The Digression Sessions - Ep. 148 - Height Keech! (@Heightman)

Episode Date: January 19, 2015

We are joined by rapper and fellow podcaster, Height Keech aka Height aka Dan Keech! Height Keech is, a rapper / talk-singer from Baltimore, MD.  You can listen to his podcast, Height Zone World, here - https://soundcloud.com/height-zone-world Height Keech's new album, Talk Singer, drops on 1/31/15. You can follow him on twitter - @HeightMan Also, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @JoshKuderna – Josh Kuderna @MikeMoranWould – Mike Moran @DigSeshPod – For Podcast Updates! Please do the Dig Sesh a solid and subscribe to and rate us on iTunes, or Stitcher! Say hi on Twitter and Facebook. And check out the rest of the Thunder Grunt podcast network!

Welcome to the Digression Sessions Podcast. Hey, everybody. I'm Josh Koderna. And I'm Mike Moran. And you're listening to the Digression Sessions Podcast, a Baltimore-based comedy talk show hosted by two young, handsome stand-up comedians slash improvisers. Join us every week as we journey through the world of comedy and the bizarreness of existence. As we interview local and non-local comedians, writers, musicians, and anyone else we find creative and interesting. Yes.

Who's the guest this week? Dan Keach is a guest on this week's program, a.k.a. Height, a.k.a. Height Keach. He's a Baltimore-based rapper. He also has a podcast called Height Zone World, which is available on SoundCloud. And he has a new album coming out on January 31st called Talk Singer. And he'll be doing an album release show and slash party at the Wind Up Space here in Baltimore on January 31st at 9 p.m. So go see him. He's a great, great live act.

And Dan's a super nice dude. He's been in the rapping game. He's been rapping for a while and going on tour. And we talked to him all about that and how he got started and highs and lows of touring and that type of thing. And yeah, this was really cool. It's nice, again, to meet really cool, talented Baltimore artists. And we're on a nice run of really good musicians here in the area that are super nice. And yeah, it was a great, it was a really fun episode. I had

a great time. This was an early morning one where we had some coffee. It was 10.30 in the morning, crack of 10.30. And we're all in the basement just having ourselves quite the time. So yeah, get into it. Enjoy the podcast. You can follow Dan on Twitter as well. He is at Heightman. And he has a really great podcast himself, which you should check out. Thank you for listening. Sorry for the delay in episodes. But yeah, got busy. You know, that's how it goes in this crazy workaday world. When you're trying to record an intro in the bed of your your own home on a Monday. But thank you for listening. We could promote some things here for the digression sessions.

Myself, Josh Kaderna, and Mike Moran have some upcoming dates. Let's see. This Wednesday, the 21st, I'll be at Ragtime in Arlington, Virginia, hosting a stand-up show there. On the 23rd, I will be in Delaware with Mike Farnozzo at the World Cafe. On the 30th, I will be at Don't Block the Box at the Wonderland Ballroom in D.C. And then February 4th is Chuckle Storm in Baltimore, so you guys should come to that.

Mike Moran has some dates coming up as well, which you can check out at digressionsessions.com slash calendar. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram. I am at Josh Coderna. Mike Moran is at Mike Moran Wood. The podcast is at Dig Sesh Pod. So if you want to stay up on all of our podcast updates and that

type of thing, you can do that there. And then we're also on Facebook. We have a Facebook page. Come say hi. Let us know what you like about the episodes if you're into it. Stuff you want to see on the podcast. Stuff that you would change, which is nothing. We put out a perfect product.

So feel free to tell us how much you love what we do. And that's it. Thank you so much for listening. And now let's talk to Dan. Let's talk to Mr. Height Keech. Mr. Dan Keech. All right. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. So you found out my dog's real name. Yes, my dog's name is weird. It's the other. I was like, Munza. Is that like Mensa? Is she the other. I was like, Munza. Is that like Mensa? Is she really smart? I was like, nah. I just didn't know what a dog vagina looked like, apparently.

You probably did it on purpose to make it really seem like you didn't know what a dog vagina looked like. Yeah. Like a man who's like, I don't know a lot about the anatomy of a dog. No. No, we might as well name this dog Male Penis. That's what we should call this dog. We'll settle on Munson. That's right in the middle. All right.

She'll chill out eventually. As soon as I tossed that, I realized that she could have potentially just ripped the entire podcast out of the wall. Also, the table that the electronics and coffee are on top of is not screwed into the mount. So, yeah, the whole thing could just fall.

So we're all burned with coffee. The podcast equipment is ruined. Everything's ruined. Somehow I jump up and fall back into your electronic drums and destroy that. And you blow up in the process somehow. I get electrocuted to death. I'm like, well, Dan, thanks for coming by. Good podcast.

It should be out on Monday. I wonder. It's just two seconds long. I wonder if you could find some YouTube video of horrible things happening during podcast recording. There's got to be, right? Some type of compilation. Yeah, yeah.

Besides the Gallagher walking out on Mark Maron. Oh, yeah, yeah. Funniest podcast bloopers. There's got to be. There's got to be. I feel like podcasts have been around long enough. There's got to be something like that. That would be awesome.

Just like a sound collage or something. Yeah. If it fails. I mean, there's like sound collages of weird phone calls and stuff like that on YouTube. Yeah. Like a comedic, like cameras tracking the microphone, and it's just in some guy's pants. Like, it's not recording anything. Like, oh, boy, I did it again.

That's not really what I was talking about. Is that what you mean? Is that what you mean, Mike? You know, I was just trying to guess. He brings this up every time I try to. Why aren't we putting cords in our pants? Let's do it. He's been shooting for this for years.

Could really change it all right uh mr uh mr dan keach yes in the basement with us at dig sesh hq yeah uh aka height aka height keach yes that's gonna be the the the new moniker going forward that's right oh really yeah you're changing it up yeah doing a little diddy pee i'm. Well, I'm just feeling like... You are a bad boy, though, yes. True, true. Does height drive Mercedes? No, no, no.

Does height hit the ladies? Jesus Christ. I'm sorry. We'll let you talk now. No, no. In a few minutes. Josh? How are you, Mike?

It's just... I've been going by height with friends for many years. Right. And I feel like. Now that you don't have friends. Yeah. Now that it's just me, it's just too weird. You cleared out your top eight.

It's just you. Hell yeah. But I feel like it's just too weird to be like, hi, I'm height with friends. You know what I mean? And I feel like just height, always thought was like ungoogleable kind of really yeah yeah look at the wikipedia page for for measurements yeah yeah that is what happens actually yeah yeah height keach is more specific yeah yeah uh well yeah well thank you for joining us we did the live episode which is going to come out soon. Yeah. We had you and Tommy Sambazo on.

But I felt like this is a better way to get to know Mr. Dan Keech. Oh, thanks for having me. Yeah, yeah. Thanks for doing it, man. Because at the live episode, I feel like we have to play to the audience more. And you can't really get introspective or talk about things. It was actually very surreal to be like mm-hmm cuz I feel like I've done a few podcasts and done my own podcast yeah I don't world yeah yeah but never

anything in front of our audience yeah it was very surreal to be like like I think I was okay but like to be the one dude that's not in tune with like keeping the laughs coming you know what i'm saying right yeah i can definitely relate to being that guy yeah that was the thing too yeah i didn't want to make it make a joke out of everything because you you were at the end you had a had a really nice thing to say you're like you know i just i feel like the the best because i was like what's like the best moment you've had on on tour or whatever like the the the high you're like i mean it sounds corny but just kind of everything i really love what i do and i was like that's not corny at all it's so sweet you know so i think i feel like the live element kind of takes away

from that makes a little more rambunctious yeah less uh into it like we have we have some good deep moments here on the Texas. I feel like this is where I get to know myself in a lot of ways. We have a mirror set up right in front of Moran and he just kind of talks at it and figures himself out. Yeah, okay. So the new album's coming out on the 31st.

