Foster the People
Try Not Getting the L.A. Trio's Songs Stuck In Your Head
By Alex Littlefield
Photographed by Dan Monick
Two years ago, Mark Foster was at the end of his rope. The native
Ohioan had been living in Los Angeles for seven years, alternately
delivering pizzas and working at a coffee shop while trying to jump-start
his music career. "I started to get a little wigged out," the 27-year-old
remembers. "There wasn't a lot of light at the end of the tunnel."
Needing an exit strategy, Foster moved into a cheap hotel and began selling off his musical equipment to save up for a ticket to Europe -- "the backside of Romania or Turkey or something" -- where he hoped he might find inspiration in solitude. Then, almost overnight, everything changed.
In May of 2009, Foster landed a full-time job as a composer for commercials. A few months later, he started a band -- the quasieponymous Foster the People -- with drummer Mark Pontius and bassist Cubbie Fink. "It was just like, bang-bang," Foster says. "The whole trajectory of my life changed. My music life and my work life weren't separate anymore; they were one entity."
Whether crafting a hip-hop tune for Muscle Milk (no joke -- check out springbreakitdown.com) or weaving together the tracks on Foster the People's debut LP Torches, Foster's meal ticket is his grasp of a range of musical styles and ability to frame them around succinct, perfectly rounded melodies. "Helena Beat," the album's opening track, is a glitched-out, falsetto-studded electronic number that could have been produced by Crystal Castles; the next, "Pumped Up Kicks," is more laid-back and sultry, with washed-out echoes of chillwave -- a deceptively lackadaisical gloss for such a deviously catchy tune. If any song launched the band it was this one, which inspired a spate of homemade music videos from swooning fans when it went viral in February 2010. This led to a bidding war last summer (which Columbia Records won) and helped make Foster and Co. the belles of Austin's 2011 South by Southwest Festival -- no small accomplishment, given that they had only released a three-song, self-titled EP at the time.
"I can pick two songs off of this record and put them next to each other, and people are going to be tripped out," Foster acknowledges, "like it's not from the same artist." But that cagey eclecticism might just be the band's greatest strength -- especially now that Foster the People, once a barista's pipe dream, are currently topping the charts and already looking ahead to LP number two. "We didn't pigeonhole ourselves," Foster says, reflecting on Torches. "We can go in whatever direction we want." Coming from a guy who was on the verge of fleeing the country just two years ago, that's a seriously sunny assessment.
Pictured above (L-R): Cubbie Fink, Mark Foster, Mark Pontius
WHAT'S ON THEIR SUMMER PLAYLISTS
Mark Foster: "Mr. Blue Sky," E.L.O.
"I Get Around," The Beach Boys
Mark Pontius: "Deadbeat Summer," Neon Indian
"Bombay," El Guincho
MORE FROM PAPER'S SUMMER MIXTAPE
Needing an exit strategy, Foster moved into a cheap hotel and began selling off his musical equipment to save up for a ticket to Europe -- "the backside of Romania or Turkey or something" -- where he hoped he might find inspiration in solitude. Then, almost overnight, everything changed.
In May of 2009, Foster landed a full-time job as a composer for commercials. A few months later, he started a band -- the quasieponymous Foster the People -- with drummer Mark Pontius and bassist Cubbie Fink. "It was just like, bang-bang," Foster says. "The whole trajectory of my life changed. My music life and my work life weren't separate anymore; they were one entity."
Whether crafting a hip-hop tune for Muscle Milk (no joke -- check out springbreakitdown.com) or weaving together the tracks on Foster the People's debut LP Torches, Foster's meal ticket is his grasp of a range of musical styles and ability to frame them around succinct, perfectly rounded melodies. "Helena Beat," the album's opening track, is a glitched-out, falsetto-studded electronic number that could have been produced by Crystal Castles; the next, "Pumped Up Kicks," is more laid-back and sultry, with washed-out echoes of chillwave -- a deceptively lackadaisical gloss for such a deviously catchy tune. If any song launched the band it was this one, which inspired a spate of homemade music videos from swooning fans when it went viral in February 2010. This led to a bidding war last summer (which Columbia Records won) and helped make Foster and Co. the belles of Austin's 2011 South by Southwest Festival -- no small accomplishment, given that they had only released a three-song, self-titled EP at the time.
"I can pick two songs off of this record and put them next to each other, and people are going to be tripped out," Foster acknowledges, "like it's not from the same artist." But that cagey eclecticism might just be the band's greatest strength -- especially now that Foster the People, once a barista's pipe dream, are currently topping the charts and already looking ahead to LP number two. "We didn't pigeonhole ourselves," Foster says, reflecting on Torches. "We can go in whatever direction we want." Coming from a guy who was on the verge of fleeing the country just two years ago, that's a seriously sunny assessment.
Pictured above (L-R): Cubbie Fink, Mark Foster, Mark Pontius
WHAT'S ON THEIR SUMMER PLAYLISTS
Mark Foster: "Mr. Blue Sky," E.L.O.
"I Get Around," The Beach Boys
Mark Pontius: "Deadbeat Summer," Neon Indian
"Bombay," El Guincho
MORE FROM PAPER'S SUMMER MIXTAPE
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