# Inspiring Artist Interview :Classic Replay with Fitz and the Tantrums-Music History on Foot

An episode of [Music Saved Me Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1703080557), 2 Oct 2025, 30 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/038eec94-1ba4-451d-8945-b08f00e9f877/168c7335-aa3a-4142-8140-b36a00baa6da/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=dfceda02-3624-42c7-b522-b25700f0584c

Join @thebuzzknight for this classic replay with Fitz from Fitz and the Tantrums. Get the inside scoop on one of the great bands of our generation and the many influences that make them so special. If this episode of Takin’ a Walk – Music History on Foot struck a chord with you, we invite you to keep the journey going by exploring the many other stories, conversations, and musical pathways waiting in our episode library. Every installment of the podcast opens a new door into the world of music—whether it’s a deep dive into a legendary artist’s creative process, a walk through the overlooked corners of music history, or a compelling conversation with the people who shape the soundtrack of our lives. There’s an entire universe of rhythm, narrative, nostalgia, discovery, and behind-the-scenes insight spread across our past episodes, each one crafted to make your next walk, drive, workout, or moment of downtime more meaningful, more memorable, and more connected to the music you love. So don’t stop here, take a few extra steps and check out the rest of the Takin’ a Walk – Music History on Foot catalog. The stories waiting for you are as timeless, surprising, and inspiring as the songs that have carried you through your life. Keep listening and discover your next favorite episode. Support the show: https://takinawalk.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. We would like to thank the support of Claude Ai. Try Claude for free at Claude.Ai/buzz Support the show: https://musicsavedme.net/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.
[0:01] Speaker 2: I'm Buzzsnight, the host of the Taking a Walk podcast,
[0:04] Speaker 2: and imagine strolling down a sunlit street, the pulse of
[0:08] Speaker 2: the city in your ears. Then suddenly you hear the
[0:11] Speaker 2: unmistakable beat that makes you want to move. Today, I'm
[0:15] Speaker 2: taking a walk. We're gonna step into the rhythm and
[0:17] Speaker 2: soul of Fits and the Tantrums, the band that turn
[0:21] Speaker 2: retro grooves into modern anthems and made dancing in the
[0:25] Speaker 2: street cool again. From chart topping hits to electrifying live shows,
[0:29] Speaker 2: Fits in the Tantrums have redefined what it means to blend.
[0:33] Speaker 3: Old school soul with new school pop.
[0:37] Speaker 2: So lace up your sneakers and join us as we
[0:40] Speaker 2: take a walk with the band that's been keeping us
[0:42] Speaker 2: on our feet and on our toes ever since their
[0:46] Speaker 2: first infectious hook. Hang out a couple minutes, we'll pay
[0:49] Speaker 2: some bills and be right back with.
[0:52] Speaker 3: Fits Taking a Walk.
[0:56] Speaker 2: Oh, Fits, it's so great to be with you on
[0:58] Speaker 2: the Taking a Walk Podcast.
[1:00] Speaker 4: Thank you now, thanks so much for having me pleasure
[1:02] Speaker 4: to be here.
[1:04] Speaker 2: So, before we get with the festivities and we talk
[1:08] Speaker 2: about Man on the Moon and the tour, which I'm
[1:10] Speaker 2: so excited for, you and the band. I want to
[1:14] Speaker 2: ask you are opening questions, since we call the podcast
[1:18] Speaker 2: taking a walk, if you could take a walk with
[1:20] Speaker 2: somebody living or dead associated with music, more than likely,
[1:27] Speaker 2: who would you take a walk with and where would
[1:29] Speaker 2: you take that walk?
[1:31] Speaker 4: M Me and my family were huge fans of going
[1:36] Speaker 4: to Europe every summer. Just got back from there, so
[1:39] Speaker 4: that's still fresh in my mind. Walking through ancient European
[1:43] Speaker 4: cities streets is pretty magical experience. I would say walking
[1:49] Speaker 4: through somewhere in excellent Provence in the south of France
[1:53] Speaker 4: with let's see Jimmy Hendricks or Jeff Buckley, one of
[1:59] Speaker 4: those two from those are my two picks.
[2:01] Speaker 3: Oh, I love that.
[2:03] Speaker 2: I love that's that's that's quite a that's quite a range.
[2:06] Speaker 3: My friend absolutely.
