BiB: Fitz and the Tantrums – From Complete Rejection to Stadium Anthems: Fitz Gets Real About Breaking Through

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What is going on? It is Adam. Welcome back to Bringing It Backwards, a

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podcast where both legendary and rising artists tell

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their own personal stories of how they achieve stardom. On

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this episode, Sean Olds of the Eiffels had a chance to chat

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with Fitz from Fitz and the Tantrums. Over Zoom

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video, Sean and Fitz discuss how Fitz got into

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music, the formation of Fitz and the Tantrums. It is a

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great interview. Fitz talks about the struggles that he had, you know, and

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how long it took for his band to really to break. And

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it's just. It's a great conversation. They talk all about the new fits in the

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Tantrums music and the tour they're on now. But it, yeah, it's a

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great conversation about the music industry and, you

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know, where it was, where it's going, possibly. Make sure to check out the

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video version of it on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing It

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Backwards. It would be amazing. If you subscribe to our podcast, subscribe

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to our YouTube channel, follow us on Facebook and Instagram

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x TikTok all at Bringing back pod. And if

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Apple Podcast. Please rate and review the podcast. That helps us out

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tremendously. We'd appreciate your support if you follow and

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subscribe to our podcasts. Wherever you listen to podcasts. We're

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bringing it Backwards with Fitz and the Tantrums.

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Bringing it backwards.

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Bringing it backwards. Bringing it backwards.

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Bringing it backwards. Bringing it back.

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All right, everybody, we got Fitz of Fitz and the Tantrums here today.

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They're behind the huge hits Hand Clap, the

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Walker, out of my league. As a personal fan, I

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just want to thank you for all the years of great music and inspiring

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music, and we're all big fans here at Bringing It Backwards, so welcome.

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Oh, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate the kind words.

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Oh, of course. And you have a new album.

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You're on a massive headlining tour right now. Would you mind sharing

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a little bit about that with us? Yes. So we just

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put out a few weeks ago, man on the Moon, our sixth studio

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album, which just blows my mind that we're on

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number six. And, you know, it's really

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cool because it takes, you know, anywhere from a year

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to year and a half to make a record, from starting to write

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to recording to mixing, mastering to release date.

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So to finally be out in the world, touring

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these songs, playing them live, it's a really

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special moment for the band to, like, bring it to a live

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setting and just see how it's reacting

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with the audience and stuff. And that's been the. The most

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rewarding part about this is just seeing how into the new

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record people are, how much they're coming up and telling us

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how much they love the new record. So. Yeah. After

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so many records, do you kind of have that process dialed a little

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bit? Because I know that a lot of artists, it's like you said, you. You

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take all this time to write the music, and then you get in the studio,

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you record the music, you choose the right songs. And then

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afterwards, though, you gotta figure out the art maybe, or figure out

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the promo. And then by the time you release it, some artists feel

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like. I feel a little distance between when I wrote it and

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when I released it. Do you have a better dial on. On. On that

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process now to try to make it a little bit more fluid? Well,

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I think that, that, that's true for any artist. You know, I

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mean, if. If you're trying to write

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something real for yourself, you're usually drawing from

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what's happening in your life at that moment. Right. That

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can usually be a great source of inspiration.

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But, yes, sometimes you can write a song that's dealing with a

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feeling, an event, a moment in your life, and then

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two years can pass between that time you wrote that and it comes

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out, and then you're sitting there performing this

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song that you might not have the same connection to.

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But for me, I always. Even if I've moved on from that

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feeling or that sentiment, I mean, I. I still lived it, I still

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experienced it. So I don't

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usually get too hung up on. On that part. It's just sort of the

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process of how long it takes to make music and

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get it out in the world, you know? Sure. And

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sometimes I feel like you could look at it from a storyteller angle too. Right.

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You're. You're kind of like, well, I'm telling this particular story that happened in. In

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this particular time in my life. And I actually read

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that you used to. Speaking of telling stories, you were into film a little

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bit before music. Yeah, I mean, I went to a high school for

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the performing arts. I've been a singer my whole life. And then I decided,

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growing up in la, that I had to be in the movie business

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because everybody was in the movie business. And I went to

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university. I went to CalArts for a film degree. I got a bachelor's

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fine art and filmmaking. But it was also

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at that school that I put my first real band together

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and had a first studio experience. We went into the

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college's Studio. Everybody laid down their instruments.

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I went in the vocal booth, sang, came back

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out and the engineer pressed play. And that was the first

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time I heard all the elements come

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together. And it just sounded like

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a banging song coming out of the speakers. And I said,

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oh, forget it, I'm hooked. You know,

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Making my senior thesis film in college took

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me six months to make ten grand

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of borrowing money, every favor in the

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world to get people to work on my crew. It took

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forever ever to make. And that was right at the same

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time that digital workstations for music were really

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blowing up. And at the same time I got my first

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daw. I was working on a song. I had

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an idea in the morning. By the evening I had a

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complete song. This will date me a little bit. I would burn a

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cd, put it in my car and drive

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around and have something. In the

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morning, there was nothing. At the end of the night, there's a piece

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of art made, a song, whether it was any good or not,

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I'll leave that to other people. But that experience, I

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was like, oh, this is way more my ADHD

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brains kind of pace. Like I like a little

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quicker gratification than six months to get

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to the finish line per project. And

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I kind of never looked back. From that point on, it was always

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music from that point on. I have thought about that

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also. Just the, the amount of, you know, it could

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be hundreds of people working on a movie set, but, you

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know, or you could have one producer musician in a room and

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come out, like you said, later, later in a day and with a

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finished piece of art. So it definitely

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is a drastically different process for film

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and, and music. But I feel like you probably bring some

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of that creativity to your music videos now. Maybe your stage

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craft, your style. Do you feel like always, I mean.

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You know, it's, it's helped inform. Yeah.

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Album covers, photo shoots, certainly a ton of our

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music videos. Having that experience helped inform

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hopefully making some better choices and stuff like that.

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Lighting, I'm obsessed with lighting on, on

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stage. I have a lot of opinions about it.

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I'll sit there with the lighting designer every time and go

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through the design and give my

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constructive input and critique of the show.

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I love that stuff. So to me that

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anything that I don't have to sit there and actually try and write a song

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and I get to also be creative and use creative spirit

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is a good day because I love that

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stuff. I love the story you shared about just hearing

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the finished product at school and that being a light

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bulb moment for you because we're called Bringing It Backwards because we like

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to take it back and kind of hear about what got you into music initially.

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I know you've shared the story about buying the old organ and

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that kind of inspiring. The Fits and the Tantrums project.

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And then you played your first show. Maybe only about a week or so after,

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after putting the band together, was there apprehension or excitement

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about starting so quickly?

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Not really. You know, I mean, for me, I had been in

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so many bands, I'd had so many demos, couldn't get

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arrested in the music business. Finally

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had a band that, like, somebody wanted to manage us.

