Checking In with Fitz & The Tantrums

If history has taught us anything about pop music, it’s that hard times make for swingin’ tunes. In the years since America’s economic tumble, we’ve watched vintage soul music not only make a comeback but stake its claim on the popular songbook, infiltrating every genre from hip-hop to indie rock. Among the revivalists, though, few do it as well as Fitz & The Tantrums. Building off a Stax-era foundation, these Los Angeles–based music makers weave in elements of ’80s New Wave, ska, and hip-hop to create a sonic palette that’s made for the dance floor. When I spoke to frontman Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick last year, he explained that tough times are prime breeding grounds for upbeat music because, at the end of the day, “people just want to dance.”

This October, Fitz & Co. release the follow-up to their 2010 breakthrough debut, Pickin’ Up the Pieces. In the months leading up to the as-yet-unnamed sophomore album, the band is splitting their time between wrapping up the record and playing some seriously high-profile gigs. (This weekend, they open for Ben Harper at both the Santa Barbara and the Hollywood bowls.) I caught up with vocalist Noelle Scaggs and got the details on the next chapter of Fitz & The Tantrums’ jiving musical story:

You guys are getting pretty close to finishing the next record I hear. We’re getting close. We’re in the mode of having to get these songs finished before we leave for tour this weekend. We already have the release date set for October 9, so we’re gearing up all the artwork and prepping for the first video and figuring out what the single [is]. It’s going to be really cool. We’re very very happy with the direction it’s taken.