For the first time in the history of mankind, an unexpected call from an ex has led to something wonderful. After hearing from a former flame that her neighbor was selling a church organ for a cool 50 bones, Michael Fitz, the core of Fitz and the Tantrums, knew he had to make the instrument his. It wasn’t long before the organ was taking up half of the LA native’s living room and inspiring him to write the collection of songs that would become Fitz and the Tantrums’ Motown-inspired debut EP, “Songs for a Break-up Vol. 1.” Fitz took some time out while touring with Flogging Molly to talk to LA Music Blog about recording in his living room, his songwriting process, and why two managers are better than one.

How did Fitz and the Tantrums begin?

Last summer I was really wanting to do another project. I got my piano out of storage, and my ex-girlfriend had called me and said that her neighbor had an organ that had to be moved out that day. I didn’t even know if the thing worked, but I got it for fifty bucks. So I frantically called around that day to get a mover and found somebody and got it moved in. It’s one of those old church organs so it literally took up half my living room. When I turned that thing on, it was just loud to say the least. My poor neighbors. I was just rocking out on this thing. Sometimes when you’re writing songs God gives it to you quickly, and sometimes it takes forever to figure out the magic puzzle to what makes a song finished. I was so excited with that organ that I wrote a track that’s on the EP called “Break Up the Chains of Love” in five or ten minutes. I’ve always been obsessed with Motown and that kind of music. I was never quite sure if I could pull it off, but I wanted to. So when I wrote that song I was like, “OK, I’m feeling this, and this is working.”

Basically started there last summer, and I didn’t have anybody to make the record, so I was just kind of forced to be at home and to do it in my living room and make the best of my situation. My living room is hardly a place for a good recording environment, and it has a lot of reflective sound to it. So I thought, “Let’s just make it a part of the vibe of the record.” So I just start employing this technique of just making everything really room tone, putting the mics in the center of the room, and tracking the piano and organ. The result was that it gave this really cool sound to the record. I just plugged away and worked on the record the summer into the fall. Then fall and early winter I mixed it, and started playing out in late December.

You mentioned that you were working on some projects before Fitz and the Tantrums. What projects were you working on, and were they similar to what you’re currently doing?

I started working with this producer named Mickey Petralia, who worked on Beck’s “Midnite Vultures” record and a bunch of other artists’ records. I started working under him, being co-assistant in the studio, and that’s where I started getting my studio chops up. I got to help work on Ladytron’s “Late Magic” record, and all the time that I was in there, I was really paying attention and learning how to record. When the time came that I wanted to do something of my own, I had a least some kind of knowledge of what the heck to do. That was sort of my main focus. I had done a little electro band with a female singer for a little while, but that didn’t really end up working out.

Ultimately I’ve just been hiding out in my house learning the craft of songwriting. For me it’s like soul music, Motown music, is world-class songwriting. I never can get tired of it. I can always listen to those records because I’m just stunned with how amazing the songwriting is. When you break down some of those songs, they’re very simple songs. I’ve been a singer my whole entire life. I went to school for the performing arts. I’m a huge fan of harmonies and backup vocals, so that’s pretty much where my obsession of this genre began. I’ve really tried to teach myself how to write a great song. Then once I started working with this producer Mickey P., I was more conscious and aware of production and how to record it and how you can make an identity with the way that you record it.

Then when I was listening to Motown records, I was even more blown away and fell even more in love with the sound. The songs have so much vibe and character. When that funny thing happened when mono records went to stereo, people didn’t really understand, and took individual tracks from a record and were like, “Well, let’s put the drums on the left side, and we’ll put the vocals hard right,” which most people don’t do any more, that extreme hard panning. For me it seems that you get this amazing placement created with these records. I’ll forever be influenced by the way a sort of mistake in mixing happened, and when it went from mono to stereo.

You mentioned that you’re taking time to focus on songwriting. Tell us a little more about your songwriting process.

My first thing that I hear is melody over lyrics. Once in awhile a lyric will pop into my head and then I’ll try to find a melody. It’s sitting at the piano, finding some chords that are pleasing, and going to kind of an instinctual, phonetic place almost where I’m just singing melodies until I find something I like over the chords that I’m playing. One philosopher once said that “All artists are buyers to the condition of music,” and for me that’s why I gravitate towards melodies, because I think that there’s something that can be conveyed emotion-wise through a melody.

A lot of times I like to start with a drum beat that inspires me, because that can always affect the chords that I play on the piano. That’s pretty much the starting process. I love recording. If I have an idea in the morning, I can really start building the song, and by the end of the day, I can have a song that fits my intention. I like having that reward of working something out and being able to at the end of the day burn that song. When it’s all clicking together, there’s no better high to me than when you’re being creative and building a song, and it’s all coming together. To me that’s the most exciting part. The flip side of that is when you’re sitting there with a song, it’s two thirds of the way done, and you’re trying to find that last element. You just want to give up on that song, but you keep working on it until it sits with your hearing. If I could live in that moment eternally, I’d be a happy man.