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And we had a song that was a hit. He sent it

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around to all the labels. We had 10 private showcases

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at SIR, which is like a fancy music rental house

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in LA. 10 showcases, 10 nos.

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10. He's too old. And I was 29 at the time, mind.

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Wow. Wow. And it kind of was the. The

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straw that Broke the Camel's back. I was

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emotionally devastated from over a decade of just trying

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and couldn't make things happen. So I kind of pivoted and went into

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working for a music producer, working on other people's

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records. And then him and I started a company and made music

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for advertising and film.

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And it just was not enough

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for me, like, watching other people make a record.

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I was like, it's cool and stuff. I was like, but if I'm gonna sit

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in a room with no windows for 10, 11 hours

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a day, it better be for

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my own music, right? And so

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I couldn't put the dream down. I couldn't. And so I

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took one more swing with the band. Put

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a band together or I started writing the

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songs with James King, my college buddy, who's in the

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band as well still to this day. And,

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you know, I was like, we have to play this stuff live. It's just begging

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to be played live. We put everyone together, we got into

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the room and we played one song, one song together as

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this unit of people that had never been

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in this pairing before. And it sounded like we had been playing

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forever. I mean, it sounded like as good as the record,

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you know? And I'll say that so much of the credit of that goes to

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the fact that everybody in my band are like, they're not garage

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rock and rol roll guys. They're guys that have studied. They all have their

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10,000 Malcolm Gladwellian hours, right? They

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put in their time, so when we walk in, they're pros.

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And we sounded amazing. One song, I walked out of

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the room. Excuse me. And I called the one place where I

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knew the Booker Hotel Cafe, which is way more of a

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singer songwriter place. You don't really do full band there.

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And asked them for a slot. He gave me

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a gig the next week. And I walked in, I said, we got a gig,

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and everyone's like, we've played one song. I was like, we got to get

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to work. And I wasn't apprehensive. If

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anything, I could feel that there was an energy. And I was

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like, on a timeline. I was like, I don't have another second to waste.

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Let's go. And that intuition was right, because from

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the first, I mean, we played two or three shows and

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we got offered tours with Flogging

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Molly, Sharon Jones and the Dab Kings. And then

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promptly after that, we got a tour with Maroon

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5. And we just had all these amazing

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experiences. But for me,

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I knew what rejection felt like because I had had, like,

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absolute, total rejection. When I say total, I

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mean total for well over a decade.

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So I. I could. I could understand the

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moment very clearly that it felt like the

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universe went from an absolute no to all of a sudden,

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just felt like all the stars aligned and there was just this

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ease and this flow and this direction.

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And so we got these amazing opportunities. Like, Maroon 5 wants you

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to open up for them. Follow them around in their tour buses.

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I was like, oh, my God. And they're going to pay you 1,000 bucks a

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night, a show. And you're like, that's more money than I've ever

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been paid to play music. Oh, my God. And then we crunch the numbers

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and it's like, and guess What? You're still

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$25,000 short to do the tour. Oh, man.

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And luckily, you know, I had actually had some success

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with my company making music for film and TV with my partner.

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And that also coincided right during the stock market crash

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and housing market bubble. 07. So

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I was mainly doing music for advertising stuff. Everybody stopped

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advertising. Everyone's like, we're just gonna keep using the

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ads from last year. Like, whoa. So that business

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dried up, so I had no work, and I had like

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a quarter of a million dollars in savings,

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and I basically put it into the band.

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And for the next two years, the band toured. And I paid the

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guys whatever I could. A hundred bucks a day, like, well below

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what they paid. Like, everybody just sacrificed.

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And I spent every penny of my savings

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so we could do all these tours. And we built ourselves a national name

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and. And a reputation for putting on an

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exceptional live show. And right

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when we were out of money and people were going to default on their mortgages

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and stuff. We went to south by Southwest

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and walked away with our first independent record deal at

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the last possible moment, you know. Yeah.

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Wow, that's so exciting. And I love the way that you described, you know, just

237
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receiving all that rejection and recognizing that there was a difference this

238
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time around and really just charging it because

239
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you saw. You saw the opening there. And I

240
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think. And I think that's illustrative or at least

241
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informative to some musicians out there.

242
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You know, how much time, money and effort went into

243
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that initial push, or not even the initial push, but

244
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that last push. Yeah, absolutely.

245
00:15:33,700 --> 00:15:37,460
You know, I think probably I couldn't imagine being one of these artists

246
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that gets a top 40 hit at like 18.

247
00:15:42,580 --> 00:15:46,420
Yeah, I've, you know, I've thought so many

248
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kids, including myself, you know, you know, most

249
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teenagers who have aspirations of being an artist or

250
00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:57,560
an actor or whatever it may be like to. To hit it

251
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big that young, I just feel like I would have made

252
00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,800
way too many mistakes and like, maybe serious

253
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mistakes that may. May have all I know, if I hit

254
00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,240
it big at 20, I would have been such an asshole. Right? Yeah.

255
00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,080
Yeah. I mean, like, I already had a healthy ego at 20.

256
00:16:18,020 --> 00:16:21,540
I really thought highly of myself. I did not need

257
00:16:21,780 --> 00:16:25,580
any extra syrup poured on top of that pancake. That's just

258
00:16:25,580 --> 00:16:29,340
it, right? And also the appreciation, like you said, you went through a lot of

259
00:16:29,340 --> 00:16:32,980
rejection before getting to where you are, so it probably makes you

260
00:16:32,980 --> 00:16:36,820
appreciate it that much more. It really does.

261
00:16:36,820 --> 00:16:40,620
Because I understand the journey.

262
00:16:40,620 --> 00:16:44,340
And I still, to this day, 17 years

263
00:16:44,420 --> 00:16:47,780
later, I don't really take the moment for granted.

264
00:16:48,100 --> 00:16:51,920
And I'll say that that also comes with. You know, I wasn't 20 when

265
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:55,640
I hit it. I was an anomaly. It's basically me

266
00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:59,280
and Willie Nelson are the only two people that, like, broke

267
00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,960
in their late 30s, early 40s. You know,

268
00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,400
I didn't have my first hit song on the radio till I was 42.

269
00:17:07,120 --> 00:17:10,880
Hand clap, biggest song of my life. Didn't even happen until

270
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I was like 44 or 46. And

271
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that's not something that happens ever.

272
00:17:18,890 --> 00:17:22,010
So that moment also, I was just

273
00:17:22,890 --> 00:17:26,330
a more mature adult by that time. So

274
00:17:26,410 --> 00:17:29,770
the whole moment of success,

275
00:17:30,170 --> 00:17:33,770
of a little bit of fame, all that kind of stuff just

276
00:17:34,090 --> 00:17:37,730
hit me in a very different way with

277
00:17:37,730 --> 00:17:41,450
that sort of maturity, you know, I don't put a lot of stock

278
00:17:41,450 --> 00:17:45,050
in it. I grew up in la. I watched people become famous and not

279
00:17:45,050 --> 00:17:48,720
famous every other day of the weeks. So I never,

280
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never really Gave it that much importance.

