Forty Feet Tall

I talk to the guys from 40 Feet Tall about playing with energy, the Portland Oregon Island of Misfit Toys, and what to make of their rising status in the PNW music scene. Honestly my favorite band to see live right now. 

Come see them play Pickathon this weekend, and follow them wherever (@fortyfeettall)

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:25

The only dog in Portland that has an entire album of music recorded about him is Seymour. I got it uh I made uh a 30th birthday present to my wife because I got all of our friends to record new Seymour songs. Uh and there's an album called Seymour and Introduction. That is not what I'm plugging right now, although you should check it out. It's on Bandcamp. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

But it's but it's what we are plugging.

SPEAKER_04 0:48

That is what 40 feet tall. Who is my guest who will wait their turn? Because I told them I have to plug Clubhouse Fantasy Sports. K-L-U-B-H-O-U-S E dot G G. Clubhouse Fantasy Sports. It is the only fantasy football game built off the logic of Mario Kart, where uh the better you're doing, the harder it is, the easier you're doing, or the worse you're doing, the easier it is. It's built to make more trades. Our league had 75 trades last season. It's way more fun. Even if you don't play fantasy football, which you probably don't because you're listening to an Andy Rock podcast from my basement. I know who I'm talking to. I'm aware of that. This is the best advertising campaign that I could come up with. Other people would be like, oh, I'm gonna advertise on somebody else's podcast. No, I've invented my own podcast, I've invented my own brand online so that I can advertise on it. It is Clubhouse, K-L-U-B-H-O-U-S E dot G G. Go check it out. Anyway, I am here with probably my favorite band in Portland, Oregon, right now, 40 feet tall. We have Cole Ant. We have Bretton, Marquette, we have Jack Series. See, I tried to spell these things out. I will show you guys my phonetic spelling of their names. It is really bad. You can also see my handwriting. Boys, how's it going?

SPEAKER_03 1:56

Pretty good. Fantastic. So good.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

Nice. And you guys are uh back in Portland now after. Did you guys just come off of a tour? Or were you guys just am I just missing misremembering?

SPEAKER_02 2:07

We did a one-off show in Bend this weekend. Big old that's a big tour.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

Absolutely. Oh God. You guys are playing the B, the Bend, Oregon, you know, as uh Tim Tim Howe has described it as a suburb with no city attached to it.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

So nature is its city.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

How was uh how was Ben? How's everything going, boys?

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Pretty good. Ben was fun. We were playing out a mechanic garage, which was really cool. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:41

No, it was cool. It was uh it was a bunch of oh what do you call it? Overland it's like overland off-roading sponsored event thing. A lot of big tires, a lot of beer, a lot of beer.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

Beer and driving off-road. That sounds like Ben. That very much sounds like what we do in Ben, Oregon for fun.

SPEAKER_05 3:01

Yeah. It was fun play.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

But yeah, anyway, 40 feet all has been you guys have been playing. I've known about you for a couple of years now. Uh I don't necessarily I have no memory of us ever meeting. I just remember I feel like we skipped straight to the part where I um I feel like I had already known you, so when we started talking, I was like, oh, I just forget their names. I have to go through you guys ever run that script when you're talking to somebody, you're like, I definitely have met this person before. I can't remember their name. I don't want them to feel bad about that, so I'm just gonna talk to them like we don't even have to exchange names anymore. I'm pretty sure I just skipped that.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

I've never done that. I've never except every time I talk to somebody.

SPEAKER_04 3:39

The best thing in the world is when you have a significant other with my wife, I'll be like, listen, I forget this guy's name, I'm gonna introduce you. Just say your name and stick your hand out, and they'll they'll introduce themselves back. And that is usually a pretty good strategy to get somebody to like say their name for you when you can't remember it.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

One of the many times I have done that, I was introducing some a friend to someone I was trying to get the name of, and the person who I didn't know their name, they waited for me to introduce them. Oh, what a monster. And I was like, uh it was brutal. That's a monstrous thing to do.

SPEAKER_04 4:11

If you're listening to this right now, listen, even if you understand that this is happening to you, that they've forgotten their names, there are so many names, everybody, and our brains are all getting dumber. If you are listening to this podcast, it is probably because you watch my short videos. Those short videos are making you stupider. It is not our fault we can't remember names, it's society's fault. Just let it go, okay? Thank you, you know?

SPEAKER_02 4:35

This is exactly what I need people to hear.

SPEAKER_04 4:37

This is what 40 feet tall is all about. They are trying to raise awareness for the fact that everybody is dumb now, and they want you to be dumb and come to their shows and have a good time. Oh, but yeah, boys, uh, how would you describe your music to other people? Because I always just say it's like it's a good time to go see it, it's a lot of energy, but I don't know what genre it is. I just have I know you guys seem like you are putting a lot of effort into it and you're having a pretty good time, and the audience seems to like it. But how would you describe the band 40 feet tall to somebody that may never may not have heard you before?

SPEAKER_03 5:13

We've been saying post punk for a while, but it's it's getting a lot heavier. I think we're getting a lot more kind of hardcore influence, at least with the newer stuff. But I would say post punk is the safe as the.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

I think like hard rock is like the bet the best umbrella term for it because there's elements of post punk, elements of hardcore, and really I think it's pretty firmly under the umbrella of rock. Yeah. Even though that spans so far.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

I like saying prog, but they don't. It's not I will tell you it's progressive in the fact that we are unobtainable. We are unobtainable.

SPEAKER_04 5:56

That's true. No, no, no, I don't want to hear anyone say they can.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

He fucked up his hair and had to shave his head. I didn't fuck it up.

SPEAKER_04 6:04

It's rat tail summer! Rat tail summer. It's been declared. I declared it earlier that it was gonna be twee summer uh in a uh in a reel that got uh I think it got reposted by Bell and Sebastian, or they commented very, very big moment for me. Yeah, get it reposted. Oh, uh what'd you say? Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 6:23

Who's wearing rat tails right now? We gotta get this.

SPEAKER_04 6:25

I don't know. I don't know. We gotta we gotta declare it. I think the thing is we can declare it multiple different types of summer and just see what wins out in the marketplace of ideas.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

What if we're like rat tail rock? We're rat tail rock, I think.

SPEAKER_04 6:37

I feel like everything you say, everybody else in the band is just uh like trying to figure out how to sort of slowly push you out of the band or at least keep you out of all more public appearances.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Prague rat tail rock. How do we funnel what he's trying to say into what we could use?

SPEAKER_03 6:51

So I'm like rat tail summer, how do we translate it's a more of a yes and situation?

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Yeah, like there's a pedal, the rat, a famous distortion pedal. Could we get publish it from them for a rat tail? UNOPTAINABLE!

SPEAKER_04 7:06

Did you guys hear that rat uh guitar pedals? I know you listen to this podcast. Forty feet tall will sponsor the whole summer. They'll they'll devote to your pedal. You just gotta hit them up on their TikTok account, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

Uh Instagram's better.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Logan who is not here is the only one who goes on our TikTok. Yeah, and he's really good at that.

SPEAKER_04 7:27

I see Logan posting all the time. He's uh he's he's online. He's fighting the good fight with the with the rest of us. Unlike you nerds making music, we're out here posting, doing the real work for the real people, you know?

SPEAKER_02 7:40

That's true. That's true. When you spell real work for yourself, do you spell it R-E-E-L?

SPEAKER_04 7:46

Or do you that was good? This podcast is off to a fucking start, man. Heaters after heaters. Um basic questions like how long have you guys been uh a band? When did you guys start being uh 40 feet tall?