[2:08] Speaker 4: Well, I mean I'm Jeff Buckley obviously. For as a singer,
[2:14] Speaker 4: I bow to that man. I think he's one of
[2:16] Speaker 4: the most amazing singers of all time and also one
[2:20] Speaker 4: of the greatest songwriters in them just as a sheer
[2:23] Speaker 4: freak shredder. Jimi Hendrix ithing, you gotta kinda think he'd
[2:28] Speaker 4: have a good night out with him.
[2:30] Speaker 3: That would be awesome.
[2:31] Speaker 2: Jeff's father was not too bad of a musician either,
[2:35] Speaker 2: don't you say.
[2:36] Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I mean Tim was an incredible musician. It's
[2:40] Speaker 4: interesting to see their sort of competitive, estranged relationship. I
[2:48] Speaker 4: think it's part of the reason why Jeff Buckley was
[2:51] Speaker 4: so brilliant.
[2:52] Speaker 2: You know, I think Tim Buckley and Jeff Buckley are
[2:59] Speaker 2: both very under appreciated by the masses.
[3:02] Speaker 3: Oh for sure.
[3:04] Speaker 2: So, Fitz, what inspired you way at the beginning to
[3:08] Speaker 2: form Fits in the Tantrums? Tell me how this all
[3:11] Speaker 2: first came together.
[3:14] Speaker 4: You know for me, I you know, I've been a singer.
[3:16] Speaker 4: My whole entire life came out of the woman's singing
[3:20] Speaker 4: driving my parents crazy. My whole life just always been
[3:23] Speaker 4: a singer. But you know, I think it took me
[3:26] Speaker 4: a long time to kind of find my true natural voice.
[3:33] Speaker 4: And you know, I had many, many projects, many bands
[3:38] Speaker 4: where I was a singer, sometimes sometimes just the producer
[3:42] Speaker 4: making beats behind the singer. I had so many bands
[3:46] Speaker 4: before this one, and nothing ever worked out. And I
[3:52] Speaker 4: kind of had to put down the dream and pick
[3:54] Speaker 4: it up like two or three different times. But every
[3:57] Speaker 4: time I couldn't let the idea go because I just
[4:01] Speaker 4: felt like it was what I always kind of visualized
[4:05] Speaker 4: as what my life would be, and just you know,
[4:09] Speaker 4: when you're somebody making music, it's for me. It's never
[4:14] Speaker 4: been a choice, it's been a calling. And if I
[4:17] Speaker 4: don't do it on the regular, I don't feel balanced
[4:21] Speaker 4: as a human being. And I just couldn't let the
[4:23] Speaker 4: idea go. And so, you know, I had branched out
[4:28] Speaker 4: into writing music for film and television, started a company
[4:32] Speaker 4: from doing music for advertising, done all these things because
[4:37] Speaker 4: I kept getting outright rejected by the music business. Couldn't
[4:41] Speaker 4: get arrested, nobody cared, nobody wanted to hear any of it,
[4:45] Speaker 4: and ultimately, you know, I came back to it one
[4:48] Speaker 4: more time, and this time it was just like I
[4:52] Speaker 4: think I was finally had found what felt like. You know,
[4:57] Speaker 4: when you're sing a singer and your whole life, you
[5:00] Speaker 4: can sing in many different styles, and then the question
[5:03] Speaker 4: really becomes what is your authentic voice if you can
[5:07] Speaker 4: imitate many styles as a trained vocalist. And it was
[5:12] Speaker 4: really only with those first songs that I started to
[5:15] Speaker 4: write that I really found that, and those were the
[5:19] Speaker 4: songs that became fits in the tantrums. I think a
[5:22] Speaker 4: lot of the projects I had done before they try
[5:25] Speaker 4: to include all of my different tastes all in one
[5:30] Speaker 4: EP or LP, and this time I was trying to
[5:34] Speaker 4: be much more vigilant about staying true to this one vision.
[5:40] Speaker 4: And that was easy because I've really found that my
[5:42] Speaker 4: voice exploded when I sang in a soulful style. It's
[5:48] Speaker 4: where my voice sang out the best and where I
[5:50] Speaker 4: felt the most at ease and natural about it. So
[5:54] Speaker 4: I just really made that first record trying to be
[5:57] Speaker 4: true to that one vision, and after fifteen years of no's,
[6:04] Speaker 4: all of a sudden, the universe started saying yes, and
[6:06] Speaker 4: it felt supremely different than any other experience I had
[6:11] Speaker 4: ever had before, and that just kind of fed me
[6:15] Speaker 4: to believe that I should, you know, at thirty eight
[6:19] Speaker 4: years old, take one more swing at trying to be
[6:24] Speaker 4: in a band, and you know, got my first record
[6:28] Speaker 4: deal when I was forty forty one, something unheard of,
[6:34] Speaker 4: you know, And here I am, you know, days away
[6:37] Speaker 4: from turning fifty five and releasing my band's sixth studio
[6:42] Speaker 4: album on a major record label. You know, did two
[6:47] Speaker 4: solo records as well during that time. So this is
[6:49] Speaker 4: my eighth album coming out in the last sixteen years,
[6:54] Speaker 4: and it's pretty pretty incredible, and I'm super proud of
[6:59] Speaker 4: this new album.