Yeah. And then you're going to do a show at the Wind Up Space too, right? Yeah, yeah yeah yeah the album release party and that's talk singer is the new one that's the name of it all right so tell me about that tell me about the the making of that because that was that just you by yourself uh basically yeah still still mickey free on some of this mixing and nice pascal you're the only vocalist yes i do got some oohs and ahs in there right gotta get the use and ahs yeah what's the you and our budget on this thing we actually knocked all oohs and ahs out in one session wow one take yeah yeah

that's the magic of sampling just Just one O. We got that. And we'll just mix that a little bit. Yeah. Tweak the O's. But yeah, I started, it's kind of been in a very short period of time that I've been writing it. It came together kind of quick. And it's like totally more guitar-based songs. Really?

Which I kind of have done a few years ago. That was my focus for a minute. But now I'm doing that again. Are you going to perform with a band? I'm not. I'm really trying to get this one-man set type. Yeah. Cool.

Yeah. What are you bringing on the road for musical accompaniment? Nothing. just beats. I mean, it still sounds like beats to hopefully the right degree. But it's not like it wouldn't be confused. Well, then who's going to do the oohs and the ahs? They're in there. They're on tour.

So when you perform live Legend of the Oohs you're not just like playing your cd right like it's it's a track without your vocals right right but i do got some ooze and oz please i'd be willing to let go off but the oz are essential uh yeah so i i like that so basically just touring kind of with uh basically like an mp3 player kind of just uh yeah yeah like i guess i got this cdj oh it's the same deal nice yeah like what's that just like a cd player that won't skip basically there you go why don't they make all cd players like that uh i don't know because i guess they weren't thinking about like a live rap show and you know what I mean? At the factory, like, what the hell is this?

Maybe it doesn't skip. They all skip. You're fired. Get the hell out of here. Milli Vanilli could have used that. Yeah. Yeah. The Girl You Know It's Tour.

Remember that? That was the part that it froze on, the Milli Vanilli thing. Yeah, what are the odds that it would freeze? They just had to keep repeating Girl You Know it's girl you know yeah and the one guy like tried to make a dance out of it to like make it look like it was intentional he started like thrashing his head and like the coordinates the other guy left and arsinoe hall's like all right that went well okay uh yeah but there's uh i remember uh sage francis used to do that grandpa fay did that yeah um so i think that's cool i mean that's that's so easy too as far as setup like touring and just playing

with a band just practice with a band it's such a pain in the ass as far as setting everything up yeah and all that stuff yeah it's it's wild there's been 40 people in height with friends wow it's a lot of friends yeah and like 40 people that have like all you know not just done something like not all at once but like you're like the slipknot of but like that have gone on tour with me and everything else and and like it's just kind of at this point where it's like i feel like sustainability is important to me sure in a way where I wasn't thinking like that before I was just like we got to get through this next tour got to get this next set together with these other people blah blah blah now I feel like you know I just feel like I just want to sustain doing it this

way you know so what made you decided to go that route instead of just a DJ? Well, I guess just practicality, I guess. Because I do tour a whole lot. And, for example, Secret Weapon Dave, who I've worked with for the past three albums. That's a great name, by the way. Yeah, totally. the past three albums um that's a great name by the way yeah totally he um you know we would do these we did those three old school albums together and they throw back ones yeah and like obviously all the dj stuff is such a huge part of that right you know but like i couldn't really get him out on the road you know and like i don't know i i didn't want to

just kind of like find a dj you know what i mean like he's the dude i was working with i think we put something great together and yeah you collaborate well together yeah you just don't want to get to some random dude yeah you're going out on the road yeah and he he honestly really really helped me now i feel like i i don't really suffer from not having a dj because he he really showed me so much as far as like as far as like blending beats and like transitions and all that stuff that's cool that like so he talked himself out of a job basically in a way in a way but like how do you do what you do no but he he showed me like times when he couldn't go on the road he was like he was like show me how you can like kind of make a mock-up of a blend like beforehand in the garage band and just have

that on your yeah just have them flow into each other yeah yeah are you worried at all about like the anxiety of being alone on stage has it been a while since you've performed totally solo no it's it's kind of like the decision is coming after the fact or after i've already performed solo a bunch, but I'm really not. I mean, you know, I don't know. I think it can feel so amazing to have like a full band. Yeah, it's fun. Yeah. It's like your team's up there. Yeah.

But I think it can feel just as horrible to like fail with the live band. So it's like I kind of feel like it's the same it's like with playing by yourself it's like super highs and super low yeah it's all on you either yeah yeah yeah no one to be like wow man the uh cd player really dropped the fucking ball tonight i can't really blame it on anyone else it's true like with improv that's what i was thinking you don't get the highs and the lows that you do with stand-up. Yeah, there's both. Yeah, the improv thing is fun where you're like, okay, I did my part. Then you can kind of go off to the sideline because we both do improv and stand-up. So then, yeah, when you do stand-up, when you're all by yourself, like, oof.

And it goes bad, it goes bad. Yeah. There was, like. I blame it on my CD player I bring up there, though. It really fucks up at the that uh wind up show when they had the i think expert of nothing was the name yeah um when you could ask questions and my friend jason asked like an arguably like confusing question that about like the big Lebowski or something like that okay and it was like what is he has like what is like Hitler and the dude the dude but

like it was like yeah I remember seeing like mm-hmm one person just completely bomb, and then another dude being like, they both take down white Russians. Yeah, that was perfect. Wow, great line. Yeah, I think it was Brian Preston. I can see that, yeah. Expert or Nothing is a really fun game.

It's John Bennett and Pat Stork running here in Baltimore. There's live versions on Thunder Grunt. Yeah, it's on Thunder Grunt. So it's Sunday night here in Baltimoretimore and live versions on yeah yeah and then on uh yeah it's on thunder grunt and then so it's sunday night here in baltimore at the wind-up space where you basically it's like the uh uh taking the dude at the bar who like knows every subject is the is the idea and then you give them two random subjects and then they have to say how they're related right just total complete bullshit yeah but with total confidence, oh, backgammon and the Chinese. And it's good because they do like a pretty good blend of like comedians, actors and just

regular people. Yeah. Just no experience, but they can still. Yeah. No, it's a tough game on your feet. Hell yeah. Yeah. And then you like compete.