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Um this is a this is a tough question for us, actually, because it depends on what iteration of 40 feet tall.

SPEAKER_03 8:08

Well, it's always been 40 feet tall for for unless it was the first name of the boat.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

Well, what was the first editing?

SPEAKER_00 8:16

That's behind the paywall. That's the Patreon episode.

SPEAKER_04 8:18

Ah, there we go. We'll just bleep it out. I'm just gonna start sticking some bleeps into these things and just you know I'm not actually gonna go back and edit it, so if one of you just wants to go. I know you're not gonna edit this. Oh, editing is the worst part of this fake job. This fake job is a lot of good stuff, it's got some bad things, and there's just editing. I I just hate doing it. I hate doing it. I'd rather redo the entire podcast than like cut out two different parts of it. But we're not gonna do that. We're gonna stick. You guys have uh we've been perfect so far, obviously. Everyone agrees. Either the listeners are listening right now, they're like, this has been a perfect podcast, maybe the greatest podcast ever recorded in the history of podcasts, obviously. So we don't have to worry about editing. They know they're getting the raw, uncut footage. But yeah, uh, first band, what was the first name of it? And what year are we talking about? Or is this like an eternal thing? It's been here before time existed, it'll be here after time existed, is 40 feet tall. Uh, an Eldritch horror, you know, set to engulf all of humanity.

unknown 9:14

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

I think that's good, but I also think that 40 tall was like if you're considering it being started by these two plus others, um, they've been best friends since they were like three or something. Like their parents were best friends, so they knew each other when they were like baby babies, like diaper boys. Um diaper boys, and then John Rat.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

That's the spin-off. Rat tail rock and diaper boys.

SPEAKER_04 9:43

Rattail Rocky Diaper Boys. I'd watch that show. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Yeah. Uh yeah, Cole and I started the band in high school. 2016. 2011, 2018. Don't give the dates.

SPEAKER_04 9:56

No, man, they got to think you're young. It was 2019, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

And then we really got going during the pandemic when we were like 21 years old. It was the worst time.

SPEAKER_04 10:07

Young and hip and cool, man.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yeah. And like we have trouble talking to people and remembering names because of the pandemic, and we had online school. Oh god.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

We started Portland in 2017. Yeah. So that's kind of like it was a it was a high school thing before that, and we were like really stuff during college, and I mean it was serious, but I think 2017 is like when we really that's when Brett came up, and that's when we started in Portland. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:40

Were you guys in Portland originally or did you move here?

SPEAKER_03 10:43

Moved here. Yeah. I went to school here, and then Jack and Brett were in another band in San Francisco. That band was breaking up. And I was drama. Drama. We can get into that too if you want.

SPEAKER_04 10:56

Oh, obviously. Uh do you guys have um what's it? Uh it's not you don't it's not skeletons to unleash? What does it mean when you have like uh closet? Yeah, skeletons in the closet. There's a there's terms out there. I can't think of terms anymore. I told you guys, be it online all the time is genuinely making. And and Carly knows. Oh yeah, good, good. My wife and I do a game uh that we actually got from Steph Curry, apparently, when he got really, really famous playing basketball. He's like, when he tries to figure something out, everybody in his family has to give him five minutes to like figure out how the remote works. Because he's like, I'm so famous now that everybody wants to help me, and I'll be a baby if you like if everyone just helps me all the time. I won't know how to solve problems. So I I make Annie Steph Curry me all the time. Like when I can't think of something, she'll just go, Okay, I'm I'm just gonna get set set the clock for five minutes. You can try to figure this thing out. When I get it, I get all excited. Uh but I think it's helping. I don't I can't I can't tell. That sounds phenomenal. Alright, alright. So uh 2011, you guys are here. You're playing uh 2017, you move up to Portland. Uh these guys fall up because of drama. Do you guys want to spill the spill the tea? That's the term. Do you want to spill the tea on the drama?

SPEAKER_02 12:12

It really isn't that much drama.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

It was just like we were we couldn't afford to live in San Francisco anymore.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

Really is the truth of the matter. Uh you guys aren't tech billionaires yet? Not yet. Not yet. We still hope every day. Plenty of time to pivot this band into an NFT. I think NFTs are coming back, guys. I think they're coming back. App with us?

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Rat Tale an app guy. Rat Tail.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

Oh, yeah. Well, I'm just the idea guy behind the app, unfortunately. I've roped other people into making this app, and then I was like, I'll advertise it, I'll get people to play, I'll raise money for it. The best strategy I have is I'm gonna make short reels where I walk around my neighborhood talking about indie rock that has nothing to do with fantasy football on the off chance that I can somehow eventually grow a podcast large enough to get people to sign up for my fantasy football app. It is, again, the worst marketing strategy ever devised, but it is the best one I've gotten so far. We do have 250 signups, though. We're getting there, man. It's gonna happen. I know, man.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Did you I'm as surprised as you were? The app before the podcast in the reels? Say that again?

SPEAKER_04 13:17

The app came before the the your videos and all these videos started out with me making videos about fantasy football, and then I was when the football season ended, I'm like, I'll see if I can talk about something else. I started talking about music, got way more popular talking about music. So it's like it is literally all tied into again the dumbest the unfortunately the best idea I've ever had is a fantasy football app. Unfortunately, that's the case. I wish it was something else. If I knew how to extract rents from people through oil refineries or something like that, I would literally be a millionaire because the amount of time and effort I've sunk into thinking about fantasy football is literally a waste of human life. It is a waste of my potential as a person, but I'm doing the best I can with it right now, and I think it's really, really fun. That's the I wouldn't I wouldn't do this if it wasn't if I didn't think it was actually fun. But you know, that being said, the reason that anybody's even listening to this right now is because I was talking about fantasy football originally, and then the season ended, no one wanted to hear any fantasy football takes anymore. Started talking about Modest Mouse and building highways in the American West, and uh now all of a sudden I got like, you know, 100, 200 people listen to these podcast episodes. I don't really know how my life got where it is. Do you guys feel that you know how your life got where it is? Look at that, man.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

I was gonna say, I feel like there's a lot to unpack with what just happened the last like minute there.

SPEAKER_04 14:37

I've had a lot of.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Good journey. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

I think I'm here because of Jack Black. I think because he made School of Rock, and then I was a little kid and I went on a road trip to Utah with my family. We are going to go learn. I was going to ski. My family was going skiing in um Utah, and my the only three DVDs we had in the car, and our old DVD player was School of Rock, Teen Wolf, and Back to the Future. Michael J. Fox. That's your personal class. I just wanted to be Freddie from School of Rock. I wanted to be Freddie the drummer from School of Rock, and then I just started getting around.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

He originally wasn't like picked up drums, and his teacher was like, You're too loud, you gotta do a different instrument.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Yeah. And this is that day after school, after that class, my my dad took me to the local music store and got me a bait, my first bass, and so that's and then I uh and then I just kept playing until I arrived here.

SPEAKER_04 15:45

I feel like that's a long you're part of a long tradition. One uh of people that can blame Jack La Jack Black for something in their life or the direction their life has taken. But also uh the proud tradition of people that ended up as bass players kind of unintentionally. Like that was not the first goal. No, yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, I guess I'm the bass player now. Uh okay, sure, whatever. Thumbs up.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

Yeah, take a pull. How many bass players started with guitar?

SPEAKER_04 16:12

Oh my god. This is what I say all the time about bass players. I think that they like being in a band more than anybody else. And everyone else is like, oh, I'll be in a band, but only if I get to be the cool guitar guy, only if I get to sing, only if I get to look and be the center of attention all the time. The bass player's like, I just want to play, I'll play the fucking bass. I don't care. I just want to be in the band. I'll manage all you guys and your weird little egos and the fact that you gotta be the center of attention at all fucking times.