[7:02] Speaker 2: I'm so privileged that I've got to hear it all
[7:06] Speaker 2: and I have the chills with gratitude just thinking about it,
[7:10] Speaker 2: and it's just so wonderful. But I have to ask you,
[7:14] Speaker 2: going back again to what you were talking about, where
[7:17] Speaker 2: did you get instilled in you this incredible resilience that
[7:22] Speaker 2: kept you on this path that you're still on today.
[7:27] Speaker 4: You know, honestly, anybody that's in these kinds of fields,
[7:32] Speaker 4: whether it's trying to be a movie maker, a songwriter
[7:35] Speaker 4: with a band, or an actor, there's so much of
[7:39] Speaker 4: your life as waiting for somebody else to say yes
[7:43] Speaker 4: to your dreams. And that's honestly also why I switched,
[7:47] Speaker 4: because I also went to film school. I switched from
[7:49] Speaker 4: film back to music because, at least with the way
[7:53] Speaker 4: that the convergence of technology happened, I could make a
[7:56] Speaker 4: song in my room by myself. I didn't need thirty
[8:01] Speaker 4: people to go make a movie take months to do it.
[8:04] Speaker 4: I could wake up in the morning with nothing, and
[8:06] Speaker 4: by the evening I could be driving around listening to
[8:09] Speaker 4: a song that I just created out of thin air,
[8:12] Speaker 4: and that that was a drug to me that that
[8:16] Speaker 4: experience of creation from nothing to something and having something
[8:21] Speaker 4: to show at the end of the day was so
[8:25] Speaker 4: rewarding to me, and it just kept me. It kept
[8:29] Speaker 4: me going, and at every turn I just couldn't deny
[8:33] Speaker 4: what I knew I wanted to do, and I just
[8:37] Speaker 4: kept persevering and taking one more swing and taking one
[8:42] Speaker 4: last swing. When my life was very comfortable, I had
[8:44] Speaker 4: a successful company, I basically risked everything. I took my
[8:47] Speaker 4: whole entire savings and float threw it into the band
[8:51] Speaker 4: while we toured the world, you know, with Sharon Jones
[8:54] Speaker 4: and the Dad Kings, Maroon five, all these amazing things.
[8:57] Speaker 4: But I was doing paying for the whole thing at
[8:59] Speaker 4: the beginning, and it was just one huge leap of faith.
[9:03] Speaker 4: But I will say again that I knew what rejection
[9:05] Speaker 4: felt like because I had felt that so for so
[9:08] Speaker 4: many years record labels passing on my projects and stuff.
[9:13] Speaker 4: That this the universe was just saying, there's a magic happening.
[9:18] Speaker 4: And there was this whole word of mouth. This was
[9:20] Speaker 4: at the height of Facebook exploding, you know, there was
[9:24] Speaker 4: this whole word of mouth where people are just like,
[9:26] Speaker 4: you have to go see this band fits in the
[9:29] Speaker 4: tantrums live they you know, it's like going to the
[9:31] Speaker 4: church of music. It's like nothing I've ever experienced. And
[9:35] Speaker 4: we just set this high energy show celebration, Come let
[9:39] Speaker 4: your hair down, get crazy with us, and that word
[9:41] Speaker 4: of mouth traveled via the internet and help propel us
[9:44] Speaker 4: to the point where we could get a record deal
[9:47] Speaker 4: and get the supporting and keep going. You know, I'd say,
[9:51] Speaker 4: for me, work ethic, that's you know, I'm modestly talented
[9:56] Speaker 4: and incredibly hard working.
[9:59] Speaker 2: What honestly talented, I know, hardworking, But you're incredibly talented
[10:05] Speaker 2: and you have incredible vision.
[10:07] Speaker 3: And what I love about.
[10:08] Speaker 2: This particular project is how you had this vision to
[10:15] Speaker 2: throw caution to the wind.
[10:17] Speaker 3: So talk about.
