Passion Pit (formed 2007)
Passion Pit is an American Indie Electronica band from Cambridge, Massachusetts who are best known for their singles Sleepyhead and Take a Walk. Michael Angelakos is the sole member (lead singer, keyboards), whilst musicians Chris Hartz (drummer), Aaron Harrison Folb (bassist/synthesizers), Giuliano Pizzulo (guitarist/synthesizers), Pete Cafarella (synthesizers) and Ray Suen (guitarist/synthesizers) join him when performing live.
Formation: Originally Angelakos wrote and performed all his material by himself using a laptop up until his first solo show in Boston - after this, Ian Hultquist of Berklee College of Music approached him and asked to form a group with the two of them and Ayad Al Adhamy, Thom Plasse (bass), and Adam Lavinsky (drums). Jeff Apruzzese and Nate Donmoyer replaced Plasse and Lavinsky in 2008, and by 2012, Adhamy was replaced by Xander Singh.
Musical career: The first Passion Pit songs, which would later become the Chunk of Change EP, were written by Angelakos at Emerson College as a belated Valentine's Day gift to his then-girlfriend. At first, he wrote and performed all his material alone using a laptop. After one of his solo shows in the Boston area, Ian Hultquist, who was attending Berklee College of Music at the time, approached Angelakos and expressed interest in creating and playing music collaboratively.[4] They formed a group that consisted of Angelakos, Hultquist, Ayad Al Adhamy, Thom Plasse (bass), and Adam Lavinsky (drums). The band spent a considerable amount of time trying to flesh out a collaborative format and structure that would work best for them. Jeff Apruzzese and Nate Donmoyer joined the band shortly after they signed to Frenchkiss in 2008, replacing Plasse and Lavinsky, respectively.[5][6] In 2012, Adhamy was replaced by Xander Singh.
Passion Pit released their debut EP Chunk of Change on September 16, 2008. The band was then selected as "Best New Local Act in 2008" in the WFNX/Boston Phoenix best music poll. "Sleepyhead", the only single released from the EP and included in the band's 2009 album Manners, was well publicised while the video for the song, directed by The Wilderness, was included on Pitchfork's Top 40 Music Videos of 2008 list. The song also featured on the TV series Skins and on the Playstation 3 exclusive game LittleBigPlanet 2. Other songs, such as "Cuddle Fuddle" and "I've Got Your Number" were featured in E4's television series The Inbetweeners and used in a UK advert from O2.
Manners, the group's first full-length studio album came out on May 18th 2009 in the UK and May 19, 2009 in the United States and Canada. "Let Your Love Grow Tall", although never being released as a single, had some popularity through its feature on the TV series Ugly Betty. The song "Moth's Wings" was used in a number of television programmes, for example the teen drama Gossip Girl, HBO's Big Love and Sky Sports coverage of the UEFA Champions League.
2009 saw Passion Pit perform at the Glastonbury Festival. A year later, they supported Muse on part of their tour, and went on to headline the Campus Consciousness Tour aiming to promote environmentally-friendly lifestyles.
On May 7, 2012, the first track from the group's new album Gossamer was released, called "Take a Walk", and became one of the band's most successful singles - later being voted by the listeners of Australia's alternative radio station Triple J Hottest 100 into number 46 of the hottest 100 tracks for the year. The album later launched on July 20th 2012.
It was announced in 2013 that the band would be headlining the first ever "Coastline Festival" in Florida with Two Door Cinema Club and Matt & Kim. In September of that year Passion Pit released the Constant Conversations EP.
In April 2015 Passion Pit released their latest record entitled Kindred.
Biography by Contactmusic.com