SPEAKER_05 16:39

There's nothing about that podcast is the perfect job.

SPEAKER_04 16:47

I mean that's like you know, they always end up being the people that are like genuinely like being in a band the most because they're the fucking bass players. They usually chill. We have the time to talk to bass players as a drummer, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

What were you saying? Brett breaks that mold. Brett hates being in a band, actually. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:07

You can't see it. He's actually chained uh from the waist down. It's all chained into a chair, and it's just the only things he can reach are the bucket to use the bathroom and the bass to practice. Those are the only two things he has uh access to in that room, right? That's true. Of course. And I don't practice. What about the rest of you guys? You guys come from uh musical backgrounds? Did Jack Black force you into this as well?

SPEAKER_03 17:34

No Jack Black, maybe Jack White. Um Yeah, that was good.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Look at that's a crazy color combo. You know, Jack Gray.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

Yeah, that's an artistic mind right there, just making connections left and right. But yeah, when did you uh when did you start playing? Do you is your family musical, or is it just like were you the only one?

SPEAKER_03 17:52

I mean, Jack and I kind of had a similar thing where like both of our parents were or all of our parents were like, You got you gotta play an instrument. Pick an instrument, it was piano. So we both like. Yeah, I didn't get to pick.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

My mom was like, You're playing piano. No, it's six years old, and it was classical piano. I did that forever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:09

I think that's a good place to start because it gives you good introduction, and also a small child sitting behind a giant piano is very cute. Like you have to admit that that's a cute visual. If you're a parent, you want to stick your child in front of a very large piano and have them play songs that they don't really like.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

Yeah. I think now I would say thank you, and I do for thank you for my pop-class voice. I would say for 10 years in the beginning, there, there was a lot of not thank you and why am I doing this? Yeah. And recitals are the bane of my existence. Yeah. But now, and she kept telling me as I was doing it, she was like, You'll thank me when you're older.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

And here it is.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Much to my chagrin, thank my mom for making me do piano.

SPEAKER_04 18:51

The worst thing in the world is having to admit to a parent when they say, like, you'll appreciate this when you're older, and then you just get older, you're like, damn it.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

I had a similar thing. I mean, I got to I I like did a lot more jazz. I didn't really do classical. I can still maybe bang out for your release, but um I there was a moment where I like I think I don't know, I was just an AC teenager, and I was like, mom, I'm done. Fuck this. I'm done. And she was like, she was like, okay, you can you can take like a two-month break, but you have to promise me that after two months you'll try again. And I was like, sick, I'm out of here. And and then I but because it was like she gave me the illusion of choice, I was kind of like I miss it. Oh, I wanna I wanna go back to it. And I did, and then I never stopped playing, so yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:43

Honestly, that smart move by her, man. I that uh I used to play like a bunch of sports back in the day. I played soccer and and basketball and all that, and uh I just remember by what is it, junior year of high school playing soccer, because I played goalkeeper too, so it's like it makes you crazy, man. You're just sitting in the back of the goal just waiting to screw up and ruin everything for everybody. I was also goalie, but just because I didn't want to run. Proud tradition of goalkeepers right there. I was just tall. You can't teach height, man. Height doesn't really help in soccer, but doesn't behind the goal. So uh, you know, I got to be a tall guy. And uh I like I feel like if I'd been able to take you know two or three months off and just decide whether or not I actually liked playing soccer or something like that, that might have helped out. Instead, I just went to college, played for one season, and I was like, alright, uh I'm gonna learn how to play the drums now. I'm done. See ya, and just quit. Good choice though. I don't know. It's led us here somehow, uh, to you know, the world's most organized podcast.

SPEAKER_03 20:44

But uh Yeah, the itinerary you said was pretty crazy. Yeah. Yeah. 15 points, 40 pages.

SPEAKER_04 20:51

Isn't it wild that all of this is scripted? Like, isn't it weird that I actually wrote all of this down that I was gonna say? I I I have no idea how I'm able to stay on script so far.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

It's gonna be about a year to memorize these lines. I I know. What's funny is I had to build lyrics.

SPEAKER_04 21:04

I built the whole podcast to get us to this podcast right here, so that you guys could read that script that I handed to you a year ago. Must have been in Jordan's house.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Yeah, yeah. Where all magic happens.

SPEAKER_04 21:18

So, uh, when did you guys switch from uh being you know, piano recito kids, doing what mom wants you to do, to being cool punk rock guys that played the guitar?

SPEAKER_03 21:28

Well, it took a while. I still think like last year.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

I mean, I we started the band when we were like 16, 15, but we've we'd both been playing guitar. We started playing guitar. I think I started at 11. I picked up it at 11. I didn't know. But I got like a classical guitar nylon string. Yeah. And I think my first guitar teacher, Johnny Aguilar, he'd come in, he's like, Young Cole! What's up, my man? Young Cole. I was like, hell yeah, dude, teach me some smoke on the water.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

And man, yeah, I don't remember what my first guitar song was. I do think it was probably smoke on the water, though. Something in that vein. I also did, I think I tried classical for that for a second. And then I was like, I can't do both. You can't make me as mom. I can't do classical piano and classical guitar.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

So then I did a little bit of blues and then he taught me a lot of Weezer, and I I remember not thinking it was a band from like the 70s. I had no idea. And then I heard it on the on the radio or something. I was like, oh, cool.

SPEAKER_04 22:38

That is honestly. I guess I could hear uh Weezers being kind of a 70s band. I if you hear the songs just as the guitar parts, they all could sound like anything. The production value is really good.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

It was Islands in the Sun. I remember learning isn't this this is like something from like the 50s or something.

SPEAKER_04 22:58

Alright, so you guys are playing uh playing guitar, you're playing your classical nylon string guitars, and uh uh you said high school, you're 16, 17. Did you guys go to a high school that had a lot of bands? Or was this just sort of like you knew you wanted to get into a band and uh you knew each other or whatever, or is just this just randomly happened one day?

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Uh man, you're gonna get you're getting so many details about 40 feet tall under the hood right now.

SPEAKER_04 23:26

After this, we are gonna get into uh like social security questions. Uh yeah, we'll actually security with all those numbers actually.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

We're going through our cash box from Ben and we have someone's credit card. Can we read those numbers to you? In the box? They just Thomas Thomas, if you're listening. Thomas' last name. We have your card.

SPEAKER_04 23:50

Thomas' last name. Uh that's a strong last name. Thomas Last name. Thomas, yeah, if you're listening, hit us up.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 23:57

Um, and just as for security purposes, Thomas, if you do hear this and you want to get your card back, just so we know it's you, just give us the four-digit PIN code just so we can check to make sure that this actually is your card.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

You will have to sign up for the fantasy app.

SPEAKER_04 24:11

1000%. I mean, he might actually be paying for servers right now on that card. Uh you know, it's expensive out here. It's expensive trying to run an app when you don't really know what you're doing, and you have your wife uh programming everything for you because she actually does know how that works. So any time. Shout out to my chief technical officer, uh, aka my wife. Uh but alright, so uh, you know, I guess why 40 feet tall? Why is the name was it the name 40 feet tall in high school?

SPEAKER_03 24:40

Yeah, we we we named it uh after a first name. Um there that that that Jack White spin-off band.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Um Deadweather named after a Deadweather song called 60 Feet Tall. Yeah. But that was taken, so we did 40 feet tall.

SPEAKER_03 24:57

We had to hit the alliteration, and 50 feet was taken, and so we did 40.