[10:18] Speaker 2: The genesis of Man on the Moon and the comfort
[10:23] Speaker 2: that you you know, had in that process.
[10:28] Speaker 4: Yeah, well I think, you know, one being our six
[10:31] Speaker 4: studio album, you know, I don't feel like I have
[10:34] Speaker 4: much to prove to anybody anymore. But also, you know,
[10:40] Speaker 4: I went to so many different album cycles with so
[10:43] Speaker 4: much pressure for radio singles and this, that and the other.
[10:48] Speaker 1: You know.
[10:48] Speaker 4: I mean, the thing is that once you have a
[10:50] Speaker 4: couple of hit songs on the radio, it's a pretty
[10:53] Speaker 4: amazing experience to see how that can travel around the
[10:59] Speaker 4: world and show up and everybody knows who music. It's
[11:02] Speaker 4: an amazing experience, But that's where the bar is there,
[11:07] Speaker 4: and then you always have to maintain that, and anything
[11:10] Speaker 4: less than that it's going to feel like a failure
[11:12] Speaker 4: or be perceived by the label or whoever as that.
[11:17] Speaker 4: And just with the way that the whole world has
[11:19] Speaker 4: changed the way people consume content and media, with TikTok
[11:23] Speaker 4: and Instagram reels and all that stuff, there's just such
[11:28] Speaker 4: a different way that people are integrating with that, then
[11:32] Speaker 4: it's really turned the whole music business on its head.
[11:35] Speaker 4: There's nobody really able to dictate or even know what
[11:39] Speaker 4: necessarily is a hit anymore. There's very few of those anymore.
[11:44] Speaker 4: And so you look at some of the biggest songs
[11:48] Speaker 4: of last year and there's no way that any label
[11:50] Speaker 4: would have backed that as a song. But guess what,
[11:53] Speaker 4: the people decided it. The interwebs. The internet decided it,
[11:57] Speaker 4: and it was a hit. And so I think in
[12:00] Speaker 4: that going into this record, I was free from the
[12:04] Speaker 4: burden of trying to take a very specific swing. That's
[12:09] Speaker 4: kind of like a part of being on a major label,
[12:12] Speaker 4: you know, And I think I was just able to
[12:16] Speaker 4: have that freedom to just do whatever the hell I wanted,
[12:19] Speaker 4: and I didn't want to go. You know, we write
[12:20] Speaker 4: in big songs love. I love pop music, I love
[12:24] Speaker 4: an infectious melody. But on this album, I wasn't so
[12:28] Speaker 4: concerned with like trying to go with a one listen
[12:32] Speaker 4: hit song, radio single, you know, like I could care
[12:36] Speaker 4: less about that. Jonasterberg, who I did a lions share
[12:39] Speaker 4: of the record with, we sat down at the beginning
[12:42] Speaker 4: and talked for hours and listened to my whole catalog
[12:46] Speaker 4: and really had a discussion of what felt like it
[12:48] Speaker 4: was working, and you know, honest conversation about like what
[12:52] Speaker 4: songs didn't work or what you know, what parts of
[12:56] Speaker 4: this album could have been better, or what kind of
[13:00] Speaker 4: in retrospect was not the right choice, being pretty critical
[13:05] Speaker 4: about some of the past stuff, you know, and just
[13:08] Speaker 4: saying that we wanted to really set this bar where
[13:14] Speaker 4: no line was a disposable lyric, no part was just
[13:20] Speaker 4: an afterthought, that everything was challenged and held to a
[13:26] Speaker 4: standard of just being a vibe, of being an experience.
[13:29] Speaker 4: Did we feel something and who gives a shirit whether
[13:32] Speaker 4: it sounds like a radio song or not. We're just
[13:35] Speaker 4: gonna make a record of atmosphere and mood and feelings
[13:40] Speaker 4: and things that make us feel something and feel like
[13:44] Speaker 4: that deep conversations and that compass that we set at
[13:47] Speaker 4: the beginning really set a great path and map for
[13:53] Speaker 4: how to make the record.
[13:55] Speaker 2: Well, you've just laid out a masterclass in creativity. So
[14:01] Speaker 2: thank you first of all for that, but thank you
[14:03] Speaker 2: for this release. Do you think about the live performance
[14:09] Speaker 2: aspect of a new release when you're putting it together?
[14:13] Speaker 3: My guess is from what you just said, you don't.
[14:16] Speaker 2: You know it's all going to fall together, but do
[14:18] Speaker 2: you think about the live performance piece?
