Sometimes I receive emails that surprise me in the best way. The surprise was a chance to interview Jeremy Ruzumna of Fitz and The Tantrums. I locked in the interview, and was beyond excited to talk to one of the most talented piano players in the industry.
I was sitting outside on a cool summer evening when I received the call from Atlantic Records to connect me with Jeremy. He was just interviewed, and I assumed it was not exactly riveting based on the tone of his voice at the beginning of the phone call. In response, I had mentioned how I read up on his amazing career as a long time piano player. I asked Jeremy to expand, "How did you choose the keyboard over any other instrument, as most people stray away from playing piano professionally?"
He chuckled in first response to the question, and followed it with how his characteristics fit that of a piano player. A shy intellectual who wants to be heard but not seen. That is exactly what Jeremy did over the course of his long career in multiple bands. Check out this LONG list of credits that have been assigned to Jeremy over his career so far...http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jeremy-ruzumna-mn00...
The following question was in awareness of his successful career as a composer in multiple films, "How did you get involved with the film industry?" His beginnings were humbling. He worked in the mail room of New Line Cinema while he was in college. He sorted mail by day, and performed by night. People took notice of his music both in New Line Cinema and across the nation. He was nervous to take the leap of faith to bring his career to the next level, but when he did, he found himself taking on a lot of work from what felt like starting over again for Jeremy.
In 1999 Jeremy Ruzumna broke through finding himself getting involved composing music, which lead him into writing compositions for "Kill Me Later", "Cadet Kelly", and "Shrek the Third", just to name a few.
At this point in the conversation I wanted to understand how he became a key role in Fitz and The Tantrums. Jeremy's response was how he knew the drummer John Wicks in the early days of Fitz. He knew John through playing house shows with him in his early days. His talent and commitment opened a new door of opportunity to playing in Fitz and The Tantrums.
Jeremy grew with the band members from stuffing into a 15 passenger van, losing a lot of sleep, and constantly innovating the music they were writing. He did this due to his gut feeling knowing the Fitz and the Tantrums would be successful.
Jeremy's moment of bliss during his time in Fitz, thus far, was when they playing Lollapalooza for the first time in front of 100,000 people. That show was unforgettable for him, and is always his go to moment for best moments on tour.
Moments like these were made after spending hours upon hours working diligently on their music. For Fitz and The Tantrums, playing in front of 100,000 people was made possible by hit songs like "Handclap", "The Walker", and their new release "Fool."
The last question I asked was, "How did the song 'Fool' develop?" Jeremy said it was the first song that the band did not write, but only because they loved the way the song was written. They bought the song, and made it their own by developing the sound, timing, etc. for the song bringing it to life.
When you listen to "Fool" it hooks you instantly. I promise you will be singing "Mama didn't raise no fool..." after hearing the first ten seconds of the song. If you have listened to Fitz's music before then you know bringing an outside song to make it their own was not a bad move. In my opinion, I think that Fitz and The Tantrums will continue growing in both success, and songs that are unforgettable. Don't believe me? Go see one of their upcoming shows listed with OneRepublic here---> http://www.ticketmaster.com/Fitz-The-Tantrums-tick...