SPEAKER_04 25:02

So there's a 60 feet tall band and a 50 feet tall band.

SPEAKER_03 25:06

60 feet tall was a song by Debbie.

SPEAKER_04 25:08

Ah, there we go.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

I think there was a band that was 50 feet tall. I think we went with 40 feet tall. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

I feel like you guys need to fight 50 feet tall to figure out what whether those extra 10 feet are worth it.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

We're ready, it's true.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Also, new song from the Bobby Lee's called 50 feet tall. Wonderful song by the Bobby Lee's. Shout out the Bobby Lee's. You guys are good at these shout outs, you're better than I am. Yeah, we're gonna be playing with them, and that's also why I shouted them.

SPEAKER_04 25:33

Oh, nice. Where and when are you guys gonna play it with them? We'll do a little plug.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Uh in December. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

You guys have December.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

It's gonna be official.

SPEAKER_02 25:45

Yeah. It's like it's we're hoping to be playing with them in December.

SPEAKER_04 25:48

Are you just witchcasting plugs right now? Like you're gonna use witchcasting plugs. I'm 100% of making that into uh the clip.

SPEAKER_03 25:55

It's not used on paper, it's very close, but he is very much saying something that is unconfirmed.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

It isn't it's it's confirmed up here, and that's what counts. That's the power of a rat tail.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

That rat tail is currently like seeping into his brain. It's just reverse engineer itself in. It's a little matrix-y, right? You know, are we doing matrix uh in 2026? Does that movie still have play? Do people still like those movies? Am I still cool? Please, young people, email me at smilingstrange music at gmail.com to tell me whether or not the matrix is still cool. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

The first Matrix has gotta be cool still, right? It has to be. It's such a good movie. It's gotta be. It's a classic.

SPEAKER_04 26:38

Yeah. Oh my god. Uh speaking of classics, uh when was the first album that came out with you guys? I I I've met you guys like an hour uh bring it back around to this two years ago or something like that. Yeah, yeah. So I know nothing about your past. You guys just showed up, as far as I know, one day, you showed up in what I considered the greater Jordan Krinsky extended universe, in that like Jordan knew you, and I was like, alright, cool, that's good enough for me. I'm sure these guys are cool. And then I saw you play in Boise at uh Treefort, whatever it's called there, like at one of the bars one night at like two o'clock in the morning, because I did my thing where one night, every time I go there with Jordan, I try to follow him as long as I can. I usually make it till about two o'clock in the morning, and then he disappears, and I'm like, okay, he's gone. I can go home now. I gave it my best shot, and then I fall asleep. Uh but I saw you guys play it, I just remember it being like one of the most entertaining shows that I saw, and I just assumed that you guys were gonna be too cool to ever talk to me, and here we are. Now I'm the cool guy with the podcast, and you have to talk to me. So uh you know, when when you're in Portland, when when did you guys start feeling like, alright, we're because everyone starts a band. When did you start feeling like, oh, we're actually like kind of a good band?

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Last year. It's a constant check-in. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

That's a good question.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Um I feel like it took a a really long time because the first album came out in 2014, and it sounds nothing like what we sound like now. Oh, and it was it was like it sounded good.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

It's a good album. It's a good album.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

They hate it because they were so young when they did it, but I that's I wasn't in the band when that album came out, and I was like, these are great songs.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

I'm not saying it's a bad album, it's just sound I didn't say bad, I also said it sounds nothing like what we sound like now because it's heavily blues rock. And that like we were like Jack White, Black Tlack Keys, and it was very much a product of that time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:31

Alright, yeah. I mean, uh also uh I love in the background there uh how frustrating it is when you talk to people that like make a bunch of good albums that they made 10 years ago and they don't like it anymore, and you listen to it and it's good, and you try to get them to say like the thing that you like that they made is good enough, and then they're just like, no, don't ever compliment me. Uh I'm ta I make good things. I hate that. Just accept the compliment from your bass player. He's chained to that chair. You guys have to take that at the very least.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

It's good. That's how I first and I was like, this is great. I should leave the band I'm in to join this band.

SPEAKER_04 29:08

Oh what was it like uh joining this band? Did they have a bass player before you, or were they just doing blues rock uh by themselves? And and were you guys playing shows back in 2014, or were you just like throwing shit together?

SPEAKER_03 29:19

Very much a band.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

Well, because Jack and I met in college and we became friends and started writing music together in college, but then I would just pop like 40 V Tall, played a show in San Francisco, and I I just popped in and saw the show, and then I I was down in LA visiting a friend, and they had a show down there. So I've I had seen several 40 V Tall shows before I like I ever joined them.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

Brett was at the LA show and I was like playing on stream.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

I didn't tell him I was going at like Molly More so long ago.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

Uh and I was like looking, like, is that my friend Brett from like college? It was such like a different like we weren't even good friends yet. It was like very much the beginning of like us knowing each other and very much out of place for me because I was like, I'm in LA doing my thing with the band in LA, and then my like new friend from college was there, standing like in the dark in the back. He was purposely hiding from me. I know it.

SPEAKER_04 30:13

Oh, yeah. It's also just like you did the classic bassist thing of like just constantly being there. So whenever they eventually got to the point where they're like, oh my god, we need a bassist, they're like, wait a minute, there's been this guy in the peripheral of my vision for the last six months. Like, it's it follows, and he might be some sort of demon. Maybe once you get an appointment, oh my god, I didn't even think about that. Oh, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

It follows well with bass players, where the only way to get rid of them is to let them jam with you one time.

SPEAKER_04 30:44

Exactly, exactly. Yeah, and then you just pass them off onto another band, and that's the the nation of bass players. If you have a bass player in your band right now, understand that is kind of a demon. It's an it follows demon. They're chill about it. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Yeah, that's like a never tried the bass.

SPEAKER_04 31:06

Oh, yeah. We have look at our all our bases right here. And by our bases, I mean all of them are Annie's bases, all three of them. Uh one of them doesn't work. You can guess which one it is. Uh one, two, or three boys. Here we'll play our first game on the podcast. We have three bases uh coming out here. Which one of them doesn't work? Is it the black one? Is it the yellow one? Is it the brown one?

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Yellow. No, I've seen Annie play the yellow one.

SPEAKER_04 31:32

Oh, you're cheating by seeing her play stuff.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

Yeah, I think it's the black one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:36

It is the black one. We don't know what's wrong with it. Congratulations, boys.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Yes, that means free me undies.

SPEAKER_04 31:43

It does mean free me undies. That means you guys get one free fake plug for a show. So who is the fake band that you're playing with?

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Fake band that we're playing with.

SPEAKER_04 31:52

Is it Jack White?

SPEAKER_00 31:54

No. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 31:56

Yes. It's Jack Black, actually. We're back to that one. I like that show back in the day. Um, what uh what are the future plans for you guys right now? Like, what's your plan here? You're you're stuck in Portland. You're on the island of Misfit Toys bands that is Portland, Oregon. Uh you're making the rounds. Everybody loves you as far as I can tell. I don't know that many people, but everyone I do know, they constantly talk about how much fun it is going to your show. So I hate to compliment you. I know how much you guys hate that, but you are one of the most fun live acts in Portland. A ba a city that is kind of notorious for bands that aren't necessarily the most fun to see live because they're all very like Portland hipstery, you know? A lot of shoe gays, a lot of looking down at your feet, not a lot of live action. Do you guys find yourselves to be a more energetic band compared to the Portland contemporaries, or do you think that you fit into a different scene than the ones that I normally go see?

