About Foster the People
Foster the People is an American indie pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2009. Its members include founder and frontman Mark Foster, and keyboardist Isom Innis.
Foster founded the band in 2009 after spending several years in Los Angeles as a struggling musician and working as a commercial jingle writer. After Foster's song "Pumped Up Kicks" became a viral success in 2010, the group received a record deal from Startime International and gained a fanbase through small club shows and appearances at music festivals. After releasing their debut album Torches in May 2011, "Pumped Up Kicks" became a crossover hit on commercial radio in mid-2011 and eventually reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The record also featured the singles "Helena Beat" and "Houdini". The group received three Grammy Award nominations for Torches and "Pumped Up Kicks".
After touring for two years in support of Torches, Foster the People released their second album, Supermodel, in March 2014. It was preceded by the lead single "Coming of Age". In July 2017, the band released their third studio album, Sacred Hearts Club, with the addition of Isom Innis and Sean Cimino, both former touring members, to the official lineup. From this album, their song "Sit Next to Me" peaked at number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA. Between 2018 and 2021, the band released a number of singles, two EPs and one album reissue. A new single titled "Lost in Space" was released on May 31, 2024. Their fourth album, Paradise State of Mind, was released on August 16, 2024, to mostly positive reviews.
Mark Foster graduated from Nordonia High School in the Cleveland-Akron suburb of Macedonia, Ohio, in 2002. With his father's encouragement, Foster moved in with his uncle in Sylmar, Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in music. Foster worked various jobs and at night, he attended parties in Hollywood to expand his social network. He said, "I felt like an 18-year-old Hunter S. Thompson. I was just diving into this Hollywood Hills subculture and taking it all in. I wasn't shy about taking my guitar out at a party. I wanted to be the center of attention." Foster struggled with drug addiction during his initial years in Los Angeles, saying, "It got pretty dark. My friends thought I was going to die. I was blind to it. When I was 19 years old, it got to a point where I said, 'Enough is enough' ... I saw time was just passing me by. I wasn't being productive."
Foster played in several bands, including one with which he auditioned for a record deal in New York. After turning 22, he says he was contacted by Aftermath Entertainment about showcasing his musical talents, but the opportunity ultimately fell through. Foster's first professional experience as a music artist was as lead vocalist on the 2006 song "Breakdown" by the Toques. For the next few years, Foster waited tables at a cafe while dealing with writer's block, but he remained in Los Angeles after landing a job as a commercial jingle writer for Mophonics in 2008. He said of the profession, "I definitely learned from the commercial standpoint what works," and he credited it with reviving his confidence in performing. The music Foster wrote spanned a wide range of genres, but he had difficulty reconciling his eclectic compositions. He explained: "I'd write one song and it'd be a hip-hop song. I'd write another and it'd be heavily electronic. Another would be like a spiritual, and another would be classic piano song. I was constantly trying to pull those elements together. It took me six years to do it." He still wished to be part of a group; reflecting on a residency he did at a venue performing electronic music, he said, "It was just me and a laptop. Really, it was terrible. I knew I needed a band."
Foster the People was born out of a nascent relationship with drummer Mark Pontius, a film school student who left his group Malbec to found a band with Foster in fall 2009. At that time, Foster had released and was playing shows supporting a solo album; Pontius was impressed by the number and diversity of songs that Foster had written to that point, saying, "Some were on the guitar, and some were on the computer. But it was this really awesome singer-songwriter thing with a tricked-out beat, and I felt we could go wherever we wanted with this."
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