Yeah. Yeah. So you say so some of the people that are on stage have no experience yeah sometimes they're just audience members yeah or go to the show or just i think like anybody can sign up to do it and a lot of times you know like like you're saying like probably the stand-ups and improvisers are gonna like appear to be a little more clever or whatever because they have more experience with that type of thing yeah but it's still cool that like anybody can jump in and have fun yeah yeah totally yeah yeah good show but yeah no i've done it before and uh i think i did the first one

and luckily john and pat were there it was like i was in the deep end just like swimming to the wall and i was like chicken nuggets and ronald reagan is that when you're brand new uh yeah pretty much yeah and yeah and i was like they're both um john's like good i was like they're good yeah it's a it's a tough game for sure yeah uh yeah so what were we talking about oh like going out there solo so yeah you started out that way right like yeah originally it was just you yeah but it took it was it's weird it took many years for me to feel like i had a solid set on my own now did um did touring with grand buffet really kind of shape that oh yeah yeah totally because i i love those i wanted to get more in depth with with that at the live show because those guys those guys are phenomenal like i've

talked about them a bunch on this podcast yeah anybody that's at least like tangentially connected to them and like yeah we're super in the mix yeah and you guys play them too yeah yeah yeah yeah so yeah exactly yeah dark autumn is uh the bumper music and i don't think anybody ever really notices that um yeah i heard uh do you know astronautalist yeah andy i heard him on um on uh the guy from wise podcast yoni wolf yeah podcast and uh it was uh astronautalist and bluebird and they were doing like a little tour in florida and they just recorded it in the car yeah and they were talking about grand buffet and uh andy andy was talking about them and he was saying it breaks his heart because he thinks they were like four or five years too early yeah for like the youtube age because their live show was incredible like these guys were so

funny like yeah the songs are super funny but the stuff in between would like have me doubled over really yeah but it was like just before everybody was recording stuff with their phones like all of facebook now it's just videos like if somebody would have caught just two or three of their like really fire sets i think they would have blown up yeah insane and and i feel like they had not to disrespect their hustle at all but like right i feel like they had the idea for example of like a dvd of all their live performances yeah at the exact wrong time like it's like it's just a little too early too or like oh it's like when when youtube was starting it's right we got to get this all on a dvd yeah it's like kind of like the opposite of what you need to do exactly yeah yeah when uh what was it like was it five years of fireworks yeah that type of thing yeah so yeah

they would have a dvd but it was kind of in the age where it was moving more towards like the digital and streaming kind of era and right and there's like every artist was putting out a greatest hits yeah like right around 2008 or so like a million greatest hits albums came out yeah it's the last ditch effort i remember when green day did that and i was like really why are we okay all right but like there's some shit on on that dvd that's like incredible that is on the internet now like like did you ever watch that yeah yeah like there's like there's that show where they're playing at like a high school in ohio outside yeah yeah and like jackson like climbs the roof of the school and like his rabbit on top of the school yeah dude jackson is so funny man yeah he uh yeah jackson and uh lord grunge first

of all great great names jackson was great but don for a while and uh but yeah their live show when i first saw them i saw them in annapolis with uh geppetto yeah and uh yeah i was just getting into rap too but i did it but rap that didn't really have a sense of humor about itself right you know it was always very self-serious and these guys you know are rapping about bubble gum and baseball cards and stuff like that or being a babysitter yeah yeah it's so good um and uh they're on stage and they're like and i think i was like 15 at the time and uh there were these shows in annapolis we used to go to his high school kids like we're cool at the the rock show at the pizza place and uh jackson was like all right how many of you guys are above 14 and i was like me i'm 15 he's like all right maybe your balls will drop

from the base here's the next song and it's like can he say that what and yeah we went out so uh we're friends with geppetto and uh they all went out to dinner afterwards at Double T Diner. And I just thought these dudes were like the funniest. So I'm just watching them at the table. And Jackson leans to somebody at his right, and he's like, have you had the cheese steaks? Are they good? And then that person doesn't answer him. Then he looks at the person to the left.

He's like, I'm going to have the cheese steak. Just total strangers? Yeah. Well, no, like the band. Everybody's kind of friends, but nobody's really paying attention to him. And he just looks at the dude at his left. He goes, I'm going to have the cheesesteak. I hear it's world famous.

And I'm just like, who are these people? Nice. So, yeah, they were so good. So I remember trying to see them whenever they would come to Baltimore. And I think that's the first time I saw you. I feel like the show was at Auto Bar. It was like grand buffet dan deacon before he really blew up in height i think does that sound does it sound

like something that could have been a reality new auto bar old auto bar uh the new one i don't know that might have happened i might have just or i might have just like gotten on for a couple songs okay maybe done like a song or two with them uh, and that was before Dan Deacon was Dan Deacon. I was like, who is this fucking weirdo? He's never going to mount his shit. And now I'm like, get the fuck out of here. Grand Buffet is here, bro. You're six foot nothing.

You're a hundred nothing. Yeah, get out of here. Yeah, so that's where I first became aware of you and then uh kind of got into your stuff and then it was cool running into mickey like years later through the comedy circuit and then he does music and then finding out that you guys like were like really good friends and collaborate and stuff so it's uh so like you were saying the the part that feels good about like just doing music is meeting really cool people so that's why i was like oh shit we gotta get height on the podcast hell yeah hell yeah so um yeah so tell me about like the beginning like getting started you grew up around here like

how do you end up on tour with uh grand buffet um well i when i was in high school, it was like me, Mickey, and three other guys, his brother Chris, Jones, and Shields. We all had a group together called Wounds. And I thought it was really awesome. When I think back to it, I remember thinking that I had no idea what was going to happen if we had a rap group. You know? Like, I think back to, like, we messed around with bands and stuff, too. And I always felt like I know exactly what's going to happen with our bands like you know it'd be like okay you play at these places and then you do this and i was like i have no idea for better or worse like what's going to happen like performing live or that yeah just where does this go exactly exactly

it doesn't seem like at that age it was like that common for like in high school i didn't i didn't really know any like i knew plenty of bands like punk bands and stuff was like that common for like in high school i didn't i didn't really know any like i knew plenty of bands like punk bands and stuff but it didn't seem like there's a lot of guys getting together to form rap groups yeah not at all it seemed like it was more of a solo thing and it wasn't really like accepted in you know yeah there was any high school and there wouldn't be much of a mix it shows either it wasn't like all right we can all play the elks yeah it was like no it's metal night at the elks lodge or yeah and yeah exactly and and i feel like like at my school it was more like people being like oh i got some studio time or something and then you'd never really hear about it it was more like you go to the studio and make a demo and then

do god knows what like You know what I mean? You brag about it. Yeah, yeah. You use it to hold up your table at home. That's my demo right there. Exactly. You send one copy into Death Row Records and cry when you don't feel better. Yeah.

But yeah. Dear Mr. Shug, my name is Timmy. Dearest Shug, my name is Dan. You're writing with a quill my dearest shug how i long for the warmth of your bosom my loins burn to be on death row sorry sincerely dan But yeah, I guess we formed this group, and it was really, really fun. And I thought we actually, for being so young, I felt like we really had something. And I remember we did a small tour the summer between high school and when people would be starting college. Oh, that's so fun and like yeah it was it was i felt and with that i felt that's another thing where it was like not the right timing maybe like it was like it's weird how that like you just never know yeah

totally gonna go out there like yeah i guess you could say most things that people try aren't the right yeah i think like the ones think the ones that get lifted up by media just happen to be doing it while there's a crest. Even those people when they're in the crest, they don't know. They're like, okay, the media's really catching on to this.