SPEAKER_03 32:52

We put in our time of looking down at our feet for a long time. It would be a while to like get comfortable running around.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

We've actively been trying to not fit into that since we started. Yeah. And it has taken until recently, I feel like, for us to feel comfortable going all out at our shows. And I think there's something of like a feedback loop because once people started going crazy, it got easier for us to go crazy. And then like now it has like entered into, but all of us feel it as like a mutual, like, okay, we're gonna have a lot of fun and make this a fun show, and people are expecting that, and so it makes it a fun show as well.

SPEAKER_04 33:31

Oh, yeah, I was gonna say at this point, uh, first off, it took you 12 years to realize that maybe you should have a little bit of fun on stage. Congratulations, boys. Uh on that one. I've always been having fun. But also, it's like uh I like that idea of the feedback loop thing. Do you feel there's uh an element uh because I've talked to some people that also are a little bit more theatrical on stage? I wouldn't even necessarily say it's theatrical, it's just you, but like all the sliders are cranked up to 11. Uh do you feel that there's an element there of like putting on a character? Is there like a masquerade element to it, or is it just like this is just me, I'm just gonna drink a bunch of Red Bull, get hyped up and uh and go bang around and make a a fun show for the kids to dance to, as all the young people say.

SPEAKER_03 34:14

I think for I think for me, I I think one of the reasons, one, I was just scared and nervous, but another reason that it like took me a while to get to this point, I think, was because I wanted it to feel more authentic and not just like I'm suddenly just turning something on. And I think I needed to like have it come from a place of like being comfortable, like, no, this is a part of me instead of just like completely an act. Um and I don't know, I I think that hopefully that comes through. I I think that a lot of I at least enjoy it when it just feels like something's someone's just feeling something and in the moment instead of like truly just I mean, of course we're doing like theatrical bullshit for sure, but like it's genuine theatrical bullshit and you actually want to do the things you do. We're so energized, and like you re when a crowd is like going crazy like that, you can't help but react. And I think that hopefully that comes across.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

Oh man, definitely for the crowd. Yeah, what were you gonna say?

SPEAKER_00 35:20

I was gonna say, I think we for you know, if you play in town once a month or once every other month, and to keep having people come back, you were like trying to write new songs so that people are coming and seeing new songs, or trying to do new covers so that people are seeing us do different versions of some songs that they really like that aren't by us, and then also just trying to make a unique thing happen at the show every time so that you want to come back and see what we're gonna do the next time. Like we had one show where it was like a the the release for one of our singles, and there's a music video, and one of our friends is in that music video, and he came out on stage in his character, and so then we have an office worker in the middle, and he's like freaking out, and Cole's like kicking his computer, just going. So, we're just trying to like I think we're trying to do something where you you want to come to the show because you don't know what we're gonna do next, but you know it's gonna be fun, and and hopefully you're gonna be shocked and you're gonna be like, I can't believe they did that this time. I don't know. I think that's like you know, like either whether it's uh someone going crazy on stage with us, one of our friends who's in the music video, or we we hire someone to do really cool light shows, so that's a just a different vibe there, or I think that's just trying to raise the bar.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

Yeah, I think it was like growing comfortable and have ourselves having fun on stage and being in and like playing a sound and a vibe that we all were really passionate about, and that translated to the audience, and then it created that kind of feedback loop where now we can like. I think a while ago we would never have thought it would be cool to have a friend on stage typing and stuff. We'd be like, that's too theatrical, or that's crazy, and like now we're like, what's the stupidest, craziest thing we could do? And let's just fucking do it. Yeah. Because like, who cares? It's just fun, and people know that it's fun, and like less overcomplicating it in what we think it should be, and we're just like, how can we be crazy?

SPEAKER_03 37:17

Well, yeah, like performance art can come from a place of authenticity, even if it's a performance. It's I mean, it's all a performance for sure, but it's we're having so much fun, and it's like we're so but three years ago, I don't think we would have we had to get to that point of being comfortable with ourselves to do that.

SPEAKER_04 37:36

I've been talking to a lot of people recently um on you know this podcast or whatever, uh, that have had a lot of success on the streaming world or in the virtual world. They make like TikToks that get, you know, one guy does uh 80 million streams on uh in not Instagram, uh what is the one that everyone Spotify, but you know, 80 million listens to this. This is a kid named Over Tonight and he plays like uh indie underground music or whatever. But he's talking about like, oh, I want to figure out now how to make like he's had the online success, now he's trying to figure out how to make that stagecraft. And I like this thing that you guys are talking about, which is just like hey, we're trying to be we're trying to put on a good show, right? At the end of the day, you gotta make it a show. You gotta make it something that people wanna see. But it's only gonna work for you guys if you can somehow use the process of performing to kind of strip off the artifice of performing and get only to yourself in there, you know? To get to use honestly, the intensity of performing in front of other people, the potential for huge amounts of ridicule and to feel like an idiot to strip away these layers. Have you guys ever read Dante's Inferno?

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Long time ago. Yeah, know the general logistics.

SPEAKER_04 38:46

I actually think it's in purgatorio, but it's like this idea that like there is this cleansing fire that you have to pass through to get into heaven. To get out of purgatory, you have to go through the fire, and it's like the excruciating pain of the fire itself. To me, on a performance level for you guys, that the excruciating pain that's the embarrassment of not feeling like yourself on stage, of not performing up to the level that you think you're you want to. And it's only through that mix of like repetition and like you guys are saying, you're constantly trying to find a way to make something new, but only by doing that do you kind of get that sense where you can kind of intuitively go, like, yeah, we'll have our friend come on stage and type. That's gonna work. You don't need to explain how it works, you know what's gonna work now because you've done these things on stage, and it's like it's only through the act of working, the act of figuring these things out, the purifying fire of potentially embarrassing yourselves, have you resulted in the show that is 40 feet tall, which is like exactly what you guys are saying. I go to see you guys play because I never know what I'm gonna see. It might be wild in a way that I've never actually seen before. That's what I really enjoy about y'all. But I don't know. Did I ramble too much there? Is that is that registering with you guys at all?

SPEAKER_03 39:52

I think also to add to that, like in this bleak time of streaming and AI and just like the digital hellscape that we're in, like you're talking to a Reels guy though.

SPEAKER_04 40:06

I don't I'm fully aware that uh this like my my stupid project is I'm trying to take the hellscape that is these stupid little reels and have some moment like the same thing. I'm trying to have something that feels authentic and feels genuine.

SPEAKER_03 40:19

Oh, yeah, it being exactly like uh you know, we're we're all doing the same thing. Like you're you're uh well what I'm trying to say is like having something that is physical and like you know, you're in a crowd, you're bumping shoulders with people, you're feeling sweat on you, like like that is so it's just it you feel as a band in this streaming world, it's such a scary time, but you feel safe in a live environment because you I AI can't fucking do that. And that is true.

SPEAKER_04 40:51

There's no AI song that is gonna have people jumping off the rafters in a bar at two o'clock in the morning in downtown Boise. I'm not gonna get an AI version of that that feels the same as having being in a room full of people being like, I feel a little nervous about what's gonna happen right now, but I can't look away, you know?

SPEAKER_03 41:08

Yeah, yeah. Train train wreck, 40 feet tall.

SPEAKER_04 41:13

Train wreck, baby. You know, uh Chris uh Chris Gethard used to have a show on public access TV in New York, and he always said, like, I either want the show to be so good that you go home and tell all of your friends, or such a train wreck that you have to go and tell all your friends to go watch it. Like those are the only two things I'm shooting for. I love that attitude.

SPEAKER_03 41:31

No press is bad press type idea. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 41:34

Just nothing boring, man. You just don't want to be boring, you know?

