SXSW 2013: Fitz and the Tantrums on the Perils and Upsides of Touring

Michael Fitzpatrick and James King of the indie-soul rockers Fitz and the Tantrums sat down in the Rolling Stone Rock Room to talk about the exhaustion of touring, but also about the band bonding that comes with it. "The first thing we did after three years of touring was sleep for about six days straight," Fitzpatrick confesses. "And on the seventh day, he planted a succulent garden," King quips. 

The band's lengthy tour — after which they wrote More Than Just a Dream, which is due out in May — did a lot to bring the band together. Says Fitzpatrick, "We ride our highs and lows together. This literally happened: we were in one of those party buses with a stripper pole in the middle being driven back from the venue to our hotel and somebody's weeping over the loss of a parent, and we're all holding that person, comforting them, because we're all we have when we're out in the middle of nowhere."

Interview by Eric Danton; text by Joe Pinsker

Product reviews and advice for best reference

Read more »

Dead Sara's 'Dream Come True': Touring With Muse

Chris Null, Siouxsie Medley, Emily Armstrong and Sean Friday of Dead Sara in West Hollywood

When Rolling Stone visited with Dead Sara frontwoman Emily Armstrong at her home in March, the L.A. band was getting set for their first national tour. Eight months later they've been part of the Warped tour, shared stages with Bush and the Offspring and now get ready for their biggest appearance yet – opening for Muse on the band's arena tour.

It's a gig any young band would kill for. So how did Dead Sara land one of the prime spots? As Armstrong tells it, Muse drummer Dominic Howard was talking to a radio station about moving to L.A. "He was saying it's really cool that Rage Against the Machine still plays on modern radio all the time, and there's also this band called Dead Sara," Armstrong says. "He said, 'There's this huge riff and this girl is screaming her bloody head off – it's quite good.' So after we heard that it was like, 'Hey, this is our in.'"

For the band, being mentioned in the same interview as Rage Against the Machine provides a nice bit of symmetry. It was when Muse played with Rage at the L.A. Coliseum as part of L.A. Rising in 2011 that Dead Sara developed dreams of one day opening for the Brits.

Watching that show was when "I fell in love with Muse," says Armstrong. "I can't even describe it – their live show was fucking unreal. I remember I said, 'If we were to ever go on tour with [Muse], we would learn so much.' Their musicianship is so good. That in itself, I'd be like a kid in a candy store."

While Dead Sara doesn't meet up with Muse until February, Armstrong is aware what kind of attention that kind of affiliation can bring. "Muse has done a lot for us," she says.

First her band plan to release "We Are What You Say" as a follow-up single to "Weatherman," which earned them plenty of airplay in selected markets. This time around, they want a track Armstrong feels is more representative of the whole album. "'Weatherman' is a real hard rock song, and that's less than half the record, the hard rock," she says. "I think ['We Are What You Say'] is a good middle ground for a taste of the record."

The band hopes to use the tour as a springboard for their own headlining dates in small clubs. "That'd be huge for us," says Armstrong. "Having been around almost four times, we think we've worked hard enough to now go through on our own right after Muse."

Touring as an opening act has led to a lot of memorable moments in 2012 for Armstrong, including performing with Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger of the Doors at the kickoff party for the Sunset Strip Music Festival and dueting with the Offspring.

"I got up and sang with the Offspring every night," she says. "It went over really well, and those are just moments where you're like, 'Wow, when I was a teenager this is a dream fucking come true.' With Bush, with Offspring, I'm reliving my childhood, my tween years the best way I could."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

Barry Manilow Talks Touring While Recovering from 'Major' Surgery

Barry Manilow kicked off a series of concert dates recently in Moline, Illinois, but he isn't calling it a tour. After years of grinding it out on the road, the singer doesn't believe that performing two weekends out of the month qualifies as touring. But his current jaunt will take him to cities he hasn't played in a long time, since he's spent the last few years performing residencies in Las Vegas. Along with the challenge of creating a whole new show, the 69-year-old is recovering from a "major" operation to re-attach the muscles to his hip. In his first post-surgery interview, Manilow spoke to Rolling Stone about his health, his upcoming performances and his admiration for Bruno Mars.