If you are doing that, chances are you're too late. That's why I think when you read rock star bios and stuff like that they're always like we went out there and we worked hard until we wouldn't take no for an answer yeah because they don't notice that they're just happening to be like in the middle of like absolutely they just happen yeah they're on the rise yeah exactly yeah no it is crazy like scenes like that when they start you know what i mean like chicago and second city and that type of thing and like just seeing like that steve carell and stephen colbert were part of the same cast and

john favreau was there like just all these like super famous people weren't like we're all going to chicago in 20 years we're gonna be famous as shit it's all like retrospective we don't see the people that were like i think detroit is where improv is gonna happen totally right exactly so yeah you just go. And you're like, fuck it. I like this stuff. Let's see what happens. But it does seem like there's a certain amount of hard work that has to go into just being qualified for that lottery.

You know what I mean? Absolutely. Totally. But, yeah, I think. You got to go out there. You can't take no for an answer. I think it's. I've heard this saying one time. i hope i don't fuck it up but it's like

that there's like a million explanations for failure and none for success like like that like when something doesn't work there's just infinite ways to be like oh well you should have gotten a publicist everybody Everybody's like an armchair quarterback or retrospective quarterback. Or like, you know, a philosophical quarterback. Yeah.

And then when someone succeeds, it's more like, are you magic? Can I have your money, please? That's what you say to successful people yeah dear shug are you magic can i have a little bit of your blood please your magic magic blood but but i do think there is uh like the good thing about all that is that even if you don't happen to catch on to that uh wave of of whatever it is that propels people to stardom, you can still do your thing.

Oh, yeah. At least on a local level or a more indie level, you can do your art and people can hear it and see it. You don't have to be starving in the streets to do it necessarily. Oh, totally. Yeah. I guess when I say that, I'm bringing it up to say there wasn't enough going on to like keep a group together to be

like say like we did our our first tour and it was kind of like right and put out an album which I'm still like really proud of yeah but I remember yeah with with that group called you got studio time basement studio hell yeah you got studio time right now yes but yeah i don't know but but that quickly all the it was weird all these things kind of i had all this beginner's luck i felt like because i was like i was like i should just keep going and do this like solo album and everything and it was like the amount of cluelessness that i had about any form of music business even like the punk kind of like diy music business like it was like a miracle that anything happened but but but it was like miracle tour well you must have been doing something right

i mean it sounds like you were showing up and performing and recording and stuff there was yeah yeah but it sounds cool too it sounds like you were just so pure like it's kind of like i feel like when you're just starting stand-up like some people like they just don't know they're like if this sucks or whatever like you know what i mean like they just go up there and they're like yeah this is what i like or like there's no pretense about it right and even if they're super green there's still something endearing about it and they do well because they're excited and they're like yeah oh if you had like half a mind you wouldn't say that joke but the fact that like you're selling this joke whatever yeah exactly yeah exactly so was it like that where you're just like i'm just having fun and i'm just kind of rolling with the punches here well i think i had this kind of

like not yeah naive like excitement but also like this uh passion i guess and like i i just i i still remember this time so long ago like really well because i felt like it was kind of like I felt like I was just like as a kid and like a teen kind of like just like a ghost in my own life at certain times. Like I just wasn't the most like present person. Just chilling in the cut. Yeah, yeah. And I felt sort of like I felt overshadowed a lot by like, like Mickey and I in particular always like hung out with like older dudes,

and I felt like I was around a lot of kind of like wild personalities and stuff, and I just was always like, yeah, just kind of in the cut, you know. Yeah, well, you're not going for the spotlight. You're like, all right, these older dudes are kind of in the cut you know yeah well you're not going for the spotlight you're like right these older dudes are kind of center stage right i'll chill yeah and then and then at one point for whatever reason it was just like it was like fuck everything else but doing this like like i i felt so like i have to do this to like this huge extreme you know right like like say going on that first tour with grand buffet it was it's so like audacious looking back for this like because it was like a national tour yeah basically yeah and

it was basically me being like all right us guys are all going on our first national tour well i heard the episode you did with grunge didn't you book kind of most of it before yeah and then like they kind of found out and they're like i think you bit off a lot here like probably too much to chew for yourself like do you mind if we join you're like no no or like i had asked them to join oh okay okay but it's like look like at the time it was just like yeah i think we should do it together but it's like looking back it's like what the fuck would it have been if it just me had you even like traveled that much like had you been to the west coast or anything before no

no so that's great you're like i haven't even been to these states but i'm booking shows there like i'm right going out there like yeah i think that's fucking awesome yeah and and like i put i had put together an album which like that was another crazy thing like because there was a group that i don't know if you guys it would be unlikely if you remembered them but do you happen to remember a group called dog and pony that was from baltimore slash it kind of rings a bell but no they were like to this day one of my favorite groups ever really and they and they were like kind of like the like coming from a like andy kaufman of rap okay perspective or like fucking with the audience and stuff yeah it was kind of like i i just remember this this one time they're like they're like all right this is our last song it's called something i can't remember what they called it and then it was just like a break beat for

three minutes and like the main mc just like said nothing and just like slowly like took this like lantern out of a bag and then it was just like raise it to the top and then that was like all right good night everybody like and like and it was like it was amazing it was like good it was like good music but also hilarious and kind of like conceptual and stuff yeah like outside the box just different yeah yeah and they they were like um kind of like movers and shakers at the time i felt like they and and they they invited me to go on my very first smaller solo tour cool and how old are you at that time like 18 uh-huh and then and that um was amazing in itself and i was just like amazed to even be like selected like invited you know and then on that tour they're like they're like oh you you have a you're working on new songs you should put out an

album on our label and it was just like oh fuck yes like nice because it's just like would have been like the tape release otherwise which was still like sort of okay at the time yeah but like but it was like it's weird like my first album i ever made which is definitely a little amateurish was like mastered by the dude that masters like jay-z's records really yeah they like went all out on like nice on like and it still sounds amateurish oh well well i'm amateurish but but he made it sound as that's cool man it must have been like surreal at that age yeah yeah it was like and it's not the kind of thing like nothing that was happening was like like making me like famous or anything is like but it was all like i just couldn't i couldn't believe

how many like little like lucky things had come together but even just being in the mix there too and that's yeah like it's just uh i love those stories too where you're like well i guess this is how it happens and you don't realize how rare it is or something right we should put out your album okay yeah i'm gonna put out an album glad you approached me you know like yeah but it is i wonder how much of it is like there must be like a lot of people you've met who like want to rap or like kind of rap here and there and like want to be doing what you're doing but they just like don't i mean it sounds like you really like put in the time into your craft and uh recording and getting out there and performing and everything yeah yeah i felt i felt like i had for for better or worse i had at least developed

a unique style but then so so i guess that was my if anything and i was a nice guy too so it's like i guess that was my two that's such a huge part totally it's like in the comedy world too like you know people are like why aren't i getting on shows and stuff like it's like well if you're a dick that's certainly not gonna help oh yeah it's not like somebody's like hey what's that asshole doing we should get him to open right why do so many like celebrities seem like assholes but it doesn't last afterward i i think once the like probably what we're talking about like going through all that shit for so long finally like yeah i'm here fuck you fuck everybody so people turn into egomaniacs once they probably um yeah you know and then you do have people around you i'm sure that are like

you're great you're like yeah i know yeah and but i don't feel like that's sustainable unless you're like super super talented but even then like you never hear like and then he was an asshole forever you know what i mean i don't know miles davis yep oh yeah well i mean he was making great music so if you're good enough you can i think people tolerate that yeah probably yeah yeah if you're talent to asshole ratio you got you got to work on that big ratio yeah exactly keep it balanced my my wife's friend told me this story that I always think about. I don't know how it happened, but she ended up hanging out with Big Daddy Kane for a while. Uh-huh.

