The Happy Fits – Lovesick
Indie/rock darlings The Happy Fits released their new album, Lovesick, today.
The band also shared their brand new music video for “Lovesick #1 (Misery),” a scathing kiss-off anthem that begins deceptively as a melancholic, heartsick ballad before exploding into an emphatic, rock-fueled scream-along. Frontman Calvin Langman stated, “‘Lovesick #1 (Misery)’ is probably the most accurate depiction of what it’s like for me when I become limerent for someone. I bask in the desperation. I become melodramatic over everything. I can’t sleep at night. There’s a great irony in how much I truly love how painful it all feels to not have something I want so badly. I am all the characters in the full album of ‘Lovesick’ but I am most like the one in ‘#1 (Misery).’”
“The making of the video was greatly inspired by teen rom-coms of the early 2000’s,” Langman continued. “We really wanted to play into troupes of that miserable, besotted feeling we can have when you love someone but it’s completely unrequited. So what do you do? Invite your best friends over to scream, dance, and thrash around your bedroom decorated in all of your favorite things. The set decorating was one of the best parts about making this video because I had a trunk filled with all of my teenage and childhood memories that we meticulously displayed all over the guest bedroom in my apartment, along with some amazing eBay and thrift store finds. In a sense it felt like healing some part of my youth because I could look at this collection of stuff, like my Paramore fan club card, old family photos, and talent show awards, and be so grateful for the things I was obsessed with at the time. We made sure to include every band member’s interests as well, like video games, old summer camp pennants, albums that impacted us as musicians, a lava lamp, and fun action figures all placed throughout the bedroom in an eye-spy like way. There’s a few Happy Fits easter eggs in there too if you keep your eyes peeled.”
Lovesick includes the previously released singles “Everything You Do”, “Cruel Power”, “Wild In Love”, “Do You See Me?” and “Black Hole.”
Lovesick was written and recorded after ten tumultuous months that saw one founding member depart the band severing a creative partnership that had formed the group’s bedrock since the start, another leave tour to get sober following an emotional intervention, and a third entering an era of self-renaissance after the dissolution of a serious relationship and a series of relocations. Rather than let the hardship break their stride, though, the acclaimed quartet leaned into the turmoil, transforming all the heartbreak and uncertainty they experienced into their most exhilarating, adventurous, and cathartic record yet. Lovesick is, as its title would suggest, a complicated reckoning with all the joy and pain that comes with opening your heart to the world. The songs are bold and fearless, reveling in the intensity of it all with radical vulnerability, and the performances are similarly, pairing blistering rock and roll energy and addictive pop hooks with sweeping orchestral arrangements and raw, revelatory lyrics.
Lovesick also marks The Happy Fits’ first release with guitarists/vocalists Nico Rose and Raina Mullen, whose fresh perspective, innovative style, and undeniable chemistry with Langman and drummer Luke Davis manage to infuse the band’s sound with the unbridled energy of a debut record. The result is a poignant reflection on loss, grief, and renewal that touches on everything from Fleetwood Mac and ABBA to Arcade Fire and The Cars, an alternately triumphant and devastating meditation on change and growth that consistently reaches for beauty and transcendence, no matter how distant they may seem.
“It feels like a whole new beginning,” says Langman. “We had to go through a lot of struggle to get here, but the band is stronger and healthier than ever before now, and I couldn’t be more excited about the chapter we’re about to embark on.”
Passion, in the end, is what Lovesick is all about. Not just romantic passion, but passion for life in all its messy, confusing glory: passion for growth, for healing, for heartbreak, for discovery, for destruction, for creation, for mistakes, for second chances. The Happy Fits have experienced it all these last ten months; now they’re ready to share it onstage every night.
Tour Dates:
09/24 – Madrid, Spain @ Sala El Sótano
09/25 – Barcelona, Spain @ Sala Vol
09/27 – Paris, France @ La Boule Noire
09/28 – Antwerp, Belgium @ Kavka
09/30 – Cologne, Germany @ Luxor
10/01 – Munich, Germany @ Kranhalle
10/03 – Milan, Italy @ Arci Bellezza
10/04 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Bogen F
10/05 – Prague, Czech Republic @ Cafe V lese
10/07 – Berlin, Germany @ Frannz
10/08 – Hamburg, Germany @ headCRASH
10/09 – Tilburg, Netherlands @ 013
10/10 – Groningen, Netherlands @ Simplon
10/11 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
10/12 – Arnhem, Netherlands @ Luxor Live
10/14 – Birmingham, UK @ Mama Roux
10/15 – Leeds, UK @ Wardrobe
10/16 – Glasgow, UK @ Garage
10/17 – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
10/18 – London, UK @ Islington Assembly Hall
11/01 – Richmond, VA @ The National
11/02 – Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
11/04 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
11/05 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
11/07 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
11/08 – Orlando, FL @ House of Blues
11/10 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
11/11 – Dallas, TX @ The Echo
11/12 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s
11/14 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
11/15 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
11/16 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
11/18 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
11/19 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
11/21 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Grand at Complex
11/22 – Denver, CO @ Gothic
11/25 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
11/28 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave
11/29 – Chicago, IL @ The Vic
11/30 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
12/03 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
12/05 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian
12/06 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews
12/07 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
12/09 – Portland, ME @ State Theatre
12/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
12/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
12/13 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues
#thehappyfits