C'mon, Get Happy (Fits)
NJ's Happy Fits are ready to take over the world of pop
THE HAPPY FITS - “Wild In Love” (Bandcamp)
Sometimes you get one right. I first interviewed the Happy Fits for Jersey Beat five years ago, and reviewed their concert at Montclair’s Wellmont Theater for NJArts in 2023. There’s been a bit of a personnel shakeup over that time, with founding members Calvin Langman (vocals, cello(!)) and drummer Luke Davis now joined by guitarists/singers Nico Rose and Raina Mullen.) Except for a hiatus during the pandemic (when they did live concerts online for fans,) Happy Fits have been touring non-stop since before I noticed them. (Credit where it’s due, the Star-Ledger’s Bobby Olivier got there first.) Now, the group sits poised to burst into the mainstream when their new album comes out in September.
Note: The Happy Fits just made their network TV debut (on CBS’ Saturday morning show) playing this single, the third previewing upcoming album Lovesick. They just finished an American tour, and they’ll be touring all through Europe in the fall before launching another national tour in November. That tour ends at a penultimate show at Brooklyn Paramount (which will probably sell out) on December 12, followed by Boston on December 13.
And with all that, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of them yet.
They’ve snubbed major labels and make this all look like they’re DIY. In fact, the band (and labelmates Phoneboy) have accomplished these wonders with the help of their management company/label, Diamond City.
”Wild In Love” is basically a treatise on everything the band does extremely well: It’s insanely catchy and danceable - this is what bubblegum sounds like in 2025 - with frontman (and heartthrob) Calvin on lead vocals, with harmonies up the wazoo. It’s a love song, the kind that melts the hearts of the adolescents (and their older siblings) who memorize and sing back every word, lyrics full of those teenage feelings of both passion and self-doubt: “Is this an illness or a romance? / Each passing moment, I’m weaker than the last / We could talk about the weather, or even better, your lovers from the past.”
People ask, who’s the next Front Bottoms? The next Bouncing Souls? Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Happy Fits.