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Divine Fits Biography
The formation of Divine Fits can be traced back to Britt Daniel attending a Handsome Furs show in 2007, seeing Dan Boeckner milling around and looking like the type of guy that would talk to strangers. Britt acted on this assessment, telling Dan he possessed one of the best rock n’ roll voices he'd heard. A flattered Dan upped the ante, telling Britt he'd been an orderingsingles- through-the-mail level Spoon fan since high school -- and more than that: that mail order Spoon single had inspired Dan to quit the Metallica cover band he'd been playing in and singlehandedly set him on the path to his future life in Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs. (Before you read any further: Spoon is still very much together, Handsome Furs is not. And that's all there is to say on both of those points.)
The two kept in touch, emailing, phoning, hanging out whenever they were in the same town, and even sharing stages -- most notably Spoon's historic March 2010 headline at Radio City Music Hall, where the capacity crowd was treated to a one-time-only double shot of mutual appreciation: a cover of Wolf Parade's "Modern World" with Dan on guitar and vocals, followed by Dan remaining on stage to contribute additional guitar to Spoon's own "I Saw The Light."
Fast forward to 2011: Britt emailed a demo, Dan added vocals in his kitchen—and thus was born the first Divine Fits song: “What Gets You Alone”—which appears on the album with the original kitchen vocal still intact. Several months later, in November 2011, Britt and Dan had their first rehearsals, rounding things out with New Bomb Turks drummer Sam Brown, who came by way of Spoon producer Mike McCarthy's recommendation. As the trio began its first rehearsal in the spot they’d rented in Los Angeles' Little Armenia neighborhood, Dan’s first thoughts were “finally a band where I can just lay in and play one note.”
In January of 2012, Dan moved in with Britt and the two wrote the batch of songs that was to become A Thing Called Divine Fits. By March the band was recording with Nick Launay, the dream producer candidate for the band based on his three decades of work, including Public Image Ltd.'s The Flowers of Romance and The Birthday Party's Junkyard in the '80s up through his last few years producing multiple Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grinderman and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds albums.
Top notch indie rock pedigree or not, A Thing Called Divine Fits (named for the opening lyrics to most of Sister Nancy's repertoire) is a stellar debut by any measure -- from irresistible uptempo hook-fests "Would That Not Be Nice?" and "Like Ice Cream" to the cool Motorik pulse of "Baby Get Worse" and "The Salton Sea" to the tender acoustic guitar strains of "Civilian Stripes" and the sublime take on Roland S Howard's "Shivers."
Early press for A Thing Called Divine Fits
Whether covering the album as a whole, first single “My Love Is Real” or various other deep cuts, the media has singled out every track on A Thing Called Divine Fits for individual praise:
“If they took a while to hone their collective sound, it doesn't show here. This is the work of guys who know exactly what they want from their music. The synth hook in "My Love Is Real" could have propelled an alternate-universe hit for The Human League, but a spikier, guitar-driven side still wins the day in "Flaggin a Ride, " while "Baby Get Worse" splits the difference with winning results. Divvying their vocal duties roughly 50/50, Daniel and Boeckner keep A Thing Called Divine Fits sounding crisp and quotable, as in "My Love Is Real" ("My love is real / until it stops") and "Shivers" ("I've been contemplating suicide / but it really doesn't suit my style"), among others. The album deserves that highest of compliments: For all its familiar components, it sounds like Divine Fits." --NPR FIRST LISTEN
“striking chemistry… jittery jags that gain urgency by feeling knocked out–from the breakneck Kraftwerk of ‘The Salton Sea’ to the Wire trance spackle of ‘Neopolitans.’”–ROLLING STONE
“the lock-step drums and spare rusty-razor electric guitar of ‘What Gets You Alone’ is like Boeckner fronting Spoon; and ‘For Your Heart’ is their well-balanced marriage”–NYLON
“‘Civilian Stripes’ is an achingly pretty acoustic number… it’s a match almost too good to be true, and– particularly considering the sad state of Modern Rock in 2012– far too promising to let die.”– PITCHFORK
“a lean slice of garage-psych glory”–ROLLING STONE (“Would That Not Be Nice”)
“rare you hear a song this undeniably great whose antecedent is impossible to find ... This year's boldest, most affecting performance”–ESQUIRE Songs Every Man Should Listen To (“Shivers”)
“most bands also don’t come to the table with the level of quality present in each of Divine Fits’ songs either. New tracks, such as… ‘Like Ice Cream’… make for a diverse and exciting set of songs that rivals anything Boeckner and Daniel have done with their other groups.”–AUSTINIST
"A Thing Called Divine Fits might be the best rock record I've heard all year." --THE L
South of France Biography
South Of France is an indie-pop band that was initially started by Jeff Cormack over 2 years ago. Inspired by his love for retro guitar pop, It started as a small collection of songs that Jeff was writing and recording about the experiences he had as he was traveling around the world. As the songs developed, Jeff realized that the addition of a female vocalist would bring a great new element to the sound. So… Jeff was lucky enough to meet singer and songwriter Kelly Lueke in Los Angeles. They quickly realized they had astonishingly similar taste in music and decided to join forces.
South of France’s first release “Kings”, a 3 song EP was released in November of 2011and landed them features in Filter Magazine, Under The Radar Magazine, and earned great reviews from several influential music blogs around the world.
Jeff and Kelly have spent the past 4 months writing, producing and recording their debut full-length album “Another Boring Sunrise” which will be released on Sept. 18th 2012.