SPEAKER_03 41:38

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

No pressure though, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

Yeah, no, I'm setting the expectation really high in that. I mean, that's actually a good point, because you are in uh a position here, right? You are at least known around Portland as a fun live show to go to. Do you feel there's an added amount of pressure now that you have to go out and like give this, or is it just sort of second nature that like that energy is gonna come out?

SPEAKER_03 42:04

I think there's a little bit of pressure sometimes, but I think that I'm also really proud of like just our songs naked without the performance. I think that like we just put a lot of work and energy into recording and like writing and stuff, and I think like getting getting all of our music to a point where they stand on their own without the performance too is really important.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

Yeah, um I would say that for every show, 80% at least uh we're pretty confident that it's gonna be good with like just our songs and how we set up our our like set lists and like how we're gonna go in just with the music and us. And then that last 20% is like what can we do to like really set the spectacle a little differently this time.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

And we don't really do that shit on the road at all. Like it's a Portland thing because we play Portland the most and we want to impress our Portland homies the most.

SPEAKER_04 42:59

Yeah, I am easily the most important fan.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

It's true. I mean, it's it's only not happening on the road yet because we just don't have enough room in our van for that. Once we've got room, you better believe some weird shit's in the room.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

It's uh we're ready to go.

SPEAKER_04 43:21

Only bring him, only bring him, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, if he does not break character for the entire trip. If you want to go on a month-long tour, he has to be acting like a businessman that is late to file a report from start to finish. You want the flop sweat, you want the anxiety, you want that because it's really gonna hit when he's on stage. It's gotta be like uh, you know, whenever people play the Joker and they start sending their cast members odd gifts that make nobody want to work with them ever again. You know, that's what the level of commitment that forty feet tall requires.

SPEAKER_03 43:52

Yeah. If anyone can pull it off, it is Chris Wesler.

SPEAKER_04 43:57

Uh I the new album came out. I want to say new, but it's like I actually can't remember when did the the album come out?

SPEAKER_00 44:04

August 2025. Almost a year ago. I think it was August 22nd, 23rd, 10 months ago.

SPEAKER_04 44:10

10 months? That's about a year. That in my mind, you know. Call me old fashioned. I think 10 out of 12 months is almost a year. Uh have you guys, when you guys were writing that saw that album, were you playing the songs live a lot? Have you basically been playing these songs for about two years now? Are you working on new stuff?

SPEAKER_02 44:28

Like what's that process look like in the midst of working on new stuff right now? We have about five new songs.

SPEAKER_03 44:34

We always test stuff. We kind of we get it 80, 90% of the way there, and then we're like, let's see how this works live.

unknown 44:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:45

I mean, I like that. I like getting that little feedback from the crowd, you know. I I feel like music is one of those things that you can very simple very easily pull into your bedroom and make kind of like an insular little world. This idea that like I need to make a song that it's exactly what I want to hear, versus other bands are like, I am in this dialogue with my audience. I want to play something. If it works, I write it down, bring it home, and work on it a little bit more so that the next time I play it, it works a little bit more. Uh but I feel like there's always a trade-off, especially you guys are a newer band, so a lot of people uh are just kind of getting into you, right? New I I just met you guys like a year ago. Uh anyway, like there's this push and pull, I feel like, between wanting to write new songs and play the new stuff versus this might be the third time somebody's seen you guys play at a show and they've only heard these songs being played live before. They want to hear the stuff that they have, they've only heard now like three or four times. They want to hear that stuff live, but maybe it's something you guys have already played a thousand times before. Do you feel a little bit of that push-pull between like I want to play the stuff that the audience came here to hear versus like we actually kind of need this to workshop and make the best song for the next album?

SPEAKER_02 45:52

Oh yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I mean, we have long debates, sometimes screaming matches about what to play and like what is the right like genre or uh era of 40 V Tall to continue to play at shows and which ones need to retire, and like is are we should we just do what we want and like expect people to be okay with that, or do we need to like go back and be like, what's our most popular songs? How do we fit those in, and what is the best move, especially when we tour? Because like Portland, it's a little easier, like at least a decent amount of people have seen us and this set list at some point in a year here. But when we go on tour, it's like maybe you don't see us you see us once every year or so. Do we play all the songs that you can find online or do we play the new ones because that's what we're into? And a lot of time it's a mix.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

I mean, I think to keep up that live show energy that we just talked about, like we need the excitement of new stuff to keep us going and be like, check out what we just freaking wrote and we're excited about it, but also like we'll play plenty of songs from the last album and maybe one or two from the album before that. And then we're also starting to see people like sing along to some stuff in Portland, which is just an experience where you're just like, oh, like everyone, like especially when you like in the moment, sometimes it's hard to see, but if you're like going back through like people's stories or reposting stuff, you're like, holy shit, everyone's doing this one part with us, that's crazy. So it's like, yeah, it's a fine balance of keeping things that people come and see and excited to see, but also keeping them um on their toes with the new stuff.

SPEAKER_04 47:32

Nice. Yeah, I love uh first off, I just want to say, uh, because I can't stay on topic, when you mentioned the fact that like people post reels of uh or not reels, like stories of shows that you played. I feel like people are doing that less nowadays. I feel like most of the shows that I play now, I might get like Pile Up just played, and it's like, oh, we had like two videos to look at, and it's like, hey, I want to see what we played like. I want to see what we sounded like. I'm in there, I'm back there with the drum kit, I can't hear anything. All I can hear is Gray's bass the entire time. This is the only chance I get to see if we sound good or not. But I get like I get why people don't want to be out there on their phone the whole time, but like, what about me, guys? What about me and my wants and needs? We all, yeah, yeah. Thank you so much, boys. I that's all I want. It's just like taking weird. You can come right on stage and just take a video right in front of me because I have my eyes closed while I do it. Because if I have my eyes open, I get distracted and I forget where we are in the song, which is not good to do as a drummer because whatever I play is the song. Everyone just has to play on top of that. So gotta keep uh keep locked in, focus, which is obviously power you have. Oh, it's so much power, man. I love it. Uh when you guys write songs, is it a what's the process there? Is it like one guy comes in with a song written out and you work it out as a band? Is it like a Beatles thing where it's like John came in with a song and the rest of the Beatles would just play a John song, or is it a more collaborative process?

SPEAKER_03 48:56

It's pretty collaborative. Pretty collaborative, yeah. Um I'll bring in I'll bring like a demo every once in a while, but it's mostly just all of us just kind of jamming and then going, oh, that's something, and hit record on the phone.

SPEAKER_04 49:10

Nice. It's the fishing approach, you know. I feel like there's two ways that people do this. Either there's kind of the meticulous songcraft of it all. The far extreme of that is like Rivers Como of uh Weezer having like no cards of like riffs and stuff. That's just crazy, yeah. Yeah, absolutely crazy, but it's like it's a difference in mentality. I feel like people some people they just want to turn shapes around and have the shapes fit into a puzzle, and that's how they think, and it makes sense for them. And versus other people, I view it as like the antenna approach, right? Where you're sitting there, you're playing the guitar, and you're hoping something will strike you. And it's almost like you're not writing a song as much as pulling something out of the air and then giving it a form that already existed. I feel like, you know, I feel like that's hard to do with a full band, though. Like you guys have to have uh you have to trust each other first and foremost and be able to like sit and wade through the muck of maybe a bunch of bad songs before you find something that actually works.

