On the Verge: Foster the People

Shoot 'em up style: Foster the People's Pumped Up Kicks is the kind of record that sneaks up on listeners. Even with its insidiously catchy chorus - multitracked falsetto voices singing "All the other kids with the pumped-up kicks/You better run, better run, outrun my gun" — it often requires several repeats to realize that it's a creepy character study of a kid playing with his father's firearm. By that point, of course, they're hooked: Pumped Up Kicks is already a top-five hit on USA TODAY's alternative-rock airplay chart, and it's picking up steam at alternative-adult radio, too.

Head case: "For me, the song's not about the external story of what's happening, it's more about what's going on inside his head," says keyboardist/guitarist Mark Foster of Pumped, which has sold more than 222,000 downloads. "The kid's an outcast, he doesn't fit in — he's like a cowboy kid living in a city. It's about his mental breakdown."

Torches tunes: Foster formed the Los Angeles-based trio in 2009, and Pumped went viral in early 2010. The band released a four-song EP in January and will put out its first full-length album, Torches, on May 23. The band's broad-ranging pop music relies heavily on synthesizers and dance-rock beats but is difficult to pin down stylistically. "We want to make music that's multigenre and doesn't really have any boundaries but is still something you could sing along to," Foster says.

The name game: Initially, Cleveland native Foster, 27, was going to call his trio — which also consists of drummer Mark Pontius, 26, and bassist Cubbie Fink, 28 — Foster & the People. But enough of his friends misheard the name — and liked the mangled moniker better — that he eventually switched. "'Foster the People' — that's like 'Take Care of the People,' 'Do Something for the People,'" he says. "The first few shows that we played were for charities. It kind of clicked: Foster the People, that's us."

Choir boy: In places, Foster the People's vocals, with their penchant for heavy reverb and falsetto, resemble French band Phoenix on a Beach Boys bender. Foster's love of vocal parts may trace back to the four years he spent as a youth singing in the Cleveland Orchestra's choir. "That was my professional debut, being on stage in front of 3,000 people and playing five shows in a row," he says. One of the highlights: singing Mahler's Eighth Symphony under the direction of the legendary choral director Robert Shaw. "That was a milestone moment for me, musically," he says.

Knowing the score: Foster has a background in scoring music for film and television, including some work for comedian/actor Andy Dick. "He's super off-the-cuff," Foster says. "As a musician, you have to be on your toes to follow where he goes." Foster also roomed with the late actor Brad Renfro, who moonlighted as a guitarist with the band Frodad. "I produced the last song that he recorded before he died," Foster says.

Building on the buzz: After generating one of the biggest buzzes coming out of April's Coachella music festival, Foster the People already has sold out half the dates on its second U.S. tour, which starts June 1 in Portland, Ore. On the road, the group supplements its sound with two musicians who add harmonies and melodic parts. That's a good thing, because the band members do a considerable amount of switching around of instruments. "We've got a lot of gear on stage," Foster says. "If there's something that nobody can play, if all of our arms are tied, we'll sample it and trigger it live."