[14:21] Speaker 4: I mean, I would say for us, because our live
[14:24] Speaker 4: show has become such an experience for us and such
[14:28] Speaker 4: an expectation from our audience, we set the bar like here,
[14:33] Speaker 4: you know, I am belting and dancing my ass off
[14:36] Speaker 4: for an hour and a half every night.
[14:39] Speaker 1: No, it is going.
[14:40] Speaker 4: Absolutely crazy, you know, don't. We don't ever do anything
[14:45] Speaker 4: here energetically, and it's been a part of what's made
[14:50] Speaker 4: our show so fun. So there's never not an experience
[14:54] Speaker 4: where we're thinking, how is this going to tie into
[14:58] Speaker 4: our show? And that honestly was some some of the challenges,
[15:01] Speaker 4: like our set is so high energy and now, you know,
[15:06] Speaker 4: six albums in, we're able to cherry pick the best
[15:09] Speaker 4: moments from every album and put it into one set,
[15:12] Speaker 4: and it's just a punch in the face from the
[15:14] Speaker 4: beginning to the end. And on this new album, there's
[15:17] Speaker 4: some some vibe your tracks, some mid tempo tracks, some
[15:22] Speaker 4: tracks that aren't on Adrenaline and at level ten, and
[15:27] Speaker 4: so it's been really interesting to see slotting those into
[15:30] Speaker 4: the live set set. We've played a couple of them
[15:34] Speaker 4: and it's it's been an amazing experience to see people
[15:38] Speaker 4: already gravitating to those songs and honestly, it's like just
[15:43] Speaker 4: a nice hills and valleys for a set for a
[15:46] Speaker 4: live night.
[15:47] Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
[15:50] Speaker 1: Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
[15:59] Speaker 2: So I want to talk about a couple of the
[16:01] Speaker 2: songs and get your reflection on them. First of all,
[16:05] Speaker 2: the title track, Man on the Moon. Absolutely love that,
[16:11] Speaker 2: love the whole feel of it. But talk about what
[16:15] Speaker 2: that song means to you and the creative process behind it.
[16:20] Speaker 4: Yeah, well, you know, I mean, I think that song
[16:22] Speaker 4: was just a very of the moment experience, just with
[16:29] Speaker 4: everybody sort of coming into the studio every day working
[16:32] Speaker 4: looking at their phones, scrolling through this insanity of news
[16:37] Speaker 4: where you're just in shock about everything you're reading every day,
[16:42] Speaker 4: you know, just trying to that just kind of kicked
[16:45] Speaker 4: off the first lyrics of that song. I feel too much.
[16:48] Speaker 4: I want to get out of this place. You know,
[16:52] Speaker 4: there's just too much information. Also because I'm not sure
[16:56] Speaker 4: how much worse or better the world is. But what
[16:58] Speaker 4: I do know is that ever reach human being is
[17:01] Speaker 4: consuming like gigabytes worth of information every day in a
[17:06] Speaker 4: way that no human being has ever So is the
[17:09] Speaker 4: world on fire? Or are we just reading about every
[17:13] Speaker 4: fire that's always been happening in the world, but now
[17:15] Speaker 4: we're reading about it? So the world feels on you
[17:18] Speaker 4: know what I mean. It feels very intense and overwhelming,
[17:22] Speaker 4: and doom scrolling is not a healthy activity, and I
[17:26] Speaker 4: think we are, Oh, can all get sucked very easily
[17:29] Speaker 4: into it because guess what, the algorithm loves a doom
[17:33] Speaker 4: scroll because they've kept all of our attention for that
[17:36] Speaker 4: much longer.
[17:38] Speaker 2: Like me, do you really sometimes curse the person that
[17:43] Speaker 2: invented the infinite scroll?
[17:46] Speaker 3: Yeah?
[17:46] Speaker 4: I find myself trapped in it. I've found my attention
[17:49] Speaker 4: span has been affected by it. You know, I have kids.
