The Birth Of Divine Fits

Photo: Banner Gwin

In 2007, Britt Daniel of famed rock band Spoon bumped into Dan Boeckner of the Handsome Furs at a Furs show. The camaraderie they forged at their first meeting led the two musicians to cross paths multiple times in the subsequent years, as performers and casual collaborators. Boeckner performed with Spoon at Radio City Music Hall, the two passed songs back and forth, adding to each other’s work.

Both men live the enviable lives of career rock musicians, performing in various bands with different aesthetics. Aside from Spoon, Daniel has played with Drake Tungsten, The Alien Beats, Golden Millenium, and, early on in his career, Skellington, while Boeckner started out in Atlas Strategic, and more recently played with Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs, both of which disbanded in the summer of 2012. In each other, the two artists found trusted associates. Their joint song creation process progressed with a refreshing lack of ego, freeing each of them from the stricter roles they had played in their other projects.

Composing songs together with a drum machine keeping the beat, when planning the live performance of this new project known as Divine Fits, producer Mike McCarthy, who had worked extensively with Daniel, recommended a drummer. They then convinced Sam Brown of the New Bomb Turks to leave his native Ohio and come to Los Angeles and join the ranks of Divine Fits.

Coming together as a three-piece, the band immediately demonstrated themselves as a force to be reckoned with, performing fierce live shows beginning in Austin and, most recently, putting forth their first album, the modestly titled A Little Thing Called Divine Fits. In the video above, we get an inside look at how Daniel and Boeckner created the Divine Fits sound in a truly collaborative way, makings that led to an album on which they are both freely doing what they do best—keeping it rock and roll through and through.

Be sure to catch Divine Fits on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight (11/16/12), and grab tickets to see them on their current tour. Below, check out a hotel room rendition of “Civilian Stripes” that Divine Fits performed for Bowery Presents.