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Foster The PeopleCall It What You WantHelena BeatPumped Up Kicks
Foster founded the band in 2009 after spending several years in Los Angeles as
a struggling musician and working as a commercial jingle writer.
After Foster wrote the song "Pumped Up Kicks", which became a viral success in 2010, the group was signed to Columbia Records'
imprint Startime International and gained a fanbase through small
club shows and appearances at the music festivals Coachella and
South by Southwest. After releasing their debut album Torches in
May 2011, "Pumped Up Kicks" became a crossover hit on commercial radio in mid-2011, reaching number one
on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, number three on the Rock
Songs chart, and number three on the Billboard Hot 100, while charting
on the Adult Top 40 and Mainstream Top 40 charts. Several attempts at founding a band proved unsuccessful. After turning 22, he says he was contacted by Aftermath Entertainment about showcasing his musical talents, but the opportunity ultimately fell through. For the next few years, Foster worked at a cafe while dealing with writer's block, but he remained in Los Angles after landing a job as a commercial jingle writer for Mophonics.[6] He said of the profession, "I definitely learned from the commercial standpoint what works",[8] and he credited the job with reviving his confidence in performing.[6] The music Foster wrote spanned a wide range of genres, but he had difficulty reconciling his eclectic compositions. He explained: "I'd write one song and it'd be a hip-hop song. I'd write another and it'd be heavily electronic. Another would be like a spiritual, and another would be classic piano song. I was constantly trying to pull those elements together. It took me six years to do it."[8] He still wished to be part of a group; reflecting on a residency he did at a venue performing electronic music, he said, "It was just me and a laptop. Really, it was terrible. I knew I needed a band."[6] Foster the People was born out of a nascent relationship
with drummer Mark Pontius, who left his group Malbec in 2009 to
found a band with Foster. Pontius was impressed by the amount and
diversity of songs that Foster had written to that point, saying, "Some were on the guitar, and some were on the computer. But it was this really
awesome singer-songwriter thing with a tricked-out beat, and I
felt we could go wherever we wanted with this." Foster's long-time friend Cubbie Fink joined the group soon afterwards as bassist.[6]
Mark Foster originally named the band Foster & the People, but people misheard it as "Foster the People". Eventually, he took to the nurturing image it evoked of "taking care" of people, so the name stuck.[7] Not long after the group formed, Foster wrote and recorded a song at Mophonics called "Pumped Up Kicks", a song that was the group's breakthrough. It appeared on the website supergoodmusic.com in early 2010,[6] and after Foster posted the song on his own website as a free download, it drew the attention of Nylon magazine, who used the track in an online advertising campaign.[9] The song continued to receive attention through various blogs and soon went viral. Foster was emailed by many people about "Pumped Up Kicks", and needing professional guidance, he contacted artist manager Brent Kredel at Monotone, Inc. in March, saying, "Everyone is calling me and emailing me—what do I do? Who are the good guys, who are the bad guys?" Kredel recalled that "He went from the guy who couldn't get a hold of anyone to being the guy who had hundreds of emails in his inbox." Kredel and Brett Williams were subsequently hired to co-manage Foster the People, and they helped the group get meetings with several record labels, including Warner Bros., Atlantic, Columbia, and Universal Republic. In May 2010, the band was signed to the Columbia imprint Startime International by Isaac Green in a multi-album deal. The deal did not involve ancillary rights, which pleased the band and their management. Foster controls publishing of the songs in North America, while a separate 2010 deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing controls publishing outside of North America.[9] After Foster the People signed their record deal,
Kredel said, "The focus was to stop everything and not work on any marketing or touring, but
to make an album that backed up 'Pumped Up Kicks.'" Wishing to avoid burnout, Startime allowed the group to pace themselves and
not rush an album that would cash in on the popularity of the song.
Green said, "You can't control everything, but you can be meticulous about the music." The group spent July–September 2010 writing material that would appear on their
debut album, and chose Paul Epworth, Rich Costey, and Greg Kurstin
to co-produce the record with Mark Foster.[9] In September, "Pumped Up Kicks" was released as the group's debut single.[citation needed] The fledgling group had yet to acquire much experience as a live act, and as a result, in October 2010, booking agent Tom Windish secured them several club shows "to help them get their sea legs." This proved difficult, as concert promoters were hesitant to book a group that had no previous touring experiences. Foster the People promoted these concerts by emailing fans who had downloaded "Pumped Up Kicks" from their website, notifying them of the shows. In early 2011, Windish convinced booker Paul Tollett to allow the band to perform in much sought-after tent at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April. Meanwhile, the group continued to grow its fanbase with a month-long residency of concerts in January at The Echo nightclub in Los Angeles. By the group's third show at the venue, according to Windish, "there were hundreds of people trying to get in outside... It was an obvious turning point that could be measured in numbers." The residency also drew the attention of music supervisors in attendance who would later help the group license their music.[9] Foster the People issued its first commercial
release in January 2011, a self-titled EP featuring "Pumped Up Kicks", "Houdini", and "Helena Beat" that was intended to hold fans over until their first studio album, Torches,
was completed. Fans who purchased the EP through the iTunes Store
were able to apply it towards the purchase of their full-length
debut album. The EP drew the attention of organizers of March's
South by Southwest music festival, as well as executives looking
to license music for upcoming season finales of television series.