[17:54] Speaker 4: I have to really pay attention to how I consume
[17:57] Speaker 4: it and how they see me consume it. And then
[18:00] Speaker 4: either me or my wife are in the house and
[18:01] Speaker 4: we turn on a screen or we scroll once and
[18:04] Speaker 4: they hear one little SoundBite. They literally are like flies
[18:07] Speaker 4: to you know, mos to a flame. They're just all
[18:11] Speaker 4: around me all look trying to see what that little
[18:14] Speaker 4: dopamine hit is. You know, I'm not sure where we're
[18:19] Speaker 4: all headed as a society with the way that we're
[18:21] Speaker 4: consuming all this content. But it's you know, having just
[18:26] Speaker 4: took a substantial little break of seriously detoxing from being
[18:30] Speaker 4: in front of it for the last few weeks on vacation,
[18:32] Speaker 4: I can see the difference mentally that it has in
[18:36] Speaker 4: terms of how you perceive the world. And I'm not
[18:39] Speaker 4: sure we would have the same world we are living
[18:42] Speaker 4: in right now without this form of content and the
[18:46] Speaker 4: division we have in this world.
[18:48] Speaker 1: All of this.
[18:48] Speaker 4: Stuff, it's insane. It's all algorithm based, tailor made living
[18:54] Speaker 4: for all of us.
[18:55] Speaker 1: You know.
[18:55] Speaker 3: Yep.
[18:57] Speaker 2: The album opens up with one of my other favorites,
[19:02] Speaker 2: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
[19:04] Speaker 3: Maybe you could talk about that one.
[19:07] Speaker 4: You know, I love this whole record because there's a
[19:09] Speaker 4: lot of full circle moments back to our first record
[19:14] Speaker 4: that had a lot of sixties of soul influence to it,
[19:17] Speaker 4: and this one has a lot of that. Not in
[19:19] Speaker 4: the exact same way. It's got a little more of
[19:21] Speaker 4: a twist to it, but I just love that song
[19:25] Speaker 4: because it just makes me think of just all the
[19:27] Speaker 4: amazing just spaghetti westerns. You know, it just has that
[19:32] Speaker 4: vibe to it. I just love the energy of it.
[19:36] Speaker 4: It's such a mood and I love singing it. It
[19:39] Speaker 4: sits in that specials yet again, another soulful song that
[19:43] Speaker 4: really lets me sing that one, belt it hard.
[19:48] Speaker 3: Another amazing one. They're all amazing.
[19:50] Speaker 2: But another one that absolutely I adore is Withdrawals. Maybe
[19:56] Speaker 2: you can talk about that one.
[19:58] Speaker 4: That was It was a real strong one and a
[20:02] Speaker 4: special one because when we were starting to write for
[20:06] Speaker 4: the album, that was one of the first ones that
[20:09] Speaker 4: that came out and of the of the songwriting process,
[20:15] Speaker 4: and it was at a moment where I wasn't totally sure.
[20:18] Speaker 4: I was like, can I go this far back into
[20:21] Speaker 4: our history to like go back full circle to this
[20:28] Speaker 4: very soulful sixties moment. And I was a little trepidacious
[20:32] Speaker 4: at first, but we had had our conversation and took
[20:35] Speaker 4: the leap of faith and just leaned into it, you know.
[20:38] Speaker 4: And it was just like as soon as I got
[20:40] Speaker 4: in the vocal booth and started laying down the vocal track,
[20:44] Speaker 4: it was like, come on, this is like made for
[20:47] Speaker 4: my voice, this song.
[20:50] Speaker 2: It feels like the entire work of this project that
[20:55] Speaker 2: you and the band really in the zone is a
[21:00] Speaker 2: fair analogy the feeling of being in the zone, just
[21:03] Speaker 2: like athletes and everybody talk about as well.
[21:07] Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so, you know, and I noticed it,
[21:10] Speaker 4: you know. I mean because I have made a lot
[21:12] Speaker 4: of records. This was my eighth, between my Theays, sixth
[21:15] Speaker 4: band and two solos, this was my eighth record, you know,
[21:19] Speaker 4: and I've played thousands of shows, and I think about
[21:23] Speaker 4: it all the time when I'm performing live too. It's
[21:25] Speaker 4: like I have a great time out there, but I'm
[21:28] Speaker 4: so comfortable out there because I've done it so much
[21:32] Speaker 4: now that I'm like, oh wow, this is like this
[21:36] Speaker 4: is beyond Malcolm Gradwell's ten thousand hours. This is more
[21:39] Speaker 4: like thirty forty thousand hours. And Wow, what an experience
[21:44] Speaker 4: to like be actively working doing this thing and just
[21:48] Speaker 4: feeling like all that work, all those shows, all those records,
[21:52] Speaker 4: all those songwriting, it's all culminated into a very you know,
[21:58] Speaker 4: season performer who you know, it's like I rarely get
[22:03] Speaker 4: stage fright or nervous anymore. You know, it's like it's
[22:07] Speaker 4: nothing to me. And that's a crazy thing from where
[22:10] Speaker 4: I started, this petrified little kid walking on on a stage.