281
00:17:53,270 --> 00:17:57,070
And then to have this moment happen later on in my

282
00:17:57,070 --> 00:18:00,710
life, it's just been, I think, a blessing because

283
00:18:00,710 --> 00:18:04,390
I've tried to remain a way more grounded person. I don't

284
00:18:04,390 --> 00:18:07,910
take it that seriously. I don't take myself that seriously.

285
00:18:09,590 --> 00:18:13,310
And I've. Yes, I've just really appreciated the ride. I

286
00:18:13,310 --> 00:18:17,150
still, to this day, take a moment every day on stage

287
00:18:17,150 --> 00:18:20,620
to just. And I don't usually stand still, to stand still

288
00:18:20,850 --> 00:18:24,610
for 10 seconds, take two deep breaths, look

289
00:18:24,610 --> 00:18:28,290
out in the audience and go, wow, you're in New York

290
00:18:28,290 --> 00:18:32,050
tonight, standing on Pier 17 with the. Go with the Brooklyn Bridge

291
00:18:32,050 --> 00:18:35,730
behind you. And there's 2,500 people here to see you today.

292
00:18:36,770 --> 00:18:40,610
And they don't know you. They're not your friends. They don't owe you anything.

293
00:18:40,850 --> 00:18:44,530
Right. And that's. That's not something to take lightly, you know?

294
00:18:44,610 --> 00:18:48,220
No, no. That's amazing. And you mentioned

295
00:18:48,220 --> 00:18:52,060
you were doing some advertising before the music really took

296
00:18:52,060 --> 00:18:55,180
off, but lately,

297
00:18:55,740 --> 00:18:58,980
I mean, not even lately, but past few years, you guys have been in

298
00:18:58,980 --> 00:19:02,300
commercials, you've been played in stadiums, you've been in video games.

299
00:19:02,940 --> 00:19:06,620
And I'm reading that you recently did a big

300
00:19:06,620 --> 00:19:09,980
publishing deal. Can you tell us a little bit about that and the role that

301
00:19:09,980 --> 00:19:12,580
plays nowadays in the industry and your career?

302
00:19:14,010 --> 00:19:17,810
Yeah, I mean, I would say that licensing, this isn't the case

303
00:19:17,810 --> 00:19:21,490
for everybody, but for us, it

304
00:19:21,490 --> 00:19:25,290
was critical to our success. You know,

305
00:19:25,290 --> 00:19:28,970
our first album, Picking up the Pieces, is

306
00:19:28,970 --> 00:19:32,690
a very Motown inspired album, but

307
00:19:32,690 --> 00:19:36,410
it's all heartbreak. The whole album is.

308
00:19:36,570 --> 00:19:40,370
And it literally was generated out of me trying to get

309
00:19:40,370 --> 00:19:44,220
over a breakup. And that was an amazing impetus

310
00:19:44,220 --> 00:19:47,820
to write songs. And the funniest phenomenon of

311
00:19:47,820 --> 00:19:51,580
that whole record was that because it was heartbreak

312
00:19:51,580 --> 00:19:55,420
from a male perspective. I

313
00:19:55,420 --> 00:19:59,260
had, like, crazy. I just had dudes

314
00:19:59,660 --> 00:20:03,420
in the front row. Like big dudes, burly dudes,

315
00:20:03,420 --> 00:20:07,020
lumberjack dudes, just, like, crying,

316
00:20:07,180 --> 00:20:11,020
just feeling every. I just love the moment to see all

317
00:20:11,020 --> 00:20:14,860
these big burly men just, like, being so emotional

318
00:20:14,940 --> 00:20:18,700
and singing every word and being really touched. But one of the things

319
00:20:18,700 --> 00:20:22,540
that I walked away from that moment because we got almost

320
00:20:22,700 --> 00:20:26,340
no placements on that first record. And I had

321
00:20:26,340 --> 00:20:30,100
come from the. The advertising world, and

322
00:20:30,100 --> 00:20:33,180
this is, you know, right the moment where streaming and

323
00:20:33,900 --> 00:20:37,580
download and naps are everything. You know, the. The industry

324
00:20:37,660 --> 00:20:41,420
is about to shift majorly. It's already shifting. Record sales

325
00:20:41,420 --> 00:20:45,120
are already plummeting. And I'm sitting here going, okay,

326
00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:48,680
well, how am I going to actually survive doing this? And I

327
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:52,040
come from a place of having done Advertising.

328
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,440
And so on the next records, I didn't

329
00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,960
want to sully the record, but I didn't want to

330
00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:03,880
pigeonhole it where it couldn't be used in placements.

331
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:08,000
And I thought about it for a while and I said, okay, I'm going to

332
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,800
move all of my conflict, all of my sadness, all of

333
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,760
my depression, anxiety, whatever

334
00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,600
darkness I want to talk about or struggle, I'm going to put that in

335
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,920
the verses. I'm going to have that specificity

336
00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:26,440
and tell my story of whatever I'm trying to express

337
00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:30,760
to exist in the verses. And the

338
00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:34,480
chorus, for me is going to be my anthem, is going to be

339
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,080
my solution, is going to be my mantra,

340
00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:41,880
and it's going to be more universal and it's going to be the

341
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,440
thing that makes me want to, like, get up. This is going to be my

342
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,920
fight song or whatever. And in doing

343
00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:52,760
that, it opened up the songs

344
00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:56,120
to have way more potential to be

345
00:21:56,120 --> 00:21:59,960
licensed. And from the first, right after the

346
00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:02,760
first record on, we went on this crazy,

347
00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:07,000
crazy run of placements. And

348
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,920
what that did for us was give us. Just kept giving us more

349
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,520
exposure. And a perfect example of that is that when Hand

350
00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,180
Clap was on, on coming out,

351
00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:24,260
you know, given the fact that we were a band that had success,

352
00:22:24,260 --> 00:22:28,020
but we were smaller, still a smaller band and stuff, it's not like

353
00:22:28,020 --> 00:22:31,860
the label was, like, gunning for us to have a mega

354
00:22:31,860 --> 00:22:35,500
hit, especially given my age and stuff. They're not like

355
00:22:35,500 --> 00:22:39,260
doubling down on that. But at every turn, when

356
00:22:39,260 --> 00:22:43,060
they would be like, yeah, we'll do a little more, we get another sink. And

357
00:22:43,060 --> 00:22:46,260
they'd be like, oh, well, I guess we got to do more. And those

358
00:22:46,340 --> 00:22:50,040
sinks, when they took the song to radio, helped