How is your hip feeling these days?
It's coming back slowly – too slowly for me. But I was able to get through six shows. As soon as I'd finish, the curtain would close and I'd fall back into a wheelchair and they'd wheel me back into a dressing room. I'm not ready to do this yet, but I did it. I got through it and I'm better than I was three weeks ago. Everybody thinks I had some sort of a hip replacement; that wasn't it. I had ripped the muscles off my hip on both sides and they had to pull them back and nail them back into my hips. So that kind of surgery, which was supposed to take two hours, took seven hours. It was major surgery and it's a long recovery period. I don't know how I got through those six (shows), but I just couldn't cancel it. These people were out there. They were so excited, I just had to go through this. They say when the spotlight hits you, you don't feel anything. I always thought that was full of shit, (but) it's true.

Tell us about the current production.
The Paris show was so produced. It was so big, I couldn't get any bigger. This show I'm traveling with is the smallest show I've ever done. I just needed to shake it up. I could have played it safe and done that same big show, and the audiences probably would've had a good time. But I just don't like playing it safe. So I went the other way, which is kind of scary. It's a small band and just me at a little teeny piano, which is at the very end of the stage. It's as close to a one-man show as I've ever done. It kind of excites me and scares me, and I need to do that. If I am gonna continue to work I can't phone it in.

Does this allow you to mix up the set list and bring in songs you haven't done in a while?
That was another reason I chose to go the more intimate way, because when we went out with the big orchestra, I was again stuck with a set list that I couldn't change easily. I had 75 guys there, and it was chaos if we hadn't rehearsed it. Same thing with the Paris shows. I was stuck with one set for two years there. Just during these last six shows, I've done more changes than I have in five years. One night it was "Fools Got Lucky," the other night I did "If I Should Love Again," which I've always wanted to do. I've got changes galore. I did ‘Tryin' to Get the Feeling," and I can't remember the last time we did that one. So that's part of the fun for me and my band, because my band knows every part of my catalogue.

Are there songs you're particularly excited to do?
"Tryin' to Get the Feeling" has been a revelation. I'd forgotten how powerful that was. I'd forgotten how deep I can crawl into that one, and maybe because I'm older it means even more. "If I Should Love Again" – I was just so impressed with myself writing something like that. It wasn't a single and people didn't really know about it, but it's a beautiful song and that's part of what I'm loving.

Did the response to you last album, 15 Minutes, encourage you to take your music in a new direction?
I believe in my writing. I don't believe in my writing as a hitmaker; I've had really good luck, and because Clive (Davis) was always my commercial ear, I had a great guide. But I'm going to do original songs from now on. That's who I am. I'm a songwriter, and just like all the other people in the commercial world, we have to fight to get our stuff out there. Elton (John) and Sting, these geniuses, they've been fortunate enough to just stick to their own stuff. I haven't been that fortunate, but from now on it's original material.

Does that mean we'll hear new material soon?
Yeah, I think I'm gonna tackle a Volume 2 of 2:00 A.M. Paradise Café. That was another original album that was very a important experience for me, and it was very well received. I don't know whether I'll match that first Paradise Café album – that's heavy competition. But I'm gonna tackle it and if I make it, that's going to be a very rewarding project.

Is there anyone you'd like to perform a double bill with, in the vein Elton John and Billy Joel?
There have only been a handful that make sense, like Elton and Billy Joel make sense. I am in a little world of my own. My style of music is the great American songbook meets the pop world of the Seventies and Eighties. The only two artists I could think of would be Neil Diamond or Bette (Midler). Other than that, I've never been able to come up with another name.

Are there younger artists that come to mind?
Bruno Mars is so great; that would be fun. I think we would have a good time together.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »