Who is this new band Foster The People?
Well, if you’ve ever heard the catchy TV jingles for Honey Bunches of Oats, Muscle Milk, or Pop Tarts, then you’ve heard of the guy behind the group. His name is Mark Foster.
I’m sure you’ve found yourself singing along to the catchy tune “all the other kids with the pumped up kicks”, the melodic tune with fun loving harmonies, a bit of a dance groove.. And very dark lyrics. That is the smash hit from the now trio Foster The People, which is a band Mark Foster started just a couple of years ago. Originally, the band was named Foster and The People after his last name, but most fans just referred to the band as Foster The People because they thought the meaning behind “Foster” was to promote growth, so that’s what stuck.
Mark opted out of a career in the military for a career in music. He decided at 18 to move from his home in Cleveland to Los Angeles to pursue his music aspirations. But he struggled at first, and lead to drug addiction and hard times. His friends and family became concerned about his well being, and eventually Mark said “enough is enough”. He kicked his bad habits and became more serious about his music, which lead to landing a job as a jingle writer.
Troubled teen
During his time writing jingles, Foster wrote the song Pumped Up Kicks as a demo in just five hours. On the recording he actually plays all of the instruments, which is the version that was released on the album Torches. When referring to the lyrics, Foster says he was trying to get into the head of a troubled teen, someone with suicidal thoughts, and wanted to bring attention to teens and gun violence. Once the song was recorded, Foster posted the song as a free download on his website, which caught the attention of Nylon magazine who used the song in an online campaign. The song became a viral success and gained the attention of Columbia Records who signed them to a deal. From there, the label was concerned the trio didn’t have much experience playing together so the group took up a weekly residence at the Echo nightclub in Los Angeles so they could hone their skills playing live. They remember the first couple of shows there would only be about 20 people. Then slowly week after week, as the song gained radio airplay, more people started showing up. They have since played in front of thousands on tour, which has included performances at the famed Coachella Music Festival and South By Southwest Festival.
2011 was an incredible year for Foster The People. They’ve celebrated their album Torches reaching Top 10 status, and has been certified Gold (means it has sold 500,000 copies). Plus, they recently garnered two Grammy nominations for “Best Alternative Album” and “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance”. Find out if they win and look for them to perform on the 54th Grammy Awards coming up on February 12th on CBS. In the meantime, catch the music of Foster The People on 106.1 Kiss FM.
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