You’ve mentioned Motown as one of your influences. Who are some of your other influences, and where do they most prominently show up in your writing?

Obviously Motown artists as well, but early Hall and Oats records. One of the leaders of the blue-eyed soul movement, and even as they evolved into their later period, their more poppy 80s kind of music, they were still at the core of amazing songwriting. I grew up in a house were we were only allowed to listen to classical music, as well as opera. So I was forced to have an appreciation and love for that kind of music. Especially the classical music for me was a huge influence and appreciation that was learned over time. There’s this study that says when you listen to Baroque music, your intelligence is raised while you’re listening to it. It came around the same time as the invention of the clock, and it’s very mechanical and mathematical the way that Baroque music is structured. So when I hear about that thing where it raises your intelligence, I kind of believe it. But in the actual songs that you hear on the record, there’s obviously the Motown, definitely Hall and Oats for sure. I wanted to make something that was pretty true to that period, and I also didn’t want it to be just a replica of that period.

My tastes vary from Zeppelin to Radiohead to MGMT. In this day and age you have an iPod and you have a lot of different kinds of music going. There’re fewer and fewer people out there that have developed only one kind musical taste. Everybody in this day and age is pretty eclectic with their musical tastes. For me I can’t always pinpoint who my musical influences are exactly, but I know that it’s from a pretty wacky spectrum, that’s for sure.

You just started your west coast tour with Flogging Molly, and tonight’s the first night of the tour. How did that scenario come about with getting on tour with them?

Well, we’re kind of the little band that could, you know. I made this record with nobody and decided to do it in my living room. That turned out to be a blessing, because that really created a very specific set. We don’t have a record deal. We’re really just trying to build this on our own. We were lucky enough to find two really good managers that believe in what we are doing and are so excited by it. Basically between the two of them and my band, we’re just trying to build something here. Some days you’re like, “How are we ever going to climb this mountain?” One of the managers always says to me, “Dude, music finds it’s way to people, and people will respond to it, and I’ve never been prouder of anything that I’ve done in my whole entire life.” We’ve had a couple little mentions in blogs here and there, and it’s really interesting to watch.

I think one of Flogging Molly’s managers some how read a blog and caught wind of us. He called our managers and asked if we’d be interested in considering going on tour with Flogging Molly. And we were like, “Hell yeah, we’d love to.” Our manager said, “Don’t get your hopes up, cause bands without record labels don’t get on major tours.” So I sort of just put it out of my head, and a few weeks later we did this show at Club Enemy, and two people from Flogging Molly’s management company came to the show, and two days later we got a formal offer from them. I think that they were definitely blown away by the show. There’s something definitely about Flogging Molly that has a do-it-yourself approach. I wouldn’t say that they’re part of the mainstream pop culture, but they have a huge following. I think that a part of them saw us and said, “I like what these guys are doing, and like how they’re trying to make it on their own.”

I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m pretty excited about it. Hepcat is playing as well with us, and I think that they’ll be the bridge stylistically between the two bands. Another interviewer had asked, “How do you think that it will go with Flogging Molly?” and I said that I know that their fans are real music lovers, so if we put on a good show and play good music, they will respond to it. We will see.

This is something I just thought about, that we did an article about a band called Reverend Paton’s Big Damn Band, and they kind of got their start with Flogging Molly as well. Their doing a lot of touring, hitting over 250 dates a year right now. Flogging Molly kind of took them underneath their wing as well and kind of just took off with them. So it’s really cool to hear that they find good music like that and try to help throw it around, and let people hear good music. It doesn’t matter if it’s tied stylistically or not.

Exactly. I think that they see that people are just trying to hold their own and make it and not going to wait around for the music business to embrace us. At the end of the day, the only reason this is as far as it is is because of people and the music. It’s the fans of music that love music. It has nothing to do with the business; it has to do with good music. Not to be cocky, but we put on a really great frickin’ show. When we get up there we don’t just do songs verbatim. We take a lot of liberties with the recordings and created these sections in a lot of the songs where it’s soul 60s funk jam out. Music is free basically now. It is the live experience. Nobody can steal that off the Internet from us. We’ve got a lot of amazing responses at our live show, because we put on an exciting show that when you leave you feel pumped.

Of course the Flogging Molly tour is a highlight of this past year, but what would you say are some other highlights this past year for the band?