SPEAKER_03 50:06

Yeah, I won't say it's the most efficient, but yeah, uh I mean there there was a we had, I mean, so this is the first time we've been writing with Logan. He's he's a new new drummer, and you know, we didn't know how the process would be. And I think the first song that we all wrote together, I like brought in a riff, and it was very simple, just like one little thing, and it all clicked like so fast. I think in one rehearsal, pretty much 90% of it was like there. And we were like, oh my god, this is incredible. And then like the next song you write, like we were just banging our heads against the wall for like three rehearsals. And it's just it's just so interesting. Like, yeah, and yeah, I think what's been really important is never going like the one that clicks faster isn't necessarily better, or like you just you have you can't the process can't be its quality necessarily once it's like fully finished. Sometimes the one that really like we're working on one right now that is a motherfucker, and I feel like when it finally clicks, it is gonna feel really good. Yeah, I mean that's comedy, but it maybe never will. Iterations.

SPEAKER_04 51:13

Yeah, oh god, yeah. What is uh I mean I I love that too. It's like uh I feel like some people get really hyped up on the process of writing things, and like you said, you might write a song in one rehearsal and get 90% of it done in about you know 20-25 minutes or something like that. Another one might take weeks, but the quality of the end product is not different. There's no way to differentiate like which form works. So you just have to be open to like you gotta meet the song where the song is, you can't force it into being what you want it to be. Uh when have you guys like when you get to a point where it's like, all right, maybe we have to punt on this one, maybe this one's not gonna work out. How does that process go in a collaborative process? Because it might be a situation where it's like maybe the bass really fucking liked their bass part, and now they're just mad at you guys for not figuring out guitars to go over their cool bass thing. Uh or is that just sort of a thing where it's like everyone kind of agrees, like, eh, it's not really working, or is there any sort of tension in figuring that process out?

SPEAKER_03 52:10

It's mostly pretty.

SPEAKER_00 52:13

I don't think we've ever had a song where we're all just like one of us is just like, This is this is like it. I can't believe you're trying to get rid of it. I think we're all just like, all right, like if it's just not clicking, we'll move on. And maybe months later we'll have like a voice memo from that song, and we'll be like, oh, this actually fits perfectly with what we just wrote, and we'll just like smash them together and have this. You're just waiting, waiting, waiting, and then it just kind of just needed more time to sit, and then it then it was ready or something.

SPEAKER_02 52:40

But we're pretty like democratic about it. We're we're open to trying it, all the parts, and then if at the end of trying it all, one person is still like, I think this is like really good, and the other three are like it's bad. It's got it like you lose, yeah. So it is like a majority rules. Majority rules on that. When it's 2v2, then we have to keep trying. And it typically, typically at this point, I think three of us have been playing together a really long time, and Logan has melded in really quickly and easily. We know, you know, yeah, the difference between like when you're trying to write a song and you're like working on all these different things, you're like, it's so close, it's just not there yet, and oh man, this is literally stupid, and we just need to stop.

SPEAKER_04 53:24

Yeah, and yeah, I think honestly, one of the big appeals that people have of like bands, why bands exist, why they've never gone anywhere, even though economically it kind of makes more sense to be like a solo act than it would be to a band, is like it's team sports versus individual sports, right? Tennis versus basketball. You kind of want to see, you know, the idea of a band is like you want to get the New York Knicks. They're not the most talented team, but everybody there committed themselves this season to we're gonna do whatever it takes to make our, you know, make this unit operate as uh perfectly as it possibly can, you know. I feel like that's the big thing with the band is that sometimes you have a bit more of a tour theory to it. You have a director, and then every some people are the stage hands, some people are the director of photography or whatever. Sometimes though it's just a collaborative effort, and I feel like those only really work when everybody has internalized the like the only thing that matters is that this is a good song and it reflects what we're trying to do, and we're trying to do something good. It's not about me playing, you know, a guitar lick or a drum part. Uh obviously, we can speak for your drummer who's not here and just assume that uh he approves of all of this, even though he might just be like, these guys have no idea what a good song is. They never like any of my drum parts, they always tell me to do less.

SPEAKER_03 54:35

He's trying to take it from solo on every fucking song, and we just have to take the sticks away.

SPEAKER_04 54:40

You're gonna have to do it, you know. Just get a uh I suggest like a spray bottle. Like uh when the dog is barking, just hey, hey, hey, four, four time. Keep it simple.

SPEAKER_03 54:53

I think that it's also I mean, uh we've never really like experienced more uh I don't know, I've never been in a band where it's like uh that's not true. But I I think like being in a group where everyone's like even say, when the success is hit, like it feels a lot better. I don't know, like just like the group collaboration and like you're a team. Like, I don't know, there's just something that's like really special about that. And like you also, I don't know, learning how to work with people, learning how to work with like work on your ego, making sure that like as long as you're coming from a place of like respecting this musician's opinion, like that's what it's all about. And then when you get the big gig that you're all excited about, it's like that that feels good. Plus, like, we're extremely lucky and we're playing music with like our best friends. So go.

SPEAKER_04 55:45

You guys are cute. Look at you guys, you're being cute on uh on my podcast. That's good. That's good. Uh I guess uh my next question as we get towards the end here, uh something that I think about all the time these days, as I'm getting older. Obviously, I'm unk now. I used to be cool and young and hip, and now I'm an unk online to a bunch of people who apparently like listening to me ramble. But uh you guys ever think about the why? Like, why are you doing this? Why music, why 40 feet tall as opposed to something else? You know, like why is this happening? Especially I feel like in Portland where there's not really a history right now, or at least recently, of bands that have really gotten huge out of Portland, you know, that have become nationally well known. It is more of an insular scene, it is more of a DIY culture right now, but like you guys are one of the bands that I think everybody's written for just because we could see this going on tour across the country and really driving up fans, which is very exciting for me as a Portland guy. I'm hoping for more bands to do that. But I always just wonder, it's like, you know, have you thought about hey, why am I so committed to this thing? Why music? Why does this matter so much? Because at the end of the day, it is a weird thing to care about as much as we all do, and obviously we do. Look at what I'm doing, look what you guys do. Look at all my audience probably cares about this shit just as much. But like, why? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 57:05

Part of it is stubborn at this point. I have to admit it to myself, but I think that part of it is like so much time and energy has been put in this and the subclass fallacy. That's a tough thing to think about. Yeah, I feel like you just put in so much time and energy, and when it's working and it's going well, it's like the most fun you can be having. Um I think that for me is like why I keep doing it. Um, I've like shaped my whole life around it at this point. I literally, yeah, I like opened a bar so that I could be able to be my own boss so that I could keep going on tour. Plug the bar, plug the bar. What's the name? Trouble bar. Let me know if any bands want to do a party.

SPEAKER_04 57:56

I love the idea that it's just like a party. They have the hats, there's gonna be like pizza. No, no music, just party. Party.

SPEAKER_00 58:03

True. Uh, I think the reason, at least for me that I keep doing this, is because I it's just with with so much shit and so much so many things that are wrong in the world, it feels like one of the only things that makes sense to me. Is like if it feels like creating and putting something out there that people have started to enjoy, like, and we're seeing people enjoy it more, is like just feels good, and in the holistic sense of like the the four of us go into the basement, and we're just like surrounded just by like junk, and we're just making like we're just like making this art in this basement of this house in Portland, and then to bring it to people on a stage and to bring it to people uh in re in the form of a record, and then uh making music videos and just trying to to create this whole just artistic piece from this band is just one of the only things that makes sense to me in the world. So I just keep and we're getting better at it, and we're doing it better, and like even though like we've been doing it for a while, like it's just to me, it seems like it's just getting better, and I'm enjoying I'm continuing to enjoy it thoroughly, and I don't want to stop doing that.