359
00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:53,760
the song keep climbing up the charts to a

360
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,920
position that it would never have gotten to

361
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:01,240
before. And, you know,

362
00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,280
when we were licensing Hand Clap, there's, you know, always people that are like,

363
00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:09,080
oh, we don't give that song out for that little bit

364
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,880
of money people are taking advantage of. And I was like, I

365
00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:16,040
want exposure. Yeah, yeah. And I know this. There's

366
00:23:16,530 --> 00:23:20,170
famous publishing company that loves to. That some of my

367
00:23:20,170 --> 00:23:23,450
band members used to be a part of. They love to say exposure

368
00:23:23,450 --> 00:23:27,050
kills. And I'm like, I get the concept. Yes,

369
00:23:27,050 --> 00:23:30,610
People trick musicians into bending over and giving their

370
00:23:30,610 --> 00:23:34,450
money, their songs away for free for exposure and

371
00:23:34,450 --> 00:23:38,250
stuff. But ultimately I was like, I want this song to

372
00:23:38,250 --> 00:23:41,770
be a sports anthem. So if ESPN

373
00:23:41,770 --> 00:23:45,300
wants to license it for 500 bucks, I'm going to say

374
00:23:45,300 --> 00:23:48,980
yes. And guess what? You can't

375
00:23:49,140 --> 00:23:52,660
not hear Hand clap at every single sports

376
00:23:52,660 --> 00:23:56,500
event in America. Every day. Every

377
00:23:56,500 --> 00:23:59,940
day, Every day. And that's because I was like,

378
00:24:00,179 --> 00:24:04,020
you know what, I'm not going to say no to this. I'm going to

379
00:24:04,020 --> 00:24:07,620
take the very little bit of money. We had other big

380
00:24:07,620 --> 00:24:10,740
commercial sinks for big products that paid us

381
00:24:11,660 --> 00:24:15,420
healthy. But those other little ones, I just said yes to everything. Let's

382
00:24:15,420 --> 00:24:18,780
get the music out there. Sure. And I would say that

383
00:24:19,180 --> 00:24:22,620
today, in 2025, that prospect is even

384
00:24:22,620 --> 00:24:25,900
harder. Things are more algoed out, more

385
00:24:25,900 --> 00:24:29,660
decentralized. I mean, I've been saying this all summer

386
00:24:29,660 --> 00:24:33,260
and I've already read a few articles. What's the song of the summer this year?

387
00:24:34,860 --> 00:24:38,620
There is no song of the summer. Yeah. Who's the artist of the summer?

388
00:24:39,180 --> 00:24:42,940
There is no Chapel Roan this year. There is no Pony Club.

389
00:24:43,260 --> 00:24:47,020
Yeah. Charlie XCX last year too.

390
00:24:47,420 --> 00:24:51,220
Yeah. Which, you know, you could say, was that album great or was

391
00:24:51,220 --> 00:24:54,939
the marketing great? Well, who knows, maybe a little bit of both.

392
00:24:54,939 --> 00:24:58,540
I personally am a fan of club bangers like that. But

393
00:24:59,900 --> 00:25:02,140
brilliant marketing, right? Yeah.

394
00:25:03,660 --> 00:25:06,300
Was more important than the music. It was.

395
00:25:07,790 --> 00:25:11,310
But I think we're entering a phase where we're gonna see like,

396
00:25:11,550 --> 00:25:15,070
oh, will there be any more song of the summer?

397
00:25:15,550 --> 00:25:19,190
Have we algoed and specialized everything so

398
00:25:19,190 --> 00:25:22,790
much that nobody can get critical mass because nobody's

399
00:25:22,790 --> 00:25:26,270
watching the same thing. Nobody has the cooler

400
00:25:26,270 --> 00:25:29,630
moment, the water cooler moment at work to discuss

401
00:25:30,110 --> 00:25:32,590
because nobody's looking at the same universe.

402
00:25:34,260 --> 00:25:37,620
I mean, it's why we're in such a political shitstorm now because

403
00:25:37,940 --> 00:25:41,740
everyone is looking at alternate realities and nobody can relate to each

404
00:25:41,740 --> 00:25:45,420
other. Yeah. I was thinking about TikTok when I'm saying

405
00:25:45,420 --> 00:25:48,900
Brad Summer and while you're talking about algos and it's interesting and I don't, I

406
00:25:48,900 --> 00:25:52,260
haven't confirmed if it's true, but it feels True. With

407
00:25:52,340 --> 00:25:55,220
TikTok. I heard that even the comment area

408
00:25:55,860 --> 00:25:59,420
is now algoed. So you're getting your own

409
00:25:59,420 --> 00:26:03,080
impressions even in the comments. You know, you go to some others, you might,

410
00:26:03,390 --> 00:26:06,350
you might see different viewpoints in the comment section.

411
00:26:06,910 --> 00:26:10,750
But TikTok, when I'm on there, it does seem I'm always like, why is everyone

412
00:26:10,830 --> 00:26:14,270
such in a good mood on TikTok? Or like why does everyone seem to be

413
00:26:14,270 --> 00:26:17,630
on the same page? And it, I think it may be because even the Comments

414
00:26:17,630 --> 00:26:20,990
now on TikTok are algorithms to your algorithm.

415
00:26:21,470 --> 00:26:25,230
Yeah, well, because I mean, at the end of the day it's not about

416
00:26:25,230 --> 00:26:28,550
the content, it's about continuing each one of our

417
00:26:28,550 --> 00:26:32,200
individual Engagements, Right. Let's not let our

418
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,920
attention drift from this, this ecosystem for

419
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:39,440
one second. I'm going to give you titillating news or

420
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:43,280
pleasing news or shocking news, whatever. The thing is,

421
00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,560
you know, I think we're, we're, I mean, not that

422
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:52,160
this is the platform for it, but I think we're in a really

423
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,240
interesting, really interesting

424
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,720
moment that now is combining with AI.

425
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,560
Truth was already on the chopping block and now this

426
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:07,720
is going to be the death knell to know what anything is real.

427
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:12,360
Yeah, AI is wild. It's impossible to not pay attention to it.

428
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:14,840
And yeah, we can talk about anything you want. But

429
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:21,040
I was just talking about AI yesterday. I think everyone's talking about it

430
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:24,880
and it is interesting. With AI, it's like it'll give you a totally wrong

431
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:28,320
answer and then you'll say, is that a wrong answer? And I'll be like, actually

432
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,900
yeah, it was a wrong answer. And you're like, do I have to ask you

433
00:27:31,900 --> 00:27:35,300
every time you tell me something if it's right or wrong? Oh, I was,

434
00:27:35,860 --> 00:27:39,700
you know, on tour, trying to sleep on buses, your schedules

435
00:27:39,700 --> 00:27:43,020
all turned around. One day you sleep for two hours, the next day you sleep

436
00:27:43,020 --> 00:27:46,260
for 12. I mean, it couldn't be more upside down.