Like backstage at a show or something. They're chilling with like 10 people or something like that and she's talking about him just coming with these non-sequiturs about himself just talking about himself yeah just being like in 1988 i had a pair of suede ballets like when you're that successful you can just like steer the conversation yeah possible what you want and it must be weird to be like i know people will want to hear these like gems about yeah yeah i believe it was the spring of 91 i was in brooklyn there was a christmas in the air it's like uh-huh go on big daddy go on go on there's a christmas there's a christmas there's a christmas in the air there There's a Christmas in the air.

There's a Christmas a-brewing. Kane's crazy. Better take the cows in. He's crazy. There's Christmas. He starts talking like a pioneer. Yeah, I could never do that. Just be like, yeah, well, here's another story about me that you guys didn't ask about. Come gather around and we'll tell a tale.

Do you think you might become like that if you had that kind of attention for like well dan that reminds me of a story the year was 96 i was 10 that's my story i just beaten up mike tyson i've been working on it for a long time uh yeah no i i hope not i hope not if i ever do please uh yeah i don't i don't think you would too much no no i'm not saying you specifically me specifically like most cool people that i know wouldn't but then again who knows maybe maybe i have no idea real quick this is a non-sequitur not about me do you guys see that Obama was at Charmington yesterday? Yes, I did. Barack Obama.

Yes. This country's president. Yeah. Socialist in chief. Yeah, yeah. This sumbitch. But he was at a coffee shop that we go to here in Baltimore. That's crazy.

Yeah. I tweeted at him. I tried to get him on the podcast. Did you really? I was thinking like. Yeah. Because we interviewed Patton Oswalt. I thought about that for a second because we interviewed him and uh we interviewed pat and at a common ground and coffee shop yeah so i tweeted out like hey you got time for a podcast you know podcasts and coffee shops are kind of our thing so he didn't yeah he didn't know josh i listen to the dig set. I'm a dig head.

I'm just busy, okay? I got to give you guys props, by the way, for the Patton Oswalt. Oh, thank you, man. When you broke down the story, I feel like I would have had a panic attack if I had tried to be like. It was completely insane. I was at the gym, and I get a text from Josh, come to Common Ground. We're interviewing Patton Oswalt. Yeah.

And I'm like, okay. Well, the best was you called me, and you go like, well, I'm at the gym. I mean, should I shower? I was like, Mike, do what the fuck you got to do. Well, no, my question was, do we need to get there right now and make this happen immediately, or do we have time? I was just like, Mike, I don't care if you stink. Patton Oswalt said, let's get into it. I was like, should I come't care if you stink Pat and I was like let's get into it I was like should I come up showing Looking shitty but like now

Yeah Moderately less shitty What shit level are we speaking of here Yeah No it's completely sweet But that's definitely an example of somebody who's hugely successful And isn't an asshole Not even close

Like nicer than most uh yeah yeah and he seems like a dude kind of like what we're talking about where he was always just kind of following his passion whether it's a stand-up or comics or writing or books and that has always kind of kept him grounded yeah you know what i mean so it seems like yeah like what you're saying like i just kind of found this thing that i really dug and i was just gonna follow right forever yeah yeah i gotta give him props too because that also you guys could have done everything as right as you could and still it could have been super fucked up yeah it's like what the hell is this yeah this is like bullshit yeah i mean he could have even even just done it for like five minutes be like well Alright see you later guys

Yeah that's I figured we were Just gonna get in there Like get a quick few words Yeah Be grateful for that But I mean He went all out

Josh like jokingly Asked that he Buy us pumpkin spice lattes And we show up And they're there And we're like Oh Yeah I felt bad too

I was like Oh I was just being sarcastic He's like well You can't read sarcasm On Twitter And I was like sorry Yeah I just being sarcastic he's like well you can't read sarcasm on twitter sorry yeah i tried to pay him for it he wouldn't let us yeah yeah he was like what are you doing yeah i can afford it it's like let me share i mean i figured that was the case but i thought it would be rude yeah i know yeah i know yeah he was uh he could not have been cooler yeah i mean just even just as a dude like so nice took pictures with everybody yeah my friend

and uh tracked him down she found me on facebook and she was like where is he and i was like i think he went to like the he probably went to atomic books that's like bookstore off the avenue swear to me jesus and um and i was, I think he's an atomic book. So she went and found them. And she just had a baby. She's like, I'm going to bring the baby so I don't look crazy. Moms aren't crazy, right? She just tracked him down.

She'll have to be nice to me then. Yeah. And she said. This is your baby, Pat. Where have you been? But yeah, she's like, yeah, you just did my friend Josh and Mike's podcast. He was like, oh, I love that. I had so much fun.

Like, it was so, like, even just that, like, saying that to her, like, oh, that's so cool. Yeah, and he said the same thing to somebody else working on Veep, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, just one of those things, too, where, like, also where you meet a cool dude and, like, you'll just sing his praises forever. Like, I won't let anybody ever say a bad word about me. Yeah, well, he'll get,'ll get at least some free press from us for the rest of our lives. Yeah, so it would have been nice to get Barack on the pod.

He could have had that. Apparently he has more important things to do. Whatever, whatever. But yeah, that is always nice when you meet somebody that is a hero of yours and they're cool. Because I've definitely met some shitty comedians and I'm like oh boy you just turned guys over a letter yeah right Paul Mike cover for me I gotta let the dog out I thought you're still doing David all right so these these throwback albums yeah what inspired you

to do that um like listening to old tapes of of live shows you know like a live guy like from like the really old school hip yeah all right mike i'm back shut the fuck up dan no but yeah like like i got into this whole thing of like yeah there's like this one guy named tape master which is a great name that's just like the serial killer like the lamest superhero ever thank you tape master wait what's his name tape master okay you know it sounded like you said taint master no way a second it's like wow that is that's a ballsy rap no taint master in the building not not a rapper a master of taping these shows gotcha gotcha gotcha oh he was okay yeah sorry so oh no no but like communique all around but like so like there's this one dude that like hooked up like i i guess like the cassette deck to like the board at like all these like old school shows like cold crush brothers or furious five or whatever and and you can people people for years have

traded these tapes to be like oh oh yeah i got a tape of cold crush at the armory in 1978 i got l brothers at wherever and they trade them but now it's like on the internet too which makes it a million times easier right so i was always like that sounds cool but how do i get into it yeah i just gotta i the only person i ever met that has a bunch of those tapes is uh edon do you know him no he toured with grand buffet okay um and and i guess percy p as well but oh yeah i know him but but yeah that but that wasn't till like way later that i met him but like but like it's all on the internet um now and it's like i just got into this thing of listening you know it's like you're listening to basically djs

just like uh quick mixing like break beats for like hours and dudes rapping and it's really wild it's like not it doesn't really feel like songs right like they didn't really have hooks or anything yeah it's like did would they like mix like different tempos and stuff or they like keep the same it went it went all over the place and like like dudes had rhymes and there were beats but it's like it's not like the beat just changes to a new beat right some random wasn't that what early hip-hop was like they didn't really start structuring them in the songs until later right right right yeah and but it was like this art form but it was like just not based on like our idea of a song right which is worse

worse yeah it was like you could do a story rhyme about like a long story rhyme about how you're the man or like how you went to heaven or something and like i feel like that's what a lot of early raps were just like now i'm on the mic and i'm the best dude ever. That's my rap. There's just one rhyme per line always. I'm going to pass it to my man named Trevor. Trevor's like, uh. I was just here to party. But the beats aren't the song in a way. There can be four different beats as a dude is doing one rhyme.