SPEAKER_04 59:27

I love the idea of talking about getting better because one of the things that does appeal to me about music is that you can't master it, you can get better at it, you can become a master of it, I guess. But like even the people that are masters always say, like, no, there's I could be better, I could do more with this. There's other avenues I could get into, and just having that like the freedom of unlimited uh progress, you know, there's very few things that are like that, you know. I'm never gonna get faster than I was at 18. That shit's over.

SPEAKER_00 59:53

Yeah. It's cool to see too, like, we've been working at this for so long, and we're and we're we're being and and to have someone come out who is like a decade younger than us and creating something that you're like, whoa, I'm inspired by this person, is something that's pretty I it's cool that it I don't care how old you are if you're making art and it's something unique and different that you're putting out that no one else has done. Like I want to be, I want to do that too. I still want to do that, and I'm inspired by you can be inspired by anyone in the world doing that, which is exciting.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:29

Yeah, I also I love that idea. I always talk about it as like music is a a river, it's not ping-pong, it's not going back and forth. So you were 13 years old listening to some band, being absolutely awe-inspired by like the music that they were making, which inspired you guys to get together, make 40 feet tall. Now, some other 13, 14-year-old's gonna listen to that album, get super inspired, make their own album, and then it always just goes farther downstream, it's always getting pushed downstream. And I I love, you know, I always thought like I just want to be part of that downstream motion, right? I want to be something that just passes something on to the next people. I had no idea it was gonna be this. I thought it would, I honestly thought I'd be uh it would be making music, but I guess it's just walking around talking about it. But you know, I love that idea. It's like you are just inspiring some kid to go out and then get together with their friends and form lifelong friendships and all the fun stuff that's come out of this. But yeah, Cole, what's your why?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:24

Um I I mean I think I I I think I just kind of when I picked up piano and guitar, I I just fell in love with it and I just I don't ever really remember having a moment of like I I want to be in a band, but I remember just kind of thinking I need to figure out how to do this as much as I can.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:52

And yeah, that's the same reaction people have to like heroin. Oh yeah, my god, yeah, wow. I really gotta figure out how to carve out more time in my schedule for this.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:02

A little healthier, hopefully, but you know, the jury's still out. Um and I think yeah, I I for me at least, like the social aspect of music has been so huge. Like the community around music, like being in bands with your friends, like this shit that we're doing. I don't know, like just getting to meet new people, talk to people, like creating art with people, having having something on your resume that is not just I made a paycheck, and you know, as we're like starting to get to the point where like you know, it this is a job, like we're not like it's been a job for a minute, we're not really getting fucking paid, but like it's it is a job, like getting back to that core like of it and just being like, I feel so lucky that I I get to create art with my best friends, and people wanna hear that shit, which is crazy. Yeah, and I think and then I think another aspect of it too is like we're definitely not the most like overtly political band, but like in this terrifying time, like we get to like speak our minds a little bit and and I don't know, hopefully create a space where people feel safe and like have get to like let go of some energy and like just lose themselves for a second, but also maybe like feel galvanized to like go do something. Um and that feels really powerful too, or to like go see a show in our community where someone just like says something and uh yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:40

It's just to be able to direct attention away from uh the time sinks into something that feels a little bit more useful of that time and that energy. And it's like even something as simple as like going to a show, getting it honestly, like when you're talking about the social elements of it. I think about how lucky I am all the time that everybody I basically know in Portland is somehow connected to the DIY music scene because simply for the fact that it's like when I ask people, hey, what have you been up to recently? Almost no one I know answers with work. They don't talk about their work unless something awful is happening. They talk about shows they've been to, they talk about projects they're working on, zines, whatever. Uh and for me, it's like purely selfishly, it's super entertaining when somebody tells me about their passion project. It's super entertaining when somebody's like, yo, I got an EP coming out, I've been banging away at it for a while. Do you want to check it out? I'm like, absolutely. But like, yo, what where did you record it? What all this all these other all the the spaces in my social life are filled up with conversation that selfishly I just find to be much more engaging and much more intimate in a way, you know? When you hear somebody talk about their album that they're working on or their bandmates or something like that, I feel like I get to know them in a way that the standard like how's the weather conversation doesn't really give you any insight on, you know? But uh anyway, that has been an hour. I said keep you for an hour, and now you guys can unchain your basis and let him free for his uh standard 15 minutes a day. Uh well done, y'all. Uh this was this is great, man. I I always enjoyed talking to you guys. I I I think uh that's fun. There's a mutual fascination, I think, between both sides of this where I'm always fascinated by you guys and what you guys are working on, and you guys just like when I talk. So that's just very good. Love that. I was never too relevant.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:29

I always want to hear what your take is. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:32

But uh give me give me all your plugs. Uh plug the most recent album, plug any shows you got coming up. This might not come out for a couple weeks, so just be aware of like anything you have on the books. Also, plug your bar. Tell people where they can uh where they can find the bar, how to follow it, all the socials. Just be shameless of the plugs for the next like ninety seconds.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:53

Bar, trouble bar, it's trouble bar PDX on Instagram. There we go. Than division and delicious hot dogs. We have great hot dogs, cheap drinks. We do a discount for musicians. Um come come hang out. And also, if your band does want to throw like an album release party or something, I'm very interested in booking those up. And I would love to have you just party, hang out with your fans, hang out with friends, and not have the showpiece, but also celebrate your music.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:24

Yeah, I love that. Hot dogs and band parties.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:27

Yeah. We our most recent album is Clean the Cage. You can find that anywhere. Get it, get the record on or a cassette on our band camp, but you can stream it everywhere. Um, or go stream all our other records before that. We're writing a new album right now. It's gonna be out next year, probably hopefully. What do we got? We got July 11th. We're playing at uh Sandy Hut. There's like the cruise in with Spoon Benders, um we love dearly. Uh, and then um in August, we're doing some shows with the bad nerves, a um great band from uh the UK. Uh so we're really excited to open for them for a few dates. August 1st, um in Seattle. In Seattle, August 2nd, hopefully in Portland. We haven't been off, but we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:20

And then we're showing up where they want to.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:24

August 3rd, we're going back to Bend to play with them as well. Um, and then the Bobby Lee's are gonna happen in December. Yeah, write it down. Write it down. We love the Bobby Lee's, they just released a new record, they're coming back strong. Um yeah, we just feel lucky to be a part of this music community, and we hope to see you out there in Portland, in Seattle, in San Francisco, in LA, maybe New York this year, hopefully. We're trying to cross.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:52

The problem is when you go on those East Coast tours, then you get used to the like, oh, we drove three hours to get to Philadelphia, and we have like a day, and we didn't spend eight hours in the car driving between two California cities. Unbelievable. Yeah. Oh my god. There needs to be more cities on the West Coast. We need to open that up and we need to investigate why nothing exists between here and Sacramento. Whereas Indie Rock band can get a 100% crowd.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:18

Um, yeah, Cole, anything else?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:21

Thomas B. We got your Capital One adventure card. Or just give us permission to use it. Yay.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:30

One or the other. We will take written consent. Yeah. Yeah. To use your card. Uh anyway, boys, that was great. Uh I will see you uh early and often, and probably throughout the rest of your life, as long as we're living in Portland, and then you'll have to talk to me because I usually once you make eye contact, I view that as consent to have a conversation, and you're stuck with me. And sometimes it's a conversation where you're not important. I'm just gonna talk only about things that I've been thinking about and just smile and nod. It works pretty well. Um, and yeah, we'll see you guys around. That was uh a lot of fun. And yeah, check him out, follow him on uh Instagram, wherever you follow your social media or whatever. And if you do have a chance to go support your call, absolutely support.