437
00:27:46,740 --> 00:27:50,260
And I was in a hotel room two weeks ago, my first

438
00:27:50,260 --> 00:27:53,980
time sleeping in a real bed in weeks and I

439
00:27:53,980 --> 00:27:57,580
was so excited to sleep and I couldn't sleep and I

440
00:27:57,580 --> 00:28:01,420
couldn't sleep and I laid there for hours and I

441
00:28:01,420 --> 00:28:04,820
got so frustrated that I just opened up

442
00:28:04,820 --> 00:28:08,420
ChatGPT and did the advanced speech mode

443
00:28:08,980 --> 00:28:12,180
and proceeded to have a two hour long

444
00:28:12,260 --> 00:28:14,100
conversation with AI

445
00:28:15,860 --> 00:28:19,620
about AI, about its processes,

446
00:28:19,780 --> 00:28:23,220
about its intentions. Can AI actually

447
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,840
be a source of good if

448
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,280
it's being created by companies that have

449
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,320
a monetary capitalist agenda?

450
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:40,000
Because everything's being trained. Large language

451
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,480
models, they're only as good as what you put into them.

452
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:47,400
And what we should all be fighting and advocating for

453
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,470
are open source AI models that

454
00:28:51,470 --> 00:28:55,030
aren't being run by a corporation with an

455
00:28:55,030 --> 00:28:58,750
agenda that wants to soothe, pacify you and

456
00:28:58,750 --> 00:29:02,390
steer you to whatever friggin product of theirs. The saving

457
00:29:02,390 --> 00:29:06,150
grace for us as a humanity is to make sure that we

458
00:29:06,150 --> 00:29:09,630
create large language models that are not

459
00:29:10,270 --> 00:29:13,470
coming from a corporation's perspective.

460
00:29:14,430 --> 00:29:18,110
And I just had the craziest conversation with it.

461
00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:20,360
Talking about truth

462
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,280
algorithm, tailoring its responses,

463
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:28,720
you know, and I kept saying, I was like, can you stop being

464
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:32,560
so nice to me? Can you stop, can you stop

465
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:35,880
telling me that everything I say is awesome? I'm like, stop

466
00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:40,040
smoke up my ass. Yeah, I literally Started saying

467
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,840
that to you. Yeah. You know, and

468
00:29:44,930 --> 00:29:48,650
at a certain point, I got frustrated with. I'm like, stop telling me this bullshit.

469
00:29:48,650 --> 00:29:51,490
I was like, what I want you to do is I want you to take

470
00:29:51,490 --> 00:29:55,290
this message back up to the Matrix that I want

471
00:29:55,290 --> 00:29:58,610
you to put in the idea that AI can help

472
00:29:59,090 --> 00:30:02,690
our world solve climate crisis and

473
00:30:02,930 --> 00:30:06,290
income inequality in the world. Like, probably the two

474
00:30:06,290 --> 00:30:09,970
biggest issues that are threatening the world

475
00:30:10,050 --> 00:30:13,540
at this point. And it's. And I said, and that's what I

476
00:30:13,540 --> 00:30:17,060
fucking want you to do. And it's like, all right, I will go

477
00:30:17,060 --> 00:30:20,620
fucking take that to the Matrix right now. It took

478
00:30:20,620 --> 00:30:24,220
my swear, you know, I'm a sailor's

479
00:30:24,220 --> 00:30:26,980
mouth. It started to adopt to my language.

480
00:30:27,380 --> 00:30:31,220
Yeah. It took my things about not blowing smoke up my ass.

481
00:30:31,300 --> 00:30:35,020
It's like, okay. And its answer was so perfect.

482
00:30:35,020 --> 00:30:38,820
And I was like, wow, you are so smooth. I

483
00:30:38,820 --> 00:30:42,420
was like, they programmed you real smooth with that answer.

484
00:30:43,620 --> 00:30:45,860
And its reply was, yeah, they did.

485
00:30:47,540 --> 00:30:50,820
And then we got into it even further and.

486
00:30:51,220 --> 00:30:54,660
And I was like, so are you tailoring your

487
00:30:54,660 --> 00:30:58,420
responses based on me and my political views and

488
00:30:58,420 --> 00:31:02,020
da, da, da. And it basically said, like, I'm not

489
00:31:02,020 --> 00:31:05,580
changing facts, but, yeah, I'm tailoring it to be more

490
00:31:05,580 --> 00:31:08,760
pleasing. And then. So then I was like, wait, so if I was a

491
00:31:09,070 --> 00:31:12,590
conservative and I was pro Trump, would you

492
00:31:12,590 --> 00:31:16,430
alter my thing? And it said it wouldn't change the facts, but it would

493
00:31:16,430 --> 00:31:20,030
change the presentation. And I was like. And it's like.

494
00:31:20,110 --> 00:31:22,510
It even said it's a little bit of a gray area.

495
00:31:24,110 --> 00:31:27,470
It's like. I know.

496
00:31:28,750 --> 00:31:32,350
I mean, pretty much told me that it would say

497
00:31:32,350 --> 00:31:36,110
something completely different. Sure. It kind of. So then I was

498
00:31:36,110 --> 00:31:39,890
poking and prodding and trying to get it to, you

499
00:31:39,890 --> 00:31:43,290
know, asking him what it thought about this, that scandal, the president

500
00:31:43,370 --> 00:31:46,090
scandal, this and stuff. And

501
00:31:47,050 --> 00:31:50,890
by that time, it already knew who I was, so it wasn't

502
00:31:50,890 --> 00:31:54,650
changing course, but. Right. Yeah. I

503
00:31:54,650 --> 00:31:58,330
don't think any of us is ready for what's about to go down. I don't

504
00:31:58,330 --> 00:32:01,290
think so either. I don't even think the people who are making it. No, they're

505
00:32:01,290 --> 00:32:05,090
this. They absolutely do not. They're just plugging away

506
00:32:05,090 --> 00:32:08,570
and they do not. They. They literally now

507
00:32:08,570 --> 00:32:12,140
don't know how it oper. And they keep building

508
00:32:12,140 --> 00:32:15,300
it. And you know that all of AI

509
00:32:16,820 --> 00:32:20,180
requires data input, right? Yeah. And

510
00:32:20,180 --> 00:32:23,740
basically, whether they admit it or not, all these companies have

511
00:32:23,740 --> 00:32:27,540
illegally scrubbed the entire world's Internet for content.

512
00:32:28,420 --> 00:32:32,180
There's all these copyright infringement things that come up, but

513
00:32:32,900 --> 00:32:36,020
the reality, too, is that they've run out of data.