Or the other way around. One beat can go on forever. And these different things that seem like different songs just start and stop. Is there a moment that you can pinpoint where hip-hop shifted into the verse-chorus-verse structure? That's a good question because yeah because uh like the early tracks were just crazy replications of the live stuff like like sugar hill gang and stuff like like rappers the light that the like original version was like 16 minutes long or something like that and it's just it has it just kind of goes and

goes there's no hook on that right yeah yeah i would say um like curtis blow was a big part of the change like he he had hooks and and like a bridge and stuff like that and but that's kind of like if you think about it that's almost like a step backwards because it's like i love curtis blow but like but that's almost like going back to like let's make it a pop structure yeah yeah and then i i kind of look at run dmc as the start of yeah they were like the first yeah like rap super group kind of yeah and they weren't they weren't like they were you know they had their roots in in that like park jam kind of thing but they they weren't like we're some guys from there trying to go in the studio and replicate that they were they had their own yeah thing you know yeah it

was still kind of raw but still had a song structure. Yeah, yeah. But not a traditional song. Yeah. It was like the new song structure. Have you considered doing like conceptual tributes to other eras of rap? Like your DMX era? My wife had a cool idea, which is so ambitious that I didn't think it would be too crazy. But if I kept going through the eras in order,

but then I met up with... It would be cool to meet up with yourself. You know what I mean? You can finally make your own album. All right. Now, in 2011 right now right talk about narcissism narcissism heights tribute time yeah you do like a tribute to your early era i'm really progressing here i'm doing like a tribute to the tribute to the tribute but yeah

but but i guess one thing is you know because with the old school stuff i i tried very hard to um one of the things i'm really proud of with those projects is i tried to come with uh an uncensored version of rap back then because i i think that um it's when you listen to it it's very people are like these young kids went to the park and like made up their own expression and it's like so like like whitewashed in a way the history and it's like when you listen to it it's like it's like wow some of these kids are saying something like really fucked up really. Really? Yeah, yeah. The old live tape's more raw than this classic tracks that you'll hear. Yeah, yeah.

The roots of hip hop or whatever. Yeah, there's this one L Brothers tape where they bring up this girl named MC Smiley. And she sounds like she's 14 14 or something and she just kicks like the most gangster rap really for like years beyond that you know what i mean like for being 14 and she's just like i sell dust these motherfuckers want me to suck their dicks like you know like and it's like i i tried to and and and then not just as far as being explicit but also it it's very very raw and like honest yeah from like her perspective yeah story yeah and and just and even just the sound of it like they're all just kids so there's like this crazy like amateur nests and like honestly kind of like like stupidity it's like like like there's times when you're listening

to these tapes and you're like you're like why would he say that right now like like can you Can you give us an example? Like there's one where the music stops and this dude's like, that was not a gunshot. It's like that was a firecracker. Someone is shooting a firecracker off. And it's just clear that it was a gunshot. That man was killed by a firecracker yeah he won't let go of the firecracker he's probably like a jedi tricks that was a firecracker but it's weird i actually like sampled that for this other project but i left off the part where you hear him just like

laughing like like he's not supposed to be on the mic but he's just like man this is fucked up like like that's classic like the mics on like no man he's dead oh shit yeah but like shit like that i just i wanted to i wanted to like keep that like wildness and rawness in it but at the same time to answer your question i i don't want to like like say like rap in the 90s like i i don't want to like do like gangster rap or like you want to skip over the new jack swing hero definitely definitely but it's like just lyrically i i feel like to keep it consistent i i i like i couldn't do like be like this is my like onyx you know what i mean right i don't know yeah yeah uh okay so uh so let's let's circle back to to uh so when you're doing your uh first tour oh you got your album um

and now when you have your album made is that when you're like well i'm, you got your album. And now when you have your album made, is that when you're like, well, I'm going for it. I'm booking this whole thing across the country? Yes, but yeah. And then, and it unfortunately, not that it really would have mattered that much, but it didn't quite line up.

Like the album dropped immediately after that tour. Oh, really? Yeah, like like which is that that that was like the the negative side of the beginner's luck i guess or the reverse side of the coin or whatever like right like um that kind of like that label actually like sort of fell apart part around my release i think like thanks height you son of a bitch no it's just like it had to get done and like like one of the guys that worked at that label like like it's really sad but his sister had just died at that time and it was kind of like good job josh thank you we'll cut that part out no but like it was kind of like i get it put them under the super pressure

of like but we still got to get this done but we feel crazy yeah and yeah so so it kind of it was really weird all this it was like all this cool shit happened and then it was like sort of then suddenly felt like nothing happened. Like, I remember feeling like right after that tour and that album and everything, feeling like it was all like a weird dream. Cause I still was like, I feel like I just didn't understand yet about having the tenacity to just keep going and going and going and going.

Yeah. Well, now you're like at the end of it, I'm sure you're like, now what? Like, yeah, like I'll just wait for the phone to ring. Right. Yeah. You couldn't have said it better. It's more like, okay, so I get it now. Like people come in and help you.

And like, I was like, so where's the next thing hello dan it's show business oh hey yeah and honestly honestly there was like a few years that got kind of like eaten up by that you know really like i'm just kind of like waiting for it or like wondering what's next or yeah and and i was still i was like absolutely like still developing my style and what i wanted to do so it was good because it was kind of like everything was quiet yeah there was still working yeah kind of growing as an artist yeah at the same time nobody's like beating down your door to do other shit yeah and i and i felt like like pretty uh boneheaded as far as like like even even making little moves i i just i feel like i didn't quite know yet that how you kind of need to like claw and scratch to to get things done like yeah i

wanted to ask you about that because you um because you you seem like such a like like a chill dude like you seem like just the nicest guy so i can't really see you especially early on and not really knowing how it works being like can i get on that show or you know what i mean or like right like force your way through so did you during this period did you slowly like kind of realize like i might have might have to force my way in a little bit or put my name out there a little bit more than I would like to? Because like you were saying in the beginning, you were like, I'm cool just kind of hanging off to the side and letting these guys get their shine

and kind of be center stage while I'm going to do my thing over here. Did you slowly have to kind of develop, be like, all right, I'm really going to have to put myself out there? Well, at the time, there was like i felt like and i still feel this way looking back that there was like a wave of like horrible independent rap in like the early 2000s and and like i felt like there was like a wave of like opportunists okay like there was like nothing before right like you were saying like there wasn't really dude like dudes doing much on like a live level or you know and then

and then i felt like suddenly like say in baltimore like locally there was like where there was like 10 people before there was like a thousand the whole like nerd rap thing even before that i was thinking more like the the backpacker time and and it's just all these dudes that like i just i thought they just sucked in in the sense that it was like like you were saying like humorless and they're like a lot of times it was like people that just like like smoked a lot of weed and like loved rap right but they weren't really into the idea of being like artists or like or like being part of a community they're just like it's more like I look the part so I am that yeah yeah and kind

of like well we could just do our own raps and then they would pay us instead of us paying like you know just like right like no kind of like long-term yeah life plan or game plan or something like and like i always felt i think at that time i what i wasn't figuring out how to get much done and get in the mix too much, but I think I was sort of developing this idea of like, okay, I need to do something that's different than that. Like reading certain things. Did you guys ever read the book Please Kill Me? It's like the breakdown of CBGBs and stuff like that.

