interview with Height from Baltimore as seen in TheThrowAwayDays issue #2

TheThrowAwayDays: Recently you've had some coverage in national publications. How did that come to be and was it to any real advantage or just another thing to add to a press kit?
Height: Good question. People come up to me at shows and say, "I heard you on the Shark Tank album," or " I saw you open for Dan Deacon" but no one ever says "I read your track review on rollingstone.com and decided to check it out. That's never happened once.

The only positive effect I've been able to detect is that getting press has made long time fans happy for me.

TTAD: I feel like you're always rapping about wooden spoons. What's the deal with that? Are you to wooden spoons and rap what Salad Fingers us to rusty spoons and internet cartoons?
Height:

TTAD: If you didn't tour pretty much full time what would you do?

Yes!
Height: I always wish I had more time to write and record. Being on a deadline can be good, but if I was just posted up in Baltimore for 365 days a year, I'd like to think I would grind even harder on the music-making end.

When I played in places like Ukraine, I met groups that are not able to tour at all, due to their financial reality and the cultural reality of their world. You either win the music business lottery and make it big or you just stay in your hometown. It would be nice to not have this pressure to be going everywhere all the time. Still, it seems like it would be hard to devote yourself so strongly to your music, knowing that only your ten friends around town will ever hear it.

TTAD: How would/will you know your time on the road is done if it ever comes to that?
Height: I never want to stop touring. I didn't get into it on a whim. I do it because I see it as my calling. On the other hand, I'm at a crossroads in regard to how hard I want to tour in the immediate future. I'm questioning how much touring is helping me right now. I'm still doing well in the cities where I do well, and I'm still playing to empty rooms in the cities where I've always played to empty rooms.

I'm starting to think that the whole cycle of an indie act self-releasing music and doing DIY tours is losing relevance. It's not that important to press up physical media, and it's not that important to physically appear live in a certain city on a certain day. It's seems like being willing to tour the country and press up your own records used to be more of a self-empowering thing, but it's been rendered obsolete by the internet. I'm not mad at it. I'm just trying to figure out how to adapt.

TTAD: When  you wrote parts for other people in your new album did you try to write something fitting for each person specifically? Or did whoever just get whatever part?
Height: When I initially wrote the rhymes, I had on rose-colored classes as to how it would work. I expected Mickey Free to just be able to make himself sound like Grandmaster Caz, or Gavin Riley to sound like Busy Bee, or whatever it was I wanted. I didn't put much thought into what each person's voice sounded like naturally. It took a lot of trial and error, and almost every single bar on the album was recorded by eight different people until it felt right. It forced me to work with people I never really worked with before, like Eze Jackson, who has become the main guy helping me make these old school songs and sets a reality.

TTAD: Any other off the wall album concepts coming up?
Height: Yes! The next two albums will be equally off the wall sequels to my recently released period-peice album. Part two will take place in LA in the early 80's, and I'll be paying homage to acts like LA Dream Team and Egyptian Lover. Part three will be another east coast style album, also taking place in the 80's, paying homage to Crash Crew, Fearless Four, etc. I aim to release them in winter and spring, respectively.

The third Shark Tank album will be coming later this winter, and will be equally insane.

Height
http://heightwithfriends.com/
http://heightwithfriends.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Height-With-Friends/53084877130
http://heightwithfriends.tumblr.com/
@heightman


interview by Cody Jones/Stillborn Identity

https://www.facebook.com/stillcody
stillbornidentity.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/stillborn-identity
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stillborn-Identity/154438521280723
https://www.youtube.com/user/stillcodentity
@CodyJonesSTLBRN

Shark Tank interview from May

   Yet another interview I did months ago and never did anything with. I did this interview with Shark Tank when they played a Pittsburgh release show for their new release Fun Youngs. They're super nice, I got the chance to meet all these fools in the past. Even if you're not into what they're doing, you should still go see them to see their nonstop hilarious onstage banter. In this interview the group talked about how the members met, the unfortunate "death" of former member Mickey Free, and some future plans.

TheThrowAwayDays:Who is, and what is Shark Tank?
Shark Tank-Lord Grunge: Shark tanks is a conglomeration of independent rap artists. Independent emcees that met a long time ago, and have been boys for a long time. And it is myself, Lord Grunge from Grand Buffet, my man Height from Height with Friends, and my man B. Rich has a band called Slaves of Spanky in Ontario.
Shark Tank-B. Rich: Stand up
LG: Stand up.