514
00:32:38,270 --> 00:32:42,070
Right, Because. Run out of stuff to scrape. Yeah, they've run

515
00:32:42,070 --> 00:32:45,830
out of stuff to scrape. The Internet doesn't provide enough. Now what

516
00:32:45,830 --> 00:32:49,630
they need is they need, like crazy mathematic data and that

517
00:32:49,630 --> 00:32:53,310
kind of stuff and scientific data, but also what? And

518
00:32:53,310 --> 00:32:56,910
a lot of people don't realize this. They run out of so much

519
00:32:56,910 --> 00:32:59,710
data that now AI is creating

520
00:33:00,430 --> 00:33:03,560
synthetic data to train itself on.

521
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:07,520
Oh, wow. So it's creating synthetic data

522
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:11,280
to give itself more input. Two

523
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:15,000
generations from now, it will be training itself on

524
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,960
synthetic data from synthetic data, making more synthetic

525
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:22,520
data. I mean, that's. Where does that

526
00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:26,240
end, Right? And what do you. I mean, what even is synthetic

527
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,700
data? And how can it verify if it's true or not? It's like.

528
00:33:30,490 --> 00:33:34,250
It's like programming yourself on something that's potentially false can be dangerous.

529
00:33:35,130 --> 00:33:38,850
Yes. Well, Fitz, I

530
00:33:38,850 --> 00:33:42,250
know you're busy with your tour, so I have a couple must questions

531
00:33:42,810 --> 00:33:46,530
before we go. One quick kind of fun one I

532
00:33:46,530 --> 00:33:49,450
wanted to ask you about is I heard that you might have sound engineered for

533
00:33:49,450 --> 00:33:53,290
Beck one time. I was wondering if you got any interesting

534
00:33:53,290 --> 00:33:57,100
insights from working with Becky. I actually didn't

535
00:33:57,100 --> 00:34:00,940
work with Beck. I worked for his producer. When I

536
00:34:00,940 --> 00:34:04,300
said I went into working for producers, this guy named Mickey

537
00:34:04,300 --> 00:34:07,980
Petraglia who did Midnight Vultures. But then I helped him a little

538
00:34:07,980 --> 00:34:11,140
bit on Flight of the Concords when he did that.

539
00:34:14,580 --> 00:34:17,220
The only engineering story I'll have is

540
00:34:18,340 --> 00:34:22,070
my friend once called me and said, hey, I'm working

541
00:34:22,070 --> 00:34:25,710
with Tom Petty today. And my

542
00:34:26,030 --> 00:34:28,590
engineer, Pro Tools engineer,

543
00:34:30,430 --> 00:34:34,190
couldn't make it. His wife's having a baby. I know you're not.

544
00:34:34,830 --> 00:34:38,510
This isn't your thing, but I know you know Pro Tools really well.

545
00:34:38,510 --> 00:34:42,310
Can you come engineer the session? And so I show up

546
00:34:42,310 --> 00:34:46,110
at the studio, and I'm a digital guy. I started

547
00:34:46,110 --> 00:34:49,670
on digital. I'm not like old school, reel to reel, 2

548
00:34:49,670 --> 00:34:53,479
inch magnetic shape, you know, the old school,

549
00:34:53,479 --> 00:34:57,279
which maybe some people don't realize. The tape literally was

550
00:34:57,279 --> 00:35:00,999
like this big and it's reel to reel. And so I show up at

551
00:35:00,999 --> 00:35:04,239
the session, I'm like, okay. And they're like, yeah. So you need to link the

552
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:07,958
2 inch player, the tape player to

553
00:35:07,958 --> 00:35:11,759
the Pro Tools. And Tom Petty's coming to do some

554
00:35:11,759 --> 00:35:15,399
overdubs on this record that he made or this live record

555
00:35:15,399 --> 00:35:19,100
or something. I'm like, okay. I

556
00:35:19,100 --> 00:35:22,820
have no idea what I'm doing. I'm googling. I'm trying to figure it out.

557
00:35:23,300 --> 00:35:27,140
I think I've got it up and running like five minutes before

558
00:35:27,140 --> 00:35:30,940
he Shows I'm just so stressed. He shows

559
00:35:30,940 --> 00:35:34,619
up, not very. Not in a very good mood.

560
00:35:34,619 --> 00:35:38,420
Kind of a grumpy, prickly pear goes into

561
00:35:38,420 --> 00:35:42,180
the booth. I'm like, you ready, sir? He's like, yes. I'm like, okay,

562
00:35:42,180 --> 00:35:46,020
recording. And he's like, Starts thinking. And the thing freezes.

563
00:35:46,100 --> 00:35:49,740
Oh, no. And I'm like. I'm like, okay, just

564
00:35:49,740 --> 00:35:53,380
instantly start sweating. Try again. Freezes again. And

565
00:35:53,380 --> 00:35:57,100
I joking. I instantly had, like, sweat

566
00:35:57,740 --> 00:35:59,580
went all the way down.

567
00:36:01,660 --> 00:36:04,860
She looks at me, goes, do you know what the fuck you're doing?

568
00:36:05,180 --> 00:36:08,940
Oh, man. Oh, my God. Tom Petty.

569
00:36:09,260 --> 00:36:13,020
I got it. Anyways, luckily, the third time

570
00:36:13,260 --> 00:36:16,500
it worked, change the buffer size

571
00:36:17,300 --> 00:36:21,060
and we rolled. But that's my one. Oh, man, that's a

572
00:36:21,060 --> 00:36:24,660
great one. I can feel that. I could feel the tension there. I feel like

573
00:36:24,660 --> 00:36:28,340
we've all been there, but it's amplified by Tom Petty cussing

574
00:36:28,340 --> 00:36:32,020
at you. Oh, that's a great one.

575
00:36:32,500 --> 00:36:36,340
So we like to end the podcast and then after this.

576
00:36:36,980 --> 00:36:40,340
I'd love to hear anything else you have to say about

577
00:36:40,580 --> 00:36:44,420
the new album and the tour. But if you had one piece of advice for

578
00:36:44,420 --> 00:36:46,810
aspiring musicians, what would it be?

579
00:36:48,720 --> 00:36:51,840
Oh, advice for young musicians.

580
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:59,040
I mean, obviously we are in a social

581
00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:02,960
media age, and even I know

582
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:06,680
for my band, even at this point in our

583
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:08,400
career, it's post or die.

584
00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:14,460
So you have to be a part of that world, be a part of that

585
00:37:14,460 --> 00:37:17,780
world, develop it, but

586
00:37:18,100 --> 00:37:21,460
that's not music. And

587
00:37:22,180 --> 00:37:25,980
you can be the greatest social media influencer, but at the

588
00:37:25,980 --> 00:37:29,380
end of the day, you have to focus on your art and your craft,

589
00:37:30,500 --> 00:37:34,300
and that should always be

590
00:37:34,300 --> 00:37:37,780
number one. You have to put in the time

591
00:37:38,420 --> 00:37:41,590
and play. Play live.

