"I'm just a skinny white boy" sings bassist Remi Gits of SOULVITAMINS in their song "If I Were Frank Sinatra." That description seems to be a bit modest. For on the band's debut album, Fritz, it is apparent that "musician" is the term that should be used foremost. The trio on that disc is a triumvirate of powerful, driving, loud players... having fun with the funk.

The band that made Fritz was Remi, drummer Dan Leali and guitarist Greg Suran. Fritz received national attention in Guitar Player and charted on CMJ. In support of the disc and the airplay on over 250 radio stations, the band toured America and playing with such acts as NRBQ, Sublime, Cake, and The Radiators. With the album's European release (an 11-track version) on Polygram Records-distributed Dutch label Crisis Records in the Spring of 1996, guitarist Tom Sanchez replaced Suran. The story of Soulvitamins must start with their leader and songwriter, Remi Gits.

To see Remi Gits onstage one might think he was playing bass since he was born, but working on the bottom end is a very recent development. He started his musical career behind the keyboards. Coming from a very large family where music was part of one's education he took to the piano quite early, even studying with Chicago jazzman Marshall Vente. When he first started playing in bands his main instrument was the Yamaha CP-20. In the band Stage Left (with guitarist Rick Fritz) he made his writing, lead singing and recording debut with a self-released single, "Gone."

He was studying jazz theory and kept playing in rock bands aiming for commercial success but something seemed very wrong. "I was in a band where everything was on computers. It was the glam dance thing...computer generated dance mixes... tight leather pants, eye-liner...I even pretended to play onstage. I wanted to help my friends and get a record contract. I had completely sold out. I was so disgusted. I never want to have anything to do with pre- programmed music again." He took months off and taught himself to play bass. "I didn't listen to anything. I just got a bass and did chromatic runs. I picked that instrument because you can hit it really hard and still move around." Finding fellow spirits who would take the fledgling bassist seriously was difficult. Future Soulvitamins Suran and Leali were both more developed players on their chosen instruments when they first encountered Remi.

Dan Leali's first drum was a hand-me-down snare from Sears. He took to sincere studying on a Del-Rey kit. "My parents were always supportive, though not necessarily of playing rock'n'roll. Mom's parents owned Silvio's (the West Side blues club) but she didn't care for it. They like it much more when I wear a tux." Leali's skills developed quickly and he was jobbing and recording as a teenager, even teaching. His first major rock band was an outfit he joined at its inception: Tic Tah. They were moderately successful locally but he left for a brief time and returned to find guitarist Suran in the group. Tic Tah was soon changing its direction and its name to the Stonebillies. At the same time bass player Gits was looking for Soulvitamins. "I agreed to meet and jam. I thought he was a great guy...hysterical. And he already had some of the songs down."

Greg Suran started with an Airline Electric guitar and went the traditional metal route at first: listen to AC/DC and Van Halen, study the videos, play in lots of bands. Then he abandoned rock'n'roll to study classical guitar at Northwestern University. "Everybody was really well-versed in their knowledge of classical music. I didn't know anything. I did have a good theory background and reading ability but it took me a while to catch up. In this period I didn't listen to any rock. I was trying to 'purify' myself. A friend of mine was producing a band called Tic Tah and asked me to play with them. I tried to find out what attracted me to rock in the first place. The reality is that the music I really like to play the most is rock. I had just been pretentious."

In the first months of Soulvitamins the line-up fluctuated a bit but eventually Suran and Leali left the Stonebillies to perform full-time with Gits. Their incendiary live shows are what led to their signing with nationally-distributed independent Whitehouse Records. They had self-released two cassette collections of original material, primarily penned by Gits but credited to all the members. Many of the songs were re-done for the compact disc, Fritz. The title has dual references to the icon pictured on the album's cover that is often hanging from Gits' neck and to the producer/engineer of the album: former Stage Left guitarist Rick Fritz.

When Suran couldn't meet the increasing touring demands of the band, Tom Sanchez took over the six-string spot "I've known Remi since we went to St. John of the Cross grade school in Western Springs together. When I was 12 I bought my first electric, a Ventura, and played with Remi in a few bands during high school." Sanchez went on to Berklee, graduating with a B.A. in music with a specialization in production and engineering. "I had felt that my guitar playing wasn't good enough and that I wanted to twist knobs instead. But when I left school I found myself enjoying a gig as a reggae and calypso player down in Florida."

Upon his return to Chicago Sanchez was first asked to join the newly-formed Soulvitamins. "I had been watching Remi develop as a writer and now as a bass player. I wasn't interested in joining him at the stage he was at." Sanchez found work as both a studio engineer and as lead guitarist in harp ace Kevin Purcell's Night Burners blues band. "I wrote only one song for that band, "Wouldn't Change A Thing" which is on their Movin' In For The Kill album." Sanchez wanted to explore his own music and briefly moved to Los Angeles. The only tangible result of that stay was some shots of him faking acoustic guitar in Robin Zander's "I'll Only Have You" video. When he returned to Chicago, Soulvitamins was fully-realized, active and Fritz had been released. When the opportunity came this time to join up Sanchez was eager to sign on.

All four musicians contributed songs to the 9-track sequel to Fritz, titled Rushed To Market. The album was made available only on cassette, due to the band's
current inactive status. Tom Sanchez and Dan Leali can be seen playing in the red-hot band Liquid Soul, and Remi Gits is currently one-half of the duo Torturing Elvis.