Photos: Divine Fits Live on KCRW

Written by
Dan Boeckner and Britt Daniel by Jeremiah Garcia (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

(Check out the show in the archives here)

When I see a great rock show, I have a tendency to want to use expletives to describe it.

Rock ‘n’ roll is not for the faint of heart. Or, at least, it shouldn’t be.

Good rock music is urgent, in your face, and stirs you up in all kinds of ways. And that’s exactly why I love Divine Fits.

Divine Fits is made up of a collection of excellent musicians with lots of indie rock cred — Britt Daniel (Spoon), Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs), and Sam Brown (New Young Turks), with an assist from Alex Fischel on keys. But watching them play an intimate live show for KCRW at Apogee’s Berkeley Street Studio, it’s clear this is no side project.

This band it totally in tune with each other, with Dan and Britt seamlessly taking the lead on vocals. They are clearly having a great time on stage and the audience was right there with them. The energy in the room was palpable.

Britt Daniel by Jeremiah Garcia (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

Their debut was released earlier this year and we were treated to a set of the new songs and a couple covers (“You Got Lucky” by Tom Petty and “Shivers” by Nick Cave’s early band Boys Next Door). They kicked off the first set with”Flaggin A Ride” and ended it with “Would That Not Be Nice”, both of which you hear a lot on KCRW’s airwaves.

But the second set revealed a bit more — it was hard not to hear The Cure in “For Your Heart” and on “Like Ice Cream”, one of my favorites lyrically, the band totally gelled and got into a groove. There was a moment where they were all singing the chorus that I saw a band that was simultaneously at the beginning and at the pinnacle of something great.

Which means to say, I can’t wait to see what they do next.

We found out more about how the project came about in the interview hosted by DJ Dan Wilcox.

Though they had talked a bunch about working together, Britt initiated it by sending Dan a song he was having trouble finishing — without warning him it was a tough assignment. That song, “What Gets You Alone”, ended up on the record with Dan’s initial vocal that he recorded in his kitchen. As Britt said, it’s hard to beat that first performance when you’re actually writing the part.

They talked about the yin and yang of their styles — a combo of new wave punk and psychedelia, among other things — and said they merged together naturally. Like Britt said, “that’s one of those things I wanted to do in this band –you get those eggs AND the bacon. You can’t get that just doing a record where one person is writing all the songs.”  With Dan adding: ”and you get your pancakes and fruit on the side.”

In the random notes department, we found out that Britt’s karaoke song of choice is “You’re Going to Lose that Girl” (which I would love to hear) and Dan smokes a LOT of cigarettes.

The session, engineered by legendary producer/mixer Bob Clearmountain, will air on Morning Becomes Eclectic on November 13.

Divine Fits Live on KCRW Set List

Flaggin a Ride
Baby Gets Worse
Civilian Stripes
Would That Not Be Nice
For Your Heart
My Love is Real
Like Ice Cream
You Got Lucky
Shivers

Divine Fits by Jeremiah Garcia (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)
Dan Boeckner by Jeremiah Garcia (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)
Britt Daniel by Jeremiah Garcia (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)
Divine Fits by Jeremiah Garcia (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)
Sam Brown by Jeremiah Garcia (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)
Dan Boeckner by Jeremiah Garcia (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)
Britt Daniel by Jeremiah Garcia (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)
Divine Fits by Jeremiah Garcia (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)
Divine Fits and DJ Dan Wilcox by Jeremiah Garcia (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)