[22:14] Speaker 4: You know.
[22:15] Speaker 3: Talk about what it means to.
[22:18] Speaker 2: See that community when you're out playing live, all united
[22:22] Speaker 2: in a place where everybody's forgetting their troubles, they're forgetting
[22:28] Speaker 2: the way the world is or.
[22:29] Speaker 3: The way their personal life is.
[22:32] Speaker 2: And you're out there with the band performing and you're
[22:36] Speaker 2: looking out and you're seeing the impact that you've made
[22:39] Speaker 2: in that little community on that particular event. Describe that
[22:44] Speaker 2: feeling for someone who's never experienced it myself or others
[22:48] Speaker 2: who haven't.
[22:50] Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I mean, it's a really humbling thing.
[22:54] Speaker 4: Especially I think I think I'm specially play in that
[23:00] Speaker 4: it took so long for my dream to come true
[23:04] Speaker 4: that I came into it with a little bit more
[23:07] Speaker 4: wisdom and maturity just invariably through my age, and to
[23:15] Speaker 4: get to really experience and witness that power is I
[23:22] Speaker 4: never have taken too seriously myself as an artist or
[23:27] Speaker 4: that my songs were that great. But what I do
[23:30] Speaker 4: have reverence for is the fact that once you put
[23:33] Speaker 4: a song out into the world, people will take that
[23:38] Speaker 4: song and make it theirs and put meaning into it
[23:41] Speaker 4: and it becomes something for them. And that experience of
[23:46] Speaker 4: getting to see and meet people out on the road
[23:50] Speaker 4: that pulled me to the side, and they say, you know,
[23:53] Speaker 4: I was in such a dark place personally. I was
[23:56] Speaker 4: suicidal last year and your album literally I like put
[24:01] Speaker 4: it on every morning and forced myself to go running.
[24:04] Speaker 4: And your music brought me out of one of the
[24:07] Speaker 4: darkest peers in my life. And you're like, holy, holy crap.
[24:10] Speaker 4: It just gives me chills even talking about it. And
[24:13] Speaker 4: it's not that I wrote such an amazing song. It's
[24:17] Speaker 4: just that I've created something. I put my heart into it,
[24:20] Speaker 4: somebody else listened to it and it meant something to them.
[24:24] Speaker 4: And that experience you know we've met, you know, going
[24:27] Speaker 4: to a show and then get an email from a
[24:29] Speaker 4: family saying, hey, you're coming to Texas. Can we come
[24:34] Speaker 4: backstage and meet you. Our daughter just finished doing chemotherapy
[24:38] Speaker 4: and Handclap was her like warrior song to get through
[24:43] Speaker 4: all the treatments. And we're like, of course, and we're
[24:45] Speaker 4: all parents and stuff and meeting this kid and just
[24:49] Speaker 4: all weep and you know, trying to not just shed
[24:53] Speaker 4: buckets of tears as we look into those parents' eyes
[24:57] Speaker 4: and they say with like so much sincerity, like thank
[25:00] Speaker 4: you for what this song provided to our daughter. You know,
[25:05] Speaker 4: it's just so humbling. So I never take even a
[25:09] Speaker 4: silly pop song, even something with a silly I never
[25:13] Speaker 4: take it lightly or for granted the effect or the
[25:17] Speaker 4: power that that stuff can have for other people and
[25:22] Speaker 4: how they experience it. And then you take that and
[25:25] Speaker 4: you play those shows live and you see the joy
[25:29] Speaker 4: on people's faces. We've never tried to be the coolest
[25:32] Speaker 4: band in the world, but we've always tried to just
[25:36] Speaker 4: give people a safe space to let their hair down,
[25:40] Speaker 4: have a weird, ugly dance session on the dance floor
[25:44] Speaker 4: and get crazy with us and just sing and have
[25:47] Speaker 4: fun and celebrate a moment. Because life is stressful, life
[25:53] Speaker 4: is hard, and you know, being on the road is
[25:56] Speaker 4: not the funnest thing, you know, It's twenty three hours
[26:00] Speaker 4: of grind for one hour of fun sometimes when you're
[26:04] Speaker 4: not frigging totally exhausted, you know, it's a lot of work.
[26:10] Speaker 4: So that joy that you see on people's face sometimes
[26:14] Speaker 4: is the only thing getting you to somehow find the
[26:18] Speaker 4: energy to do that level of show that we do
[26:22] Speaker 4: every night of the week. It's very hard to pull off,
[26:26] Speaker 4: and so that joy that you see and experience sometimes
[26:31] Speaker 4: is the only thing that's keeping you going.
