 |
| Who could say no to those faces? |
[Ed. - This was a good format, so I’m keeping it for this post…and holding it as a thought.]
Who They’re For
Picking through the influences they name - e.g., The Killers, The Strokes, Young the Giant and Two Door Cinema (who…got me) - gives a fair impression. So, lots of angular sounds, generally up-tempo stuff, with a 2000s throw-back vibe. Maybe the easiest way to explain is to let their lead vocalist*/mainsongwriter/cellist, Calvin Langman talk about inspirations:
“One thing all these bands do in common is that they write awesome melodies that make you want to scream and dance your butt off.”
That’s right, he’s a cellist…classically-trained too.
A Little More
“It’s rock ‘n’ roll. That’s what we want to be called. That’s what I feel when I play bar chords on a cello. Nod your head, tap your feet.”
Langman met his original co-collaborator, Ross Monteith in high school and through a combination of Latin class and facebook. After talking about the guitar covers Monteith posted and finding they liked the same sounds - in someone else’s words “A shared affinity for crisp melodies and crunching guitar” - Langman passed on the bones of a couple songs he wrote to Monteith (think it was “Dirty Imbecile”) and they decided to start playing together. A four-song EP they titled Awfully Apeelin’ came out of that and they posted it to Spotify for family and friends and went off to college - separate ones, from the sound of it. It was a lark, basically…
…until Spotify got their hands on it and dropped it onto one suitable Discover Weekly playlist after another (mine included), pushing and pushing and pushing until “While You Fade Away” became a brand-new baby/the No. 5 of the 50th most-viral songs posted to the service (for 2018). Monteith dropped out of college one semester later, Langman after two - and The Happy Fits were born. The band’s drummer, Luke Davis, has perhaps the best origin story. The other two brought him in as a session drummer to complete their debut album, Concentrate (2018): “I didn’t even think anything of it. I was like, ‘70 bucks man, that sounds awesome!’ As a college kid, that’s like the gold mine.”
The new trio went on to win The Deli’s 2018 “Expose Yourself” contest, and they put in the work to build the project from there - literally all of it. Up to Concentrate, they self-released everything they put out, handled merch, booking, travel, and fan-relations - something about which Langman, in particular, seems fervent; His comments about (and endearing defense of) bands reads like a reverse-pledge to do as close to the opposite as he can. (He could have been a super-villain, but chose the good path.) With that back-story, it doesn’t seem unfair to call them creatures of Spotify.
The Happy Fits started touring with just the four songs, but Langman turned out to be something of a work-horse. By the time they’d finished touring on the back of Concentrate, Langman had a bunch of songs that didn’t make the album plus several more queued up for the next one. As such, reading his comments about the meaning he put into “Go Dumb,” one of the singles on their 2020 release, What Could Be Better, read a little sideways:
“I realized I cared less for formal education and discipline and more about spending my time alone being introspective and imaginative. Saying “I want to Go Dumb” is a personal jeer to my past; if spending my time being creative will make me dumb, then I will gladly Go Dumb to do what I love.”
On the one hand, good for him for wanting “to be someone that Filipino kids growing up in America could look up to” on that level - and not to in any way minimize his struggle against parents who saw a square future for him - but the man writes prolifically and, when asked for tips for success for any band (in what I’d call the best read I found on The Happy Fits; had Davis' origin story too):
“If you’re not moving anywhere, it’s because you’re not doing anything. You just need to be waking up every day sending emails and asking people to listen to your music. It’s gotta be every day.”
As we all know, COVID happened to everyone, and that canceled a 2020 tour opening for The Frights, but they’re staying in touch with fans through…(shit!)“thrice-weekly live-stream shows,” which I’m assuming interested parties can find through their official site (actually, it's adjacent, but it is there). So, yeah, full credit for living his dream, but that’s a work-aholic’s work ethic. When the pandemic ends and they can get back on the road, The Happy Fits seem very likely to come to a venue near you.
About the Sampler
Nothing uptight shows up in The Happy Fits sound. All in all, they come across as some of the breeziest, happiest people on the planet - and they deliver on that “dance your butt off” nod to their inspirations. They’re easy, but in the good way of being very, very easy and fun to listen to. And, without wanting to over-interpret their musical direction, I did catch a whiff of sonic/tonal expansion in it. Or did I?
As much as I like them in their dominant “happy” mode, I attempted a decently-balanced sampler…which, for now, is chronological, but I’m second-guessing that - i.e., do the opening bars/garage riffs that open “Go Dumb” really sound like a fresher variance from their Strokes-y medium of “Moving,” or “Best Tears," than, say, "Grow Back” and “Mary” (lots of cello-y goodness in that one), both from Concentrate? Or even the patient, yet playful (still a personal favorite), “Too Late” from all the way back to Awfully Apeelin’? If anything, “Moving,” “Too Late,” or a samba-tickling number called “She Wants Me (To Be Loved),” (from the new album) belong together for possessing a breezier mood, something Langman likes to do to sugar-coat sadder ideas. (Oh, almost forgot: NPRposted a review of What Could Be Better that isn’t much to read, but it does solid close reading of their lyrics.)
Let’s see. what haven’t I covered? From Concentrate, there’s the jagged (but fun!) “Hungry People” and a moodier number titled “Relimerence” that caught my ear as how they handle lower-tempo. “The Garden,” from What Could Be Better, continues that low-tempo theme, while being one of the gentler, more melodic songs they’ve done. Finally, there’s “Get a Job” from the same that closes out the tiny sampler.