Yeah, I think I looked through that a bunch of times, but I never actually caught it. But like a bunch of pictures. So it's about the CBGBs era? Yeah, it's like the oral history. But it kind of starts with Velvet Underground and the Stooges and MC5 and goes into thec5 and goes into like a glossy punk rock table like coffee yeah but i remember like reading that and and feeling like

feeling like some of the things people were a lot of the people in that book were just crazy it seemed like they were just like junkies from like the beginning and just maniacs happened to play guitar yeah right but but like but a few people i felt like really moved by what they were saying and like like seeing how they kind of had to had to realize they were like weirdos and you know and be like be like okay there's this circuit of like blues bands and like all this and like we just have to kind of do it our own way and just kind of like like suffer what might be the consequences you know what i mean like yeah like just deal with like the weirdness of like embrace it yeah yeah like like i remember there's one part where the stooges are talking

about like going to this weird college show when they're first starting out and like and like iggy pop is like covered in like paint and glitter like his face is and just like like getting made fun of as he's like trying to sign into the college and everyone's like who the fuck is this i don't know it just made me be like oh well if it's not weird and uncomfortable it's almost like you're not doing it right or so like like like if just following other people yeah yeah like if everyone's just like like come on down and do you like it might be this is how you do it yeah it might be like kind of like not even worth yeah why it's not not like what i want you know i started to and also um the uh chuck d's autobiography actually a lot of like the stuff he would say about public enemy

really i i felt it's it's super interesting what's it called i never i didn't know he had uh autobiography of mr oh yeah yeah there's a cd too right like did he do like a yeah he i think he had a solo album called yeah called mr chuck or maybe was it called something like that yeah yeah but it wasn't like a around type of thing yeah yeah i think so i think so right on so that kind of like seeing that stuff kind of showed you that there is an avenue or at least a path that it's like okay i i it doesn't have to be uh necessarily like the mainstream kind of way. Right, right. Either way, there's a way to get there,

but it's not necessarily this clear-cut path. Right, and I also got this feeling like all those groups that I was learning about, that they did succeed, but they weren't like destined to succeed like like they were kind of like ready to just like fail and be crazy you know they're kind of like this this is what we're gonna do and if it if it leads somewhere cool and if if not we still did it yeah iggy pop's like i'm gonna put this gold glitter on my face and if it works cool i'll just slam heroin ended up doing both best of both worlds so that that's cool yeah that always is always exciting to hear about people

that went a different way and it still worked for them yeah that's what i think it's like exciting about comedy now too is that there are so many different avenues of success or it's people i always like hearing about people that started out doing stand-up and then ended up doing something else like yeah the dude that wrote 12 years a slave started out as a stand-up really weird isn't that insane that's crazy wow yeah yeah it is like even if it doesn't like succeed on some massive scale like it'll still be really cool to look back at this part of my life you know and like have like the old video, like, the old video clips and the old, like, flyers for shows and stuff. Yeah, I've been saving a lot of those. I think those are going to be really cool.

Yeah, definitely. Stuff to show your kids that they don't care about. Yeah. And this is me at the wind-up space. Yeah. That's grandpa. Yeah. Sure it is.

Sure we will, Mr. Homer. Sure we will. I just wanted to say that and restrain myself. Mike and I send each other simpsons quotes all the time um one of one of uh just a quick aside there's an instagram account that it's just simpson family quotes and it's so good really oh i love it i love it they always just have like quick little paused moments like uh they had one of uh martin when he's standing in front of his pool and the quote is i'll be the queen of summer now remember that episode when he had the pool yeah

ah sorry for the uh this the simpsons uh no way we should just have an entire episode of remember the episode of the simpsons remember when season five did you see judd apatow just got his episode made apparently he wrote an episode like 22 years ago how was it i didn't see it i mean either i didn't see it but i was like well maybe it'll be something that's as funny as the simpsons 22 years i know right yeah fingers crossed um okay so uh so you around that time like after the first tour you're still kind of sticking to what you're doing kind of shaping everything up and uh so then does it just progress from there and you're like i'm gonna go back out on the road i'm gonna keep doing this yeah and also something i slowly figured out was like

having a unique kind of local presence which honestly i'm kind of struggling with now because i'm just having people i'm having trouble getting people out to these baltimore shows which is yeah which is its own that's all about the story as soon as this app drops yes but take that obama his local shows are gonna suck but higher extra security but like like um yeah i think there was a change where it was just like okay like like the talking head the old auto bar and you know which became the talking head like like that room was super important as far as that's where like me and mickey free jones shields everybody that's where we all the people that i was playing with at that time that's where we sort of like made our own little space where it wasn't like oh you get like the opening slot for

yeah people under the stairs or something it was like it was like you it was like we were like starting to figure out how to headline our own small shows and the main attraction yeah and that was just i don't know that that really changed everything for me i think because it was it was like it was like okay we don't have to worry about all this other weird shit that we don't relate to we're kind of curating everything ourselves yeah like and i felt like people for a while it felt like people responded to that and we're like oh those guys are doing that thing over there yeah cool let's check it out you know uh-huh and and i feel like from there, that was kind of where I figured out, like, okay, I can basically release whatever I want and, like, have, like, a release show that's decent and a small tour that's decent and, like, do enough to be able to, like, get to the next album or something like that, you know? Mm-hmm.

Okay. Well, fucking A, man. That's's really exciting I'm pumped for you when what's this tour gonna look like where you going when you going out um well this is gonna be a wild one that we're doing this wrap round And so the idea is like three PAs and it'll be like six acts all together. Three guys on the tour, which is me, Easy Jackson, and a group from Detroit called Paso Laqua. And so it's the three guys on the tour, three locals in each city, and we're going like in a circle playing. So it'd be like one song over here. At the tour, three locals in each city, and we're going in a circle playing. So it would be like one song over here.

At the venue, in a circle. Exactly. Crowds in the middle. Yeah, so it would be like Easy Jackson does one song. Hype does one song. Another guy does one song. Pasta Lockwood does one song. So you'll all be headlining at once.

Exactly. That's a fun show. Yeah, I totally. We've done a few small tours of exactly which i that's a fun show yeah i totally we've done a few small tours like that and it's yeah it's so fun and it's like i it subverts a lot of the things that make touring like horrible in a way yeah like like you trick everybody into watching your band like they would watch the band they came to see in their town. Oh, that's a good idea. And vice versa. Totally.

So it's not like opening act, let's go get drinks and shoot the shit at the bar. Yeah. That type of thing. So this way, it's like everybody's playing at the same time. Yeah. So that's the tour. That's awesome. It's a great way to keep the energy up too so

there's no breaks in between for setup and that type of thing yeah it's yeah because it's weird i think about sometimes how much how much of every kind of show sucks like you know what i mean like like how much of every show is just, like, inevitably, like, kind of boring or uncomfortable. Yeah. And, like, it really feels good to be, like, I got a little tool to, like, stop that. Keep it action-packed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's cool.