Columbia senior director of creative licensing Jonathan Palmer
said, "The plan helped us a great deal to set up more opportunities rather than chasing
the release date. So by the time we put the record out in May,
we had already placed several songs." Half of Torches' songs were licensed—among them are: "Pumped Up Kicks" (Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries, Friends with Benefits, Entourage), "Houdini" (Gossip Girl); "Helena Beat" (The Vampire Diaries); "Don't Stop (Color on the Walls)" (Suits, Nissan Motors commercial); and "Call It What You Want" (FIFA 12). Palmer commented, "I haven't seen this kind of a range of song licenses from one album since we
worked the first Ting Tings record three-and-a-half years ago.
That was an album where we licensed nine or [all] 10 songs on the
album. We're kind of in a similar situation [with Torches]."[9] Beginning in January 2011, many alternative radio stations began playing "Pumped Up Kicks", including Sirius XM satellite radio's Alt Nation channel and Los Angeles terrestrial stations KROQ-FM and KYSR.[9] Mark Foster credits Sirius XM's airplay with the song's success, saying, "Alt Nation played our music before any other radio outlet in the country."[10] On January 29, the song debuted on Billboard's Rock Songs chart and a week later, it debuted on the Alternative Songs chart. In May, the track debuted at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100, and later that month, the group released their first full-length studio album, Torches. The success of "Pumped Up Kicks" and appearances on many late-night talk shows, including Last Call with Carson Daly, The Tonight Show, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, helped the record debut at number eight on the Billboard 200.[9] To promote the album, the group staged a concert tour in the US and Europe, with most dates sold out.[6] "Pumped Up Kicks" proved to be a crossover hit, peaking at number three on the Rock Songs chart in July and number one on the Alternative Songs chart in June, while breaking into the top 40 of the Hot 100 in late July and appearing on the Adult Top 40 and Mainstream Top 40 charts. Columbia senior VP of promotion Lee Leipsner said, "It was one of the only alternative bands I remember in a while that you could actually dance to. And the fact that the record has a groove and rhythmic feel to it—not heavy guitar-based at all—gave us a wide opportunity to cross the record." He credits the song's crossover success and push into the top 40 to a June presentation of new music by Clear Channel president of national programming platforms Tom Poleman. According to Leipsner, "After we showed our presentation, we had so many Clear Channel major-market programmers come up to us and say, 'The record I want to play besides Adele is Foster the People.'" "Pumped Up Kicks" peaked at number three on the Hot 100, spending eight consecutive weeks at the position. According to Nielsen Soundscan, over 321,000 copies of Torches have been sold in the US, and over 2 million digital copies of "Pumped Up Kicks" have been sold, making it the 25th-highest-selling digital song of 2011.[9] The band was named in a lawsuit filed by Brandon Dorsky on May 24, 2011 for breach of contract and other claims.[6] The case was settled for an undisclosed amount in July 2011. Foster the People appeared as the musical guest
on the October 8, 2011 episode of Saturday Night Live, playing "Pumped Up Kicks" and "Houdini". Kenny G appeared as a guest performer on the latter song.[11][12] Two live musicians, Sean Cimino (guitar, keyboard,
synthesizer, and backing vocals) and Isom Innis (keyboard, synthesizer,
piano, maracas, percussion, and backing vocals), also tour with
the band.[13] Cimino is credited with guitar on the track "Waste" from the album Torches, while Innis's role in the album is unknown or possibly
uncredited due to limited contributions on the album.[14] Zach "Reazon" Heiligman (sampler, MPC (Music Production Center), programming, digital percussion,
SFX, other production, minimal backing vocals) appears to have
been a member of the band until early 2011; however, he shares
co-writer and additional production credits on "Miss You" with Mark Foster, suggesting that Heiligman may play a more behind-the-scenes
role now in production of certain tracks during studio sessions
rather than in live shows. Heiligman, an MC and songwriter, is
a close friend of Mark Foster as well and worked with him on a
Hip-Hop project during periods before and during the formation
of Foster the People. Released: May 23, 2011[22] 8 1 1 9 7 13 27 53 61 24 US: Gold[23] [edit] Extended plays Released: January 18, 2011[25] [edit] Singles US: 2× Platinum[23] Torches
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