I grew up in LA, so KCRW is a deep part of my growing up in LA. So to turn on the radio or have a friend text saying, “We’re listening to you on KCRW right now,” has been a great moment for me to get that validation from such a cool radio station. Then to find out that we get to play on the show, I’m pinching myself and asking, “Is this really happening?” Those are the two big ones, but some days it’s baby steps, and some days it’s leaps and bounds. When I got that call for the tour I was definitely jumping up and down for two days straight. To me, to get to play Red Rock, it’s truly a dream come true.

Are there currently any other projects that you are working on with the band besides the touring?

Well, we’re in the middle of all these show dates and trying to finish the second half of the record, which will probably be coming out in January or February in the UK and here in the US. We’ll be going over to the UK in February or March to do a bunch of tour dates. We’re going to CMJ at the end of October, and I’m sure we’ll be hitting SXSW after that. Noel Skykes, who sings back up with me in the band, we’re working on her solo record, which is going to be a really amazing piece of work. She’s such a talent, and she has such a powerhouse of a voice. So between trying to finish this record, all these shows, and working on her record, I’d be hesitant to work on anything else at this point.

You mentioned that you had a co-management team working with you. Tell us a little bit about your management, publicity, and all the players on the business side that you work closely with.

Brian Klein and Lisa Nupoff have partnered up in the past with a couple other artists. One artist is named Pop Levi, and Brian also manages an artist named Joe Perty. Joe and Brian have been incredibly successful. Joe has recorded like ten records in eight years, and how does anybody do that much? He’s a super talented guy, and they’ve done it all outside of the system. They even turned down deals, because for them they’ve really been able to connect with the fans. He has a great touring business. He plays out a lot, and his fans, once again like Flogging Molly’s, are incredibly loyal. Brian, as a manager, has really learned how to use the Internet to his advantage. Lisa comes from more of a traditional label background, and the two of them complement each other really well. They both have different skill sets, so for me I feel really lucky because I’m getting two incredibly loyal, hard-working people.

We said that we’re going to take this as far as we can without a label system. Brian and Lisa are a part of management collective called Future Sound, which is really an amazing concept ‘cause it’s basically eight or ten of these managers that all manage different artists, yet they all try to help each other out. We recently signed with a booking agent, and they’re super passionate about us and excited about us. That’s sort of where the idea is. We don’t want to chase after anybody or force anybody. If you’re into it and you’re passionate then great, come on board with what we’re going.

What is currently playing on your Ipod?

The other night I went down to the Orpheum downtown to see the Avett Brothers, and I was blown away by their show. It’s not the kind of music that I would’ve put on my iPod right away, but I sure will now. That live show that they put on just kicked my butt. There was so much amazing energy. The two brothers literally have to jump up and down to keep playing the bass kick pedal and the high hats they have. Being a singer, anybody that executes harmonies well, I give them mad props. My two favorite moments were when each brother did their own separate solo song. It’s so touching and so powering to be able to command a room with just you and an acoustic guitar. It’s not easy to do, and those guys killed it.

I’ve been a fan of the Avett Brothers for about three years myself and been following their career for awhile. It’s really cool, because about eighteen months ago I was living in Orlando and saw them play at a venue that had a maximum capacity of 200 people, and they didn’t even have it filled. To see them eighteen months later on stage at the Orpheum in front of almost 2,000 people was amazing. The growth that they’ve had is outstanding.

That’s amazing. Well I got turned on to them by my friend that used to go see them at Marlene’s Grocery in New York all the time. He’s been following them for years and years and years. He was literally like “Michael, you really have to come.” He dragged me by my ear and made me go see them, and I’m so happy. And the extra gift on top of that was Sallie Ford, and I haven’t been able to take the CD I bought there out of the player.

That’s funny because her CD is sitting in front of me right now.

It’s really interesting. It’s super minimal and sparse with the production on it, which I really appreciate. She’s got such a unique voice, and her lyrics are charming and really great.

She’s a fantastic writer and I think it’s funny that even though her EP is called “Not an Animal,” there’s probably thirteen references about animals on the EP.

Right, exactly. I think it’s the last track on the EP where she had an interesting pop cultural reference to Sunny Day Real Estate that I enjoyed. The other thing that I’ve been listening to is this band from LA called Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. They’re another band that puts on a ridiculously great show. There’s like ten of them in the band, and I’ve seen them ten to twelve times. I’ve seen them almost every time that they’ve played in LA. They just have great songs and crazy infectious energy when we go see them live.

Check out this video of the bands song “Winds of Change”!

Make sure you check them out Oct 17 @ Bardot in Hollywood, CA!

Free download here!

For more info on Fitz check out:

www.myspace.com/fitzsoulmusic

or

www.fitzandthetantrums.com