T-TAD: How did you guys meet, and what happened to your fourth member, Mickey Free, who is apparently dead?
LG: Mickey Free didn't actually die, although it wouldn't be inaccurate to say he's basically dead to me. I'll always have love for him, but in my mind he's passed away. No I don't know, I don't meant to bogart this interview, but I feel like Mickey is an extremely talented dude. He's an emcee, he's a producer, he's ridiculously talented. He just wasn't in the right mind set to do another DIY project. He's all about trying to stack his paper, and get this record deal or some shit like that. Which is cool, which is cool. But like, Shark Tank, is kind of not about not giving a fuck. We're just trying to do our shit regardless weather anyone cares. And I don't think he was in the right mind state to do that, so he respectfully bowed out. There's no beef. Even though dude is dead to me, he's cool. He's like the coolest dead dude ever.

T-TAD: Alright, well how did everyone else in the group meet? Just through solo projects, or through Grand Buffet touring or what?
Shark Tank-Height: We met, Me and Grunge met, in 2000. I had a group called Wombs, it was our first and last tour. And it was on the last day of it we played Roboto Project(in Pittsburgh). And we played with Grand Buffet, and had never heard of them or heard them before. But I think it turned out to be a really awesome show. And as I went solo Grand Buffet has always helped me do my thing. You know what I mean, So we been doing various shit together for a long time, and then we met(pointing at B. Rich)well you two met before...
LG:  Yeah, B. Rich was, no disrespect, on my dick a little bit.
BR:  Little bit.
LG: Yeah.
BR: I mean, shit was tight.
LG: Grand Buffet fan,(smirking at the camera) who turned out to be very nice on the mic.
BR: Yeah I booked a show for GB, in my hometown, in the great white North, in 04. and Big Height and Mick Free were the opening acts, and I guess it jumped off from there a little more I guess…
LG: Yeah it wasn't till 2009 when we actually started making songs together and stuff. But I kinda feel like that trip, the tour, we had Mick and Height opening for Grand Buffet we met. Well I had met you before then, but like we kicked with Brendan, and it was like this dudes tight yanno, some day something is gonna go down with all these dudes.
BR: No homo.
LG: No homo.

T-TAD:(laughs) Hell yeah. Well what do you think it would take for Shark Tank to be your main focus, you all seem to have your solo projects you're pretty wrapped up in. Is there any chance of that happening?
LG: It's something we wanna do regardless, I mean if Shark Tank ever gets the jump off. I mean of Cock Fork, or whatever, yanno. if someone ever gets behind Shark Tank, I think we'd all rise to the occasion, But I kinda feel like the goal is to keep making records regardless of anyone giving a shit. We would love it go off big, I think we'd all be very amped. But the purpose is just to crank out these records no matter what.

T-TAD: What's different about Shark Tank than about any of your solo stuff? What are some different elements that people will recognize that's different about your solo shit?
Height: Well I know for me, my solo stuff is kind of getting away from just like rapping over beats, More like either I'm trying to start the song from scratch with instruments, then kinda make it into a beat. Or whatever, I have different concepts and shit. But I feel like for me Shark Tank is more where the beats rhymes and stuff goes.
T-TAD: More conventional rap?
Height: No, not even conventional. I think for all of us, that's always been a thing, just making beats and rapping over them. Keeping it straight to the point. For me at least that's where that kind of stuff goes now. That side of myself or whatever, I dedicate towards that, if that makes any sense.
LG: Yeah, I mean I think with Shark Tank, we're keeping it rappy. Where with other project we've explored different genres. Like the Grand Buffet shit was kind of like experimental rap. Yeah I think the rap shit is going down more so in Shark Tank.
BR: Yeah I think for me the difference is it's tight to be able to rap and hang out with dudes that don't say "ey" all the time. I guess from my end of it, it's way more like rap. I'm in like rap bands. I do this rap band shit at home, it's fire. But this is way more like straight up rap to me compared to other shit I've worked on.

T-TAD: Last question, what are the future plans for Shark Tank? It's kind of hard for you guys to get together, just the cost of getting all three of you in one place for a short weekend tour. Do you guys have anything longer tours in mind?
LG: The tentative plan, and this is definitely subject to change. When we're gonna drop another record next year, we drop that, the plan is to do a proper tour. Do like a month long north American tour. In the mean time we are hoping to do some gigs, probably late summer or fall, do another run supporting Fun Youngs. But again, card subject to change, that's the loose plan. The next album "Don't Fuck with Us" which we've already started grinding on, will come out in 2013, the plan is to do a bonefied tour for it. But we're gonna continue the sporadic gig bullshit for the rest of this year.




PS once I steal a faster internet connection I'll upload some videos to youtube to link I filmed at the show.