Boston duo TALL HEIGHTS are gearing up to play the Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival Saturday, September 22nd at 3:35pm on the ASCAP Shady Grove Stage. They will also be releasing their forthcoming album, Pretty Colors For Your Actions, on October 5 via Sony Music Masterworks – pre-order available now. We got the scoop from the duo's Paul Wright about what they look forward to most!
What are you looking forward to playing the Pilgrimage Festival this Saturday?
We’ve heard such great things about the festival from our good friends Colony House, who we’re on tour with now – that’s their hometown. We’re looking forward to playing for all the folks in Nashville as well. The lineup looks incredible, I just wish we had more time to stick around and check out all of the amazing bands.
What song are you most excited for old and new fans to hear?
I’m definitely amped on “The Deep End” right now. We’ve got a four-piece band we’re touring with, so we have some bass on the track and it sounds really great. In terms of older songs, I would say “Spirit Cold.” That one has always been a connection point between us and our fans, which is really the point of all this. That’s why we make music and hit the road and deal with the grind of it all – it’s to connect with our listeners.
I’m sure you won’t mind me saying that your new single, “The Deep End,” is just fantastic. Can you give us a little bit of background about song selection and writing?
Thank you, first of all! That song has been in the works for a while. We started writing it in a tiny little town in Colorado. We were playing a show and the owner of the venue actually let us crash in the venue after the show. We left our gear on stage, everything was plugged in, and he handed us the key and said have fun. We got to do this really rare thing for us which was have some time after the set to jam together. And the first kernel of that song was established then and there, two years ago. It was definitely still a work in progress in the studio, we spent a lot of time working on the chorus and getting it into the shape it is now. We really wanted it to present as a “Trojan horse” of a song. It’s an upbeat song that gets you dancing, but then there’s a bit of a secondary punch with a deeper meaning and message. It’s about becoming someone or something you shouldn’t be, and that slippery descent into being the wrong sort of person.
Tell us about your sophomore album, Pretty Colors For Your Actions, out soon. How does it reflect where you are in your life?
We are super excited about releasing Pretty Colors For Your Actions. It feels like it’s been a long time in the making. The music itself is definitely a reaction to our last release Neptune and a step away from some of the electronic elements that were so exciting to us then. So for this album, it’s a lot more alive and rich. We recorded much of it with a live band in the studio, which was new to us. But there’s continuity as well, you know. The thing that Tim and I built our music on was vocal harmony, which remains a priority on this album. I’m really excited about some of the vocal moments on this album that you’ll hear.
You have built quite a fan following on social media and through touring. How do you stay connected with your fans?
We certainly love engaging with fans on our socials and hearing from them about how a song has hit them or made a moment. That’s one of the most rewarding things to hear from a fan. We started out as street performers and for a long time, Tim and I would play cover songs, not really engaging with people in an artist-to-fan sort of way. But then there was this one night we were playing at dusk outside of Nathanial Hall Marketplace and we started playing our own songs. We were out on the cobblestone street and all the street lamps came on and people started stopping to sit down. Rather than walking by and tossing a dollar in our bucket, more and more people started sitting down. Eventually we found ourselves suddenly playing for hundreds of people and that was a moment for us. We realized that our songs really could connect with people and connect them to each other. So, still to this day, I think that the most meaningful interactions are face-to-face, where people have that moment of connection with our music and with each other and they’re able to come up after a show and tell us directly what a song or our music means to them.
Who was your first concert?
No Doubt
What would you sing at Karaoke night?
Terrified of karaoke! But if forced, I would sing Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are”
The Pilgrimage festival is also known for their amazing food vendors! What’s your favorite festival food?
Tim and I would both likely go for some wood-oven pizza if it was available.
Favorite food that is deep fried?
I think I speak not only for myself, but for our drummer Paul as well, when I say our favorite food that is fried is fried dough.
Any last words for our readers and your fans? How do they connect with you?
We’re so excited to be playing Pilgrimage, looking forward to seeing you all out there and after our set!
Website: http://www.tallheights.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tallh
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tallheights/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tallheights
ABOUT TALL HEIGHTS
The energy, focus and inspiration Paul Wright and Tim Harrington are harnessing in 2018 feels like a rebirth. Having amassed over 130 million streams worldwide, the duo of TALL HEIGHTS are currently on their biggest winning streak, touring the US and Europe alongside acts like Ben Folds, CAKE, Judah & the Lion and Colony House, and racking up accolades across the press world from the likes of Paste, SPIN, Huffington Post, NPR and Stereogum, in addition to making their broadcast performance debut on Conan. With no plans of slowing down anytime soon, Tall Heights now gear up for the release of their most ambitious project yet, sophomore album Pretty Colors For Your Actions. Stepping away from the production-heavy, synthetic palette of earlier releases, Pretty Colors For Your Actions is a uniquely original record that melds man-made instrumentation with grandiose, contemporary production. The highly-anticipated album is just the start of a huge fall for the group, who will then take their newly-released music across North America for 30+ headlining tour dates beginning this October
Experience why Rolling Stone called Pilgrimage "a festival to watch" and "one of the South's premier festivals" by The Tennessean with a 2-Day Pilgrimage pass ($185) OR2-Day VIP Village pass ($975) as well as on-site parking passes for $60 while limited supplies last. The VIP Village is presented in partnership with Strategic Hospitality of Nashville. Want to bring the kids? No problem! Pilgrimage has something for everyone and children 10 and under get in FREE when accompanied by an adult PilgrimagePass. To purchase your passes, please visit www.pilgrimagefestival.com/tickets.
The festival continues to drive tourism dollars to Williamson County and the Pilgrimage Foundation, the festival's non-profit arm, will donate a portion of each ticket sale to benefit the City of Franklin and Friends of Franklin Parks. In addition, a portion of ticket sales will also benefit MusiCares, a nonprofit organization that was established by the Recording Academy™ to provide a wide range of emergency financial assistance and addiction recovery resources to members of the music community.
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