[26:34] Speaker 2: How do you keep the balance when you're on the road,
[26:37] Speaker 2: you know, because it is such a grind, you.
[26:41] Speaker 4: Know, I've been doing it for so long now, and
[26:43] Speaker 4: I've spent so much time on the road that ultimately
[26:46] Speaker 4: I have a very regimented routine. I wake up, me
[26:51] Speaker 4: and two of the other guys. We go to the gym,
[26:53] Speaker 4: We work out, We get oh first, sorry, first, we
[26:57] Speaker 4: find the best twisty mustache cup of coffee we can
[27:00] Speaker 4: whatever tow we're at, have way too much caffeine. Then
[27:03] Speaker 4: we go to the gym, we work out, come back,
[27:06] Speaker 4: have dinner, do the show, and then get in the
[27:11] Speaker 4: bus and drive to the next town, and then so
[27:13] Speaker 4: and repeat. As a singer. I got to take supreme
[27:15] Speaker 4: good care of myself. I'm the best shape of my
[27:18] Speaker 4: life on the road because I'm working out every day
[27:21] Speaker 4: and I'm doing a super high intense workout show, live
[27:26] Speaker 4: show while belting the whole time. So my resting heart
[27:32] Speaker 4: rate at the end of tour is like forty three.
[27:34] Speaker 4: And I'm not even joking.
[27:36] Speaker 3: I love it. I absolutely love it.
[27:39] Speaker 2: What would we be surprised at that's on your personal playlist?
[27:46] Speaker 4: You know, I mean people, no, no, I'm a you know,
[27:49] Speaker 4: I'm a sucker for a big pop song, for a
[27:53] Speaker 4: dua lipa pop song, or you know. This summer with
[27:57] Speaker 4: my family, it's been summer of Siza. We've just been
[28:01] Speaker 4: we like big, big R and B pop songs and
[28:05] Speaker 4: stuff like that. I don't know if that would surprise everybody.
[28:09] Speaker 4: I also grew up in a house full of classical
[28:11] Speaker 4: music and opera, so I like to put that on.
[28:14] Speaker 4: Sometimes comes the children and is nostalgic for me.
[28:20] Speaker 2: What is your take on the evolution of pop and
[28:24] Speaker 2: soul music today?
[28:27] Speaker 4: You know, I mean, I think technology has created so
[28:32] Speaker 4: much innovation and independence. The amount of music is impossible
[28:39] Speaker 4: to even comprehand how to even begin to consume one
[28:44] Speaker 4: one hundredth of it when there are millions of songs
[28:47] Speaker 4: coming out every week. But there is some pretty amazing stuff,
[28:53] Speaker 4: and I think like I was going back to the
[28:55] Speaker 4: inspirations or the freedom of what today is for music.
[29:00] Speaker 4: I'm not sure anybody knows anymore what's fully pop or
[29:04] Speaker 4: not or you know, or what is the thing you know?
[29:08] Speaker 4: I mean, there's there's always the standards, but I feel
[29:11] Speaker 4: like people are saying yes to those sort of contrived
[29:16] Speaker 4: pop songs less and less. You know, it's it's user
[29:19] Speaker 4: generated now, and it can be for the weirdest reason.
[29:24] Speaker 4: Having been a band that had you know, has had
[29:27] Speaker 4: several hit songs and have one of them out of
[29:29] Speaker 4: My League, which is already twelve years old, is you know,
[29:35] Speaker 4: about to hit a billion streams here and it's streaming
[29:38] Speaker 4: like crazy because it's on its third or fourth viral
[29:42] Speaker 4: TikTok Instagram moment whatever that means. The Internet giveth and
[29:48] Speaker 4: the Internet taketh. I love it and hate it all
[29:51] Speaker 4: at the same time.
[29:52] Speaker 5: Oh, congratulations Fits on the new album Man on the
[29:57] Speaker 5: Moon and the upcoming tour, And I'm so grateful that
[30:01] Speaker 5: you took the time to be on the Taking a
[30:03] Speaker 5: Walk podcast.
[30:04] Speaker 4: Thanks something my pleasure. That is such a great interview.
[30:07] Speaker 4: I appreciate you.
[30:09] Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
[30:12] Speaker 1: Walk Podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
[30:16] Speaker 1: and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
[30:19] Speaker 1: a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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