MORRISTOWN — Experience the retro 1960s sound of Fitz and the Tantrums - the proudly guitar-less sextet of soulful Angelenos who explode onstage with an unrestrained blast of soul-clapping indie pop, equal parts Hall and Oates and classic Motown at the Mayo Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $39 to $69.
Fitz was named "Hot Band" in Rolling Stones 2011 Hot List issue. For some bands, it takes a lifetime to build success, but few performers deliver an unrestrained blast of soul-clapping, moneymaker shakers like Fitz and the Tantrums. Now post-release of their debut full length, Pickin' Up the Pieces, which has since earned them a 3 1/2 star album review in Rolling Stone, the troupe is poised to get down in dancehalls across the universe.
In just a year or so, soulsters Fitz and the Tantrums went from the living room to the main stage. The recipe for meteoric success? Six killer musicians, five dapper suits, irresistible songs, some serendipity and one vintage organ found at a curb. Just seven hours after that organ dropped into his life, Fitz found his voice.
"I've always been a singer," Fitz says, "but with so much music, I felt that I was trying to push a square peg through a round hole. I was being not true to myself, and it never felt right until I wrote that song, and I sang like that. I thought, this feels so real, so natural."
Fitz shared his vision with long-time friend and saxophonist, James King, who immediately connected with the sound. While the electric guitar drives rock, the saxophone takes center stage in soul, and that's the way Fitz likes it.
"We wanted to find a new vocabulary for the genre; I wanted to make a record without any guitars. Could we make a huge sound without any guitars?"
In their sound and on the stage, Fitz and the Tantrums are nothing but professionals, and never less than classy. Enter the Tantrums, Fitz's airtight ensemble keeping it real like it's 1969. Funky drummer John Wicks is a Motown B-side aficionado and prolific session player, Jeremy Ruzumna mans the keyboards and was musical director for Macy Gray. James King backed De La Soul and bassist Joseph Karnes is a well sought after session player.
Then there's Noelle Scaggs, the powerful voice behind Fitz's croons. Make no mistake, Scaggs is not just there for "doo-wops" and handclaps.
There, on the stage, Fitz and the Tantrums are not just a band, they're an explosion.