
(21:48):
feeling like all that work, all those shows, all those records,
all those songwriting, it's all culminated into a very you know,
season performer who you know, it's like I rarely get
stage fright or nervous anymore. You know, it's like it's
nothing to me. And that's a crazy thing from where
(22:10):
I started, this petrified little kid walking on on a stage.
You know.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Talk about what it means to.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
See that community when you're out playing live, all united
in a place where everybody's forgetting their troubles, they're forgetting
the way the world is or.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
The way their personal life is.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
And you're out there with the band performing and you're
looking out and you're seeing the impact that you've made
in that little community on that particular event. Describe that
feeling for someone who's never experienced it myself or others
who haven't.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Yeah, you know, I mean, it's a really humbling thing.
Especially I think I think I'm specially play in that
it took so long for my dream to come true
that I came into it with a little bit more
wisdom and maturity just invariably through my age, and to
(23:15):
get to really experience and witness that power is I
never have taken too seriously myself as an artist or
that my songs were that great. But what I do
have reverence for is the fact that once you put
a song out into the world, people will take that
(23:38):
song and make it theirs and put meaning into it
and it becomes something for them. And that experience of
getting to see and meet people out on the road
that pulled me to the side, and they say, you know,
I was in such a dark place personally. I was
suicidal last year and your album literally I like put
(24:01):
it on every morning and forced myself to go running.
And your music brought me out of one of the
darkest peers in my life. And you're like, holy, holy crap.
It just gives me chills even talking about it. And
it's not that I wrote such an amazing song. It's
just that I've created something. I put my heart into it,
somebody else listened to it and it meant something to them.
(24:24):
And that experience you know we've met, you know, going
to a show and then get an email from a
family saying, hey, you're coming to Texas. Can we come
backstage and meet you. Our daughter just finished doing chemotherapy
and Handclap was her like warrior song to get through
all the treatments. And we're like, of course, and we're
(24:45):
all parents and stuff and meeting this kid and just
all weep and you know, trying to not just shed
buckets of tears as we look into those parents' eyes
and they say with like so much sincerity, like thank
you for what this song provided to our daughter. You know,
it's just so humbling. So I never take even a
(25:09):
silly pop song, even something with a silly I never
take it lightly or for granted the effect or the
power that that stuff can have for other people and
how they experience it. And then you take that and
you play those shows live and you see the joy
on people's faces. We've never tried to be the coolest
(25:32):
band in the world, but we've always tried to just
give people a safe space to let their hair down,
have a weird, ugly dance session on the dance floor
and get crazy with us and just sing and have
fun and celebrate a moment. Because life is stressful, life
(25:53):
is hard, and you know, being on the road is
not the funnest thing, you know, It's twenty three hours
of grind for one hour of fun sometimes when you're
not frigging totally exhausted, you know, it's a lot of work.
So that joy that you see on people's face sometimes
(26:14):
is the only thing getting you to somehow find the
energy to do that level of show that we do
every night of the week. It's very hard to pull off,
and so that joy that you see and experience sometimes
is the only thing that's keeping you going.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
How do you keep the balance when you're on the road,
you know, because it is such a grind, you.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Know, I've been doing it for so long now, and
I've spent so much time on the road that ultimately
I have a very regimented routine. I wake up, me
and two of the other guys. We go to the gym,
We work out, We get oh first, sorry, first, we
find the best twisty mustache cup of coffee we can
whatever tow we're at, have way too much caffeine. Then
(27:03):
we go to the gym, we work out, come back,
have dinner, do the show, and then get in the
bus and drive to the next town, and then so
and repeat. As a singer. I got to take supreme
good care of myself. I'm the best shape of my
life on the road because I'm working out every day
and I'm doing a super high intense workout show, live
(27:26):
show while belting the whole time. So my resting heart
rate at the end of tour is like forty three.
And I'm not even joking.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
I love it. I absolutely love it.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
What would we be surprised at that's on your personal playlist?
Speaker 4 (27:46):
You know, I mean people, no, no, I'm a you know,
I'm a sucker for a big pop song, for a
dua lipa pop song, or you know. This summer with
my family, it's been summer of Siza. We've just been
we like big, big R and B pop songs and
stuff like that. I don't know if that would surprise everybody.
(28:09):
I also grew up in a house full of classical
music and opera, so I like to put that on.
Sometimes comes the children and is nostalgic for me.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
What is your take on the evolution of pop and
soul music today?
Speaker 4 (28:27):
You know, I mean, I think technology has created so
much innovation and independence. The amount of music is impossible
to even comprehand how to even begin to consume one
one hundredth of it when there are millions of songs
(28:47):
coming out every week. But there is some pretty amazing stuff,
and I think like I was going back to the
inspirations or the freedom of what today is for music.
I'm not sure anybody knows anymore what's fully pop or
not or you know, or what is the thing you know?
(29:08):
I mean, there's there's always the standards, but I feel
like people are saying yes to those sort of contrived
pop songs less and less. You know, it's it's user
generated now, and it can be for the weirdest reason.
Having been a band that had you know, has had
several hit songs and have one of them out of
(29:29):
My League, which is already twelve years old, is you know,
about to hit a billion streams here and it's streaming
like crazy because it's on its third or fourth viral
TikTok Instagram moment whatever that means. The Internet giveth and
the Internet taketh. I love it and hate it all
(29:51):
at the same time.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Oh, congratulations Fits on the new album Man on the
Moon and the upcoming tour, And I'm so grateful that
you took the time to be on the Taking a
Walk podcast.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Thanks something my pleasure. That is such a great interview.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Lynn Hoffman
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