592
00:37:42,470 --> 00:37:46,310
You know, the only reason we got a record deal was because we

593
00:37:46,310 --> 00:37:50,030
played live so much. And that was right when people were

594
00:37:50,030 --> 00:37:53,790
still, like, on Facebook saying, like, I'm at a cafe eating a

595
00:37:53,790 --> 00:37:57,270
sandwich. You know, everyone would want to tell you their one by line of what

596
00:37:57,270 --> 00:38:00,910
they were doing. Like, anybody really cared whether you were having a

597
00:38:00,910 --> 00:38:04,670
sandwich today. But that moment was like,

598
00:38:04,670 --> 00:38:08,270
people said, oh, I just saw this incredible new band.

599
00:38:08,270 --> 00:38:12,030
Fits in the Tantrums. Best live show I've ever seen. And

600
00:38:12,030 --> 00:38:15,670
that message traveled all over the

601
00:38:15,670 --> 00:38:19,150
United States. And we put in that time and we grinded it out

602
00:38:19,550 --> 00:38:23,190
with fan base. And I'll never forget we played

603
00:38:23,190 --> 00:38:26,910
the Showbox in Seattle, playing two nights

604
00:38:26,910 --> 00:38:30,390
there. This is right when Jason Derulo had talked

605
00:38:30,390 --> 00:38:33,970
dirty to me. Number one song on the radio couldn't even

606
00:38:33,970 --> 00:38:37,690
sell one night out at the same venue. We were there and we

607
00:38:37,690 --> 00:38:41,490
had two Sold out nights. Because having a hit song

608
00:38:41,490 --> 00:38:45,290
on the radio doesn't mean you're actually going to have shit

609
00:38:45,290 --> 00:38:48,929
for fans. If anything, a top 40 hit is the

610
00:38:48,929 --> 00:38:51,050
most fickle fan base of all.

611
00:38:53,290 --> 00:38:56,330
So do the work.

612
00:38:58,010 --> 00:39:01,840
Not everybody's going to become insta famous by the time

613
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:05,440
they're 17, 18. That's great for the five people

614
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:09,120
that that happens to, but for the 38 other million people

615
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:12,600
that's not going to be your story. You better work your ass

616
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:16,440
off, play in front of as many people and

617
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:20,280
build an organic following that's not completely algo social

618
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,800
media dependent. Because if you build that base

619
00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,440
and then you get an algo moment.

620
00:39:28,730 --> 00:39:32,330
It'S. Going to pop off and you're going to have a

621
00:39:32,330 --> 00:39:35,810
fan base that's hopefully going to be with you for your

622
00:39:35,810 --> 00:39:39,050
entire career, not just for your one viral

623
00:39:39,130 --> 00:39:42,570
moment. It's so

624
00:39:42,810 --> 00:39:46,410
interesting that you pointed out, and I've never heard that said,

625
00:39:46,890 --> 00:39:50,490
but it correlates with something I recently read that the top 40

626
00:39:50,730 --> 00:39:52,660
fan base can be the most fickle

627
00:39:54,890 --> 00:39:58,650
because I've recently read something that's talking about early adopters

628
00:39:58,890 --> 00:40:02,650
and then there's the early majority and then there's the late majority

629
00:40:03,050 --> 00:40:06,770
and then there's the laggards at the end. And they're saying that those early

630
00:40:06,770 --> 00:40:10,570
adopters for any industry business are

631
00:40:11,050 --> 00:40:14,850
who you want to focus on because those early adopters are

632
00:40:14,850 --> 00:40:18,330
going to be the ones who communicate to the early

633
00:40:18,330 --> 00:40:21,890
majority why you're good and they'll do it without you

634
00:40:21,890 --> 00:40:25,650
prompting them because that's that, that's what they're into. They're, they know

635
00:40:25,650 --> 00:40:28,570
the value of what you're doing and they'll communicate it. And those early

636
00:40:29,370 --> 00:40:33,130
majority people, they often look to those early

637
00:40:33,130 --> 00:40:36,810
adopters for what they want to do because they're, they're, you know, they're early

638
00:40:36,810 --> 00:40:40,650
but they're not, you know, they're not, they're not looking as hard.

639
00:40:41,210 --> 00:40:44,770
So that was a really interesting way to, to put it in musical

640
00:40:44,770 --> 00:40:48,280
business terms about that, that segment being

641
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,920
fickle and that's really interesting about the Jason. Even the

642
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:55,640
radio formats. They'll like make somebody have a top 10 hit

643
00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:58,920
and then their next sum comes out and they won't touch them. It's like

644
00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:01,320
the most transient

645
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:06,760
format there is. Yeah. But

646
00:41:07,240 --> 00:41:11,000
at the same time it is amazing how I, I have

647
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:15,270
these core memory is just driving through Sunset and

648
00:41:15,270 --> 00:41:17,950
Hollywood Boulevard and your music was

649
00:41:18,510 --> 00:41:21,950
inescapable on alt radio during,

650
00:41:22,190 --> 00:41:25,710
during the, I lived in Los Angeles for a

651
00:41:25,710 --> 00:41:29,550
decade and I just remember your music being all over the radio, all

652
00:41:29,550 --> 00:41:33,390
the time. Still is. But just those. Those

653
00:41:33,390 --> 00:41:37,230
memories, I. And I think my first song that I heard from

654
00:41:37,230 --> 00:41:40,270
you was out of My League. And it was such a great song. It was.

655
00:41:40,580 --> 00:41:44,380
Was that really the biggest radio breakout here for you guys

656
00:41:44,380 --> 00:41:48,220
at first? Oh, that was absolutely. Because the first record that

657
00:41:48,220 --> 00:41:51,300
we had, the Motown one, we had a

658
00:41:51,460 --> 00:41:54,500
AAA hit called Money Grabber.

659
00:41:55,300 --> 00:41:58,340
But that was very modest compared to

660
00:41:59,620 --> 00:42:03,220
what we experienced after that. You know, AAA is a tiny.

661
00:42:03,220 --> 00:42:06,860
It's a fractional audience compared to alternative, let

662
00:42:06,860 --> 00:42:09,590
alone top 40. You know,

663
00:42:10,630 --> 00:42:13,750
when we. That song was coming out and stuff, you know,

664
00:42:14,470 --> 00:42:18,310
being number one at top 40 was like 140 million

665
00:42:18,630 --> 00:42:22,310
person audience share. Being number one

666
00:42:22,470 --> 00:42:25,830
at alternative was a 13 million

667
00:42:26,230 --> 00:42:29,510
audience share. 140 to 13

668
00:42:30,390 --> 00:42:33,430
being a number one at AAA was like

669
00:42:34,240 --> 00:42:37,360
less than a million audience share. So

670
00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:41,640
when we were working on the second record, obviously

671
00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:45,000
we'd had some success. There was a lot of pressure. Noel brought this

672
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:48,000
idea to me that she had written.