Some of those videos are straight-up adorable. As you’d expect. They’re a band to introduce your folks to, really.
Who They’re For
Picking through the influences they name - e.g., The Killers, The Strokes, Young the Giant and Two Door Cinema (who…got me) - gives a fair impression. So, lots of angular sounds, generally up-tempo stuff, with a 2000s throw-back vibe. Maybe the easiest way to explain is to let their lead vocalist*/mainsongwriter/cellist, Calvin Langman talk about inspirations:
“One thing all these bands do in common is that they write awesome melodies that make you want to scream and dance your butt off.”
That’s right, he’s a cellist…classically-trained too.
A Little More
“It’s rock ‘n’ roll. That’s what we want to be called. That’s what I feel when I play bar chords on a cello. Nod your head, tap your feet.”
Langman met his original co-collaborator, Ross Monteith in high school and through a combination of Latin class and facebook. After talking about the guitar covers Monteith posted and finding they liked the same sounds - in someone else’s words “A shared affinity for crisp melodies and crunching guitar” - Langman passed on the bones of a couple songs he wrote to Monteith (think it was “Dirty Imbecile”) and they decided to start playing together. A four-song EP they titled Awfully Apeelin’ came out of that and they posted it to Spotify for family and friends and went off to college - separate ones, from the sound of it. It was a lark, basically…
…until Spotify got their hands on it and dropped it onto one suitable Discover Weekly playlist after another (mine included), pushing and pushing and pushing until “While You Fade Away” became a brand-new baby/the No. 5 of the 50th most-viral songs posted to the service (for 2018). Monteith dropped out of college one semester later, Langman after two - and The Happy Fits were born. The band’s drummer, Luke Davis, has perhaps the best origin story. The other two brought him in as a session drummer to complete their debut album, Concentrate (2018): “I didn’t even think anything of it. I was like, ‘70 bucks man, that sounds awesome!’ As a college kid, that’s like the gold mine.”
The new trio went on to win The Deli’s 2018 “Expose Yourself” contest, and they put in the work to build the project from there - literally all of it. Up to Concentrate, they self-released everything they put out, handled merch, booking, travel, and fan-relations - something about which Langman, in particular, seems fervent; His comments about (and endearing defense of) bands reads like a reverse-pledge to do as close to the opposite as he can. (He could have been a super-villain, but chose the good path.) With that back-story, it doesn’t seem unfair to call them creatures of Spotify.
The Happy Fits started touring with just the four songs, but Langman turned out to be something of a work-horse. By the time they’d finished touring on the back of Concentrate, Langman had a bunch of songs that didn’t make the album plus several more queued up for the next one. As such, reading his comments about the meaning he put into “Go Dumb,” one of the singles on their 2020 release, What Could Be Better, read a little sideways:
“I realized I cared less for formal education and discipline and more about spending my time alone being introspective and imaginative. Saying “I want to Go Dumb” is a personal jeer to my past; if spending my time being creative will make me dumb, then I will gladly Go Dumb to do what I love.”
On the one hand, good for him for wanting “to be someone that Filipino kids growing up in America could look up to” on that level - and not to in any way minimize his struggle against parents who saw a square future for him - but the man writes prolifically and, when asked for tips for success for any band (in what I’d call the best read I found on The Happy Fits; had Davis' origin story too):
“If you’re not moving anywhere, it’s because you’re not doing anything. You just need to be waking up every day sending emails and asking people to listen to your music. It’s gotta be every day.”
As we all know, COVID happened to everyone, and that canceled a 2020 tour opening for The Frights, but they’re staying in touch with fans through…(shit!)“thrice-weekly live-stream shows,” which I’m assuming interested parties can find through their official site (actually, it's adjacent, but it is there). So, yeah, full credit for living his dream, but that’s a work-aholic’s work ethic. When the pandemic ends and they can get back on the road, The Happy Fits seem very likely to come to a venue near you.
About the Sampler
Nothing uptight shows up in The Happy Fits sound. All in all, they come across as some of the breeziest, happiest people on the planet - and they deliver on that “dance your butt off” nod to their inspirations. They’re easy, but in the good way of being very, very easy and fun to listen to. And, without wanting to over-interpret their musical direction, I did catch a whiff of sonic/tonal expansion in it. Or did I?
As much as I like them in their dominant “happy” mode, I attempted a decently-balanced sampler…which, for now, is chronological, but I’m second-guessing that - i.e., do the opening bars/garage riffs that open “Go Dumb” really sound like a fresher variance from their Strokes-y medium of “Moving,” or “Best Tears," than, say, "Grow Back” and “Mary” (lots of cello-y goodness in that one), both from Concentrate? Or even the patient, yet playful (still a personal favorite), “Too Late” from all the way back to Awfully Apeelin’? If anything, “Moving,” “Too Late,” or a samba-tickling number called “She Wants Me (To Be Loved),” (from the new album) belong together for possessing a breezier mood, something Langman likes to do to sugar-coat sadder ideas. (Oh, almost forgot: NPRposted a review of What Could Be Better that isn’t much to read, but it does solid close reading of their lyrics.)
Let’s see. what haven’t I covered? From Concentrate, there’s the jagged (but fun!) “Hungry People” and a moodier number titled “Relimerence” that caught my ear as how they handle lower-tempo. “The Garden,” from What Could Be Better, continues that low-tempo theme, while being one of the gentler, more melodic songs they’ve done. Finally, there’s “Get a Job” from the same that closes out the tiny sampler.
Some of those videos are straight-up adorable. As you’d expect. They’re a band to introduce your folks to, really.
No comments:
Post a Comment