ME: last week you did a bunch of shows, how did it go?
TŌTH: It was so amazing. We did six shows in six days, it's my happy place. It's like a calling to me, we were opening for Caroline Rose and it was just a perfect fit, she's amazing, bands amazing, we fit together, and it really resonated.
M: what is your favourite bit about touring and performing?
T: Actually performing. That's 45 minutes of the day, but when you're touring that 24 hours are dedicated to those 45 minutes. You meet new people, see new places, but for the most part it's hard work. Those minutes on stage, it's that connection playing and singing my songs and interacting with a room full of people enjoying it, and it means something to them, and all the years of my career are culminating and it's becoming an exchange, it's so deep and powerful and validating. It's really something.
M: you have almost 400k monthly listeners, when you started to make music did you think you’d reach those numbers?
T: I don't think I ever initially thought abut it. I've been playing trumpet since the fourth grade, I wanted to be a great trumpet player and make great music. At that time is was trumpet and blues and jazz, I wanted to speak it fluently. At some point it did switch over, like I wanna make art. There was this distinct moment I was outside a jazz cafe and I was like oh, I wanna make music that is an art and reaches people. I did hope to be reaching people.
M: how does it feel to reach such numbers?
T: On the one hand, it's important to me to feel that type of support. It feels good. But also, at times, it's like is this real? How many out of those streams are people actually listening? That being said, it's definitely resonating.
M: one of your biggest songs, if not your biggest song, song to make you fall in love with me, has over five million streams. Did you think that would be the song to gain so much traction?
T: No, I didn't, I definitely wasn't thinking about that stuff at all when writing. I hope that whenever I am in the writing seat, I'm not thinking about those things. I can do it, here with you, but I think when writing it's important that none of that is there at all. To me, I'm glad I'm able to focus and do the thing and don't have any other considerations. I don't think it should be part of the artistic or creative process. With song to make you fall in love with me, I was going through a break up. I write music because I like it and I was going through a hard time.
M: Do you often write from experiences, stories, etc?
T: It can vary, and I like that. You can draw from something very literal. It's almost psychedelic. I could go into depth about my grandmother dying, and then it would apply to heartbreak too, or at least for someone it could. I try to understand pain through it. I write happy birthday songs for friends, family. I'm trying to understand my psychology, if it's happening in my brain it's most likely universal, because I think we're all alike. I like to know what's motivating me. I am inspired by crushing sadness, music helps me work through that and anxiety, but I'm also trying to get to a place where I don't need crushing sadness.
M: you have music on Spotify dating back to 2018. How do you feel your music has changed since then?
T: I released a jazz record in 2007. At that time I didn't really write songs, I wrote poetry. I'm also in a band, Rubblebucket, we also had a 2007 release but we wiped that. I started messing with songwriting around 2013, like really focusing on it. It was weird to go from being in a band not singing to go to focusing on it entirely, it was a process. I want to evolve I go on whims. I want the album after an album to both take you to a new place but be a reliable sound to Tōth. I think I'm becoming a better vocalist.
M: Your latest releases on Spotify are from last year. Can we expect any new music?
T: Yeah, I have a stupid amount of songs because I write so much. I need to give myself the space to find where it's supposed to go. Rubblebucket is releasing an album and I really love this album. I hope that this fall, early winter, I can get into a Tōth album.
M: looking at all of your covers, they don’t seem to stick to one aesthetic. Whats your process when it comes