Divine Fits

The formation of Divine Fits can be traced back to Britt Daniel attending a Handsome Furs show in 2007, seeing Dan Boeckner milling around and looking like the type of guy that would talk to strangers. Britt acted on this assessment, telling Dan he possessed one of the best rock ’n’ roll voices he’d heard. A flattered Dan upped the ante, telling Britt he’d been an ordering-singles-through-the-mail-level Spoon fan since high school, and moreover, that mail-order Spoon singles had inspired Dan to quit the Metallica cover band he’d been playing in and singlehandedly set him on the path to his future life in Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs.

(Before you read any further: Spoon is still very much together; Handsome Furs is not. And that’s all there is to say on both of those points.)

Fast forward to 2011: Britt emailed a demo, Dan added vocals in his kitchen … and thus was born the first Divine Fits song, “What Gets You Alone,” which appears on the album with the original kitchen vocal still intact. Several months later, in November 2011, Britt and Dan had their first rehearsals, rounding things out with New Bomb Turks drummer Sam Brown, who came by way of Spoon producer Mike McCarthy’s recommendation. As the trio began its first rehearsal in the spot they’d rented in Los Angeles’ Little Armenia neighborhood, Dan’s first thought was: “Finally, a band where I can just lay in and play one note.” In January 2012, Dan moved in with Britt, and the two wrote the batch of songs that was to become their debut album, A Thing Called Divine Fits.