Yeah, like, having an eye for that, like, when you go to every show. Yeah. All right, what would I fix about this? Yeah, definitely. That's a good way to get, like, the locals involved, too, and people that want to see them will come out in this way. an eye for that like when you go to every show yeah all right what would i fix about this yeah definitely that's a good way to get like the locals involved too and people that want to see them will come out in this way like everybody is getting a fair shake too yeah i'm also excited about i you know i was actually really inspired by the wham city comedy yeah those dudes kill it like ben o'brien and yeah the drive that those guys have alan all

those guys because i think it's such a good idea to do a tour where you are like this is how our tour operates yeah like like you know like not like i feel like bands i hope i'm not going on too long here no no dude this is super interesting okay like but i feel like i have this theory that with like punk and everything like that there was a time when it was like okay if we make these different sacrifices we can just do our own tour and our own shows like if we're cool with playing in a basement yeah if we're cool with just getting gas money that yeah but i think it gets to a point where there's too much of that it's like it's just like yeah we'll play like before eight ska bands at this weird show like

just like like like doing anything is punk you gotta yeah you gotta think about what fits you what's actually going to be a good show yeah yeah at some point stage time isn't just stage time exactly it's not beneficial yeah and it's like i don't know i think that that's what i'm kind of going for is to try to be like on many levels like what what would actually make sense like yeah like like i like how the wham city dudes are like are like you know we need locals to play with in each city but this is how our tour feels like it has like a beginning and a middle and then yeah yeah like they set up stuff like they'll go out and do stand-up but they'll have sketches in between and some audio visual stuff and like yeah they have a whole thing set up it's not like well we'll see what happens exactly yeah and so i guess i guess like because there's so many like fails in the world of like

diy shows you know and it's like i i like the idea too of so we're doing three touring guys three locals in every city i like the idea of like we our tour demands three locals yeah because like i feel like it's so often that that doesn't actually happen what do you mean like like it's so often that we end up playing with or i that i end up playing with no locals oh really like like yeah and like you know situations where you end up being sort of double booked with like another tour so it's like you know you're in connecticut and it's like you from baltimore and someone else from boston and it's just like what why would it be this right yeah where's the local pool there yeah yeah absolutely i think that's fucking great because it also gives

um it gives the local guys a spot to get on too like and and then in this way too everybody's on equal standing or yeah you know what i mean it's not just like and blah blah blah like there's not a hierarchy it's like we're all playing at the same time exactly exactly well that's awesome okay so uh so for speaking of locals if you're in the baltimore area januaryst at the Wind Up Space, that's the record release party. You're going to have albums for sale and all that. You'll be performing. Fucking A. That's so exciting, man.

And it's Talk Singer is the new album. Yes. That's great. You have a podcast yourself. I do. I do. Tell them about it. Break it down.

Heightzoneworld.com. Heightzoneworld. Okay. That's my weekly interview podcast and it's great man it's uh it's really cool i really like the one with lord grunge and uh uh listen to the one with dan deacon who does the artwork for that i love it like each week there's like really cool like little comics with uh each episode yeah that's mike riley this is great yeah and he does comics okay mike riley comics this is keeping it simple

keeping it simple i like that uh and so yeah so check out your podcast when does that come out usually uh every monday yep that's two that's two that's a good day start start your man it's gonna be a solid monday you're gonna have your podcast coming out then you'll be on our podcast there'll be a whole talk about height zone monday hyundai monday hyundai i think we figured it out uh really farted bad guys well whenever mike farts it's time to wrap up the podcast usually uh it's the swings as the and then is talk singer gonna be on itunes and stuff? Like, how can people get it if they're not going to be able to make it to that show? I would say I personally am a much bigger fan of Bandcamp. Bandcamp, yeah. Because you keep this money to a higher degree.

Yeah, iTunes is rough. They're like, oh, you want to sell your seating? Yeah. Suck our dick. How about that? How about that? How about that? But the problem is that no one goes to band camp. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, it is a pretty underutilized resource for how cool it is, especially with some pay-what-you-want models, too. You can listen to it and then, hey, you want this whole album? Give us three bucks or whatever. Right, right, right. Yeah, but then that's three bucks. It goes completely. Yeah.

Really? A hundred percent? It's like a tiny, tiny fraction that they take. That goes to band camp. Okay. So what's your band camp? Is that the place you would want people to go to take out your stuff? Just go to heightwithfriends.com.

Heightwithfriends.com. Get the scoop. Now, what are we going to do about that.com if you're switching it up? I think I'm going to do doubles. So, keep that and also HeightKeech also takes you there. To the same. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. But I haven't bought it yet, so I hope some asshole listening doesn't. Yeah. Well, luckily, all right, this is at the end of the podcast. So, you know, if they're going to be a real fan and hopefully they're not like oh i'm gonna steal that right stay away from go daddy you dickheads leave it leave it for dan leave him something yes uh okay cool so you got all your albums up there going on tour got a new album coming out yes shit is happening this is the winter of height tight keach now is the winter of

our height content uh anything else to plug you good i think i'm good thank you guys so much yeah dude thanks for coming back on and like i said at the the live show kind of came together like really quickly so i was glad to get you in the basement actually have a more in-depth conversation without a bunch of assholes watching us you know uh mr moran anything to plug here at the end yes why don't you go ahead and do your plugs while i find my phone classic i'm getting it down this this time i'm good this is always classic moran where i'm like hey anything to plug he's like yes i have things things. So first off, follow me on Twitter.

I am at Josh Kaderna. Also on Instagram. The podcast is at DigSeshPod. So we always have updates on there about upcoming shows and guests that we're trying to get on. And you can see us tweet at Barack Obama. Get in on that. Get it in your news feed. Every day, several times tweet at Barack Obama. You know, get in on that. Get it in your news feed.

Several times. Get in it. Get up in it. Beyond that, go to digressionsessions.com for all past and future and current episodes. Thundergrunt.com. Thundergrunt is our podcast network, of course. Go check that out. Let's see here. So, upcoming shows.

I'll be at Ragtime on Wednesday the 21st. That's in Arlington, Virginia. That's going to be a show that I'm hosting every other week. It's going to be a really good show. I'll be in Delaware on the 23rd at the World Cafe. And then on the 30th, I'll be doing Don't Block the Box in D.C. These are all stand-up dates, and that's going to be at the Wonderland Ballroom. Go to digressionsessions.com slash calendar for all upcoming shows.

Mike, what do you got? What do you got? At Mike Moran Wood on Twitter. Uh-huh. Right? As in what would Jesus do? Correct. Uh-huh.

Let's see. I got an improv date with Pop Six, the 17th at the Mercury Theater. This will be out on Monday. So you did really great on Saturday at that show. You guys killed it. The 21st, we also have an improv show at the Mercury Theater. And then I will be leaving immediately to do the

Wham! City show at the Crown. So that's the 21st. That should be a great show. Let's see. Another improv show, the 23rd with Population 6 at the Mercury. And then on the February 18th, I will be doing the Roast of Tommy Zimbazo, whom Haidt was a co-guest with at the live show. That's right. And that is in Bel Air, Maryland at the Main Street Oyster House. Nice.

It's 2-18, 9 o'clock. Awesome. Okay. Bunch of good stuff going on. All right. 2-18, 9 o'clock. Awesome. Okay. Bunch of good stuff going on. All right. Hey, Dan, thanks for coming by, man. Thank you, guys. This was fucking awesome.

So hopefully we'll be at the show on the 31st. Nice. Going to support. Get the pit going. Keeping the scene alive. Oh, yeah. All right, man. Thank you.

Thanks, everybody, for listening. Bye, everybody. Bye-bye. you