Named after lead singer and songwriter Mark Foster, Californian trio Foster the People chewed up the charts this year after the band’s contagious, up-beat anthem ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ got everyone whistling and head bobbing along.
Mark Pontius, Cubbie Fink and Mark Foster are living the dream. Currently coming to the end of their first international tour, the lads will soon be touching down in LA to take time off for Christmas, before embarking on the second leg of their travels across South East Asia and South America. Playing back to back gigs whilst working on new material, Foster the People are in huge demand after the band’s debut album Torches topped the US charts and their first single ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ went platinum twice over. Writing alternatively orientated music about the state of society and the backlash that selfish political actions can have upon today’s youth, Mark Foster addresses current issues through up-beat music. Unique and ironic, his approach to making a stand and having a voice is melodic and massively pleasing to the ear. If only all protests could sound as sweet. Discussing his creative processes, Mark explained “When I write, a lot of the time it’s free association, I just start riffing stuff and things that are subconsciously going on inside of me will start coming out lyrically and I’ll focus in on it and it’s very therapeutic. I notice a lot of similar themes start coming out.”
Citing this year’s gigs at Glastonbury, Lapalooza and Coachella as the highlights of their career, 2011 took Foster the People from obscure proximities to award-winning heights. The boys peeked down from their ivory towers to tell us what we can expect to hear from their corner in 2012.
Text: Milly McMahon
Photography: Ellis Scott
Film: Asylum Films