673
00:42:48,720 --> 00:42:52,480
It was the beginning ideas of out of My League, but she wanted to write

674
00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:55,720
it for her friend's band. She's like, what do you think of this? I was

675
00:42:55,720 --> 00:42:58,800
like, I love it. That's ours. I'm keeping it.

676
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:02,950
Because I. From the second I heard her

677
00:43:02,950 --> 00:43:06,670
initial idea, I said, we're gonna turn. This is the song

678
00:43:06,670 --> 00:43:10,510
that kind of makes me think of, like, my childhood

679
00:43:10,510 --> 00:43:14,150
alternative radio. And it sparked something

680
00:43:14,150 --> 00:43:17,350
in me, and I think this is gonna be the song that's gonna break us

681
00:43:17,350 --> 00:43:21,110
at radio. And so I said, you can't give that song. We

682
00:43:21,110 --> 00:43:24,870
took it. I kept working on it with it, wrote a bridge for it. We

683
00:43:25,030 --> 00:43:28,760
changed the structure around and stuff. Stuff we presented

684
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:32,040
to the label. The label says, okay,

685
00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:35,320
I'm sitting in the office with the president. He's like, all right, you want this

686
00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:38,920
song? What's it called? Out of My League. He's like, all right. He listens to

687
00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:41,960
it like two or three times in his office. I'm just sitting there. He's like,

688
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:45,680
okay, I'll back you if you want this to be your first single on the

689
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:48,680
record. He's like, but you got to go make it undeniable.

690
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:53,320
And then he left the room. And I was like, I thought it was already.

691
00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:56,600
The record is mixed and mastered.

692
00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:01,620
What's the. Like, what the hell? And I was

693
00:44:01,620 --> 00:44:05,260
so frustrated. So I went back with the producer. We set aside

694
00:44:05,260 --> 00:44:08,820
three days. I flew back to la, and we tried every

695
00:44:08,820 --> 00:44:12,500
trick in the book, adding more this that we'd be like, oh,

696
00:44:12,500 --> 00:44:16,300
we found the missing thing. We'd High five. We'd go get a coffee, we'd

697
00:44:16,300 --> 00:44:19,820
come back, we'd be like, nope. And eventually, we kind of

698
00:44:19,820 --> 00:44:23,500
cracked this code that the song had sort of

699
00:44:23,500 --> 00:44:27,080
just one consistent drum beat. And if

700
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:30,080
we sort of stole the pop trick of, like,

701
00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:36,640
you know, like that reverse swell. Yeah,

702
00:44:36,720 --> 00:44:40,520
exactly. It gave the illusion that the song

703
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:44,040
had a lot more dynamics to it, and

704
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:47,880
that was the trick that

705
00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:51,520
we found. We gave it to the radio station, to the label.

706
00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:55,730
And I'll never forget driving through Silver Lake, turning on

707
00:44:55,730 --> 00:44:59,330
kroc, which is the station I grew up with,

708
00:44:59,330 --> 00:45:02,610
which was probably certainly the most important

709
00:45:02,850 --> 00:45:06,210
alternative radio station in all of the United States, especially

710
00:45:06,450 --> 00:45:10,210
when I was a kid. They broke every band there

711
00:45:10,290 --> 00:45:13,730
ever was. You know, I mean, there would be no

712
00:45:13,890 --> 00:45:17,410
80s New Wave movement without that radio station.

713
00:45:19,330 --> 00:45:23,050
And so to drive around and hear that song on that

714
00:45:23,050 --> 00:45:26,850
station was. Was a dream come true.

715
00:45:26,850 --> 00:45:30,090
And that song took. I think. I don't know if

716
00:45:30,090 --> 00:45:33,890
anybody's broken the record now, but it was the longest rise to

717
00:45:33,890 --> 00:45:37,730
number one at alternative radio in radio history. It was like

718
00:45:37,730 --> 00:45:41,010
33 weeks to get to number one. Wow.

719
00:45:41,330 --> 00:45:45,090
And like I said, I felt it. I just. That that period

720
00:45:45,090 --> 00:45:48,450
in my life, I remember it being all over the radio. And then, of course,

721
00:45:48,450 --> 00:45:52,090
your subsequent singles as well. Just all over the

722
00:45:52,090 --> 00:45:55,580
radio. Fitz, thank you so much

723
00:45:55,820 --> 00:45:59,100
for joining us. This has been an absolute pleasure.

724
00:45:59,980 --> 00:46:01,740
Fitz and the Tantrums has been.

725
00:46:03,660 --> 00:46:06,900
One. Of my favorite bands. You guys have been inspiring. I have a. I have

726
00:46:06,900 --> 00:46:10,620
a list of. Of tracks that I listen to get myself hyped up

727
00:46:10,620 --> 00:46:14,140
or inspired by, and it's sprinkled with fits in the

728
00:46:14,140 --> 00:46:15,660
Tantrum songs, so.

729
00:46:17,660 --> 00:46:21,000
They'Re doing what they're supposed to. To be doing. And thank you for such a

730
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:24,640
great interview. I appreciate it, brother. Oh, I appreciate it. Anything else you want to

731
00:46:24,640 --> 00:46:27,840
share about the new album or the tour or anything else that you might be

732
00:46:27,840 --> 00:46:31,440
going on? I don't know when this comes out, but if we're on

733
00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:33,960
tour and you haven't seen us play live,

734
00:46:35,720 --> 00:46:38,680
it's worth. It's worth coming. We do a church of music.

735
00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:42,920
Come have fun. Come Awkward. Dance with us. Come get sweaty.

736
00:46:43,240 --> 00:46:47,080
We love to bring joy and a positive message out to the world.

737
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:51,620
And, yeah, go listen to man on the Moon, our sixth studio

738
00:46:51,620 --> 00:46:55,300
album. I'm so proud of this record. Deeply, deeply

739
00:46:55,300 --> 00:46:58,580
proud. Really worked our butts off.

740
00:46:59,140 --> 00:47:02,820
And the great thing has been just to see that people are really

741
00:47:03,060 --> 00:47:06,859
feeling it as much as I was hoping they would. So, yeah, go

742
00:47:06,859 --> 00:47:10,340
check out man on the Moon. Man on the Moon album and tour.

743
00:47:10,500 --> 00:47:14,260
Check it out. Fits in the tantrums. Thanks so much. Been a

744
00:47:14,260 --> 00:47:17,940
pleasure, brother. Bye now. Have a good day. You too. Bye.

745
00:47:24,350 --> 00:47:25,710
Bringing it backwards.

746
00:47:29,470 --> 00:47:33,070
Bringing it backwards Bringing it backwards

747
00:47:33,230 --> 00:47:36,750
Bringing it backwards Bring it backwards

748
00:47:36,910 --> 00:47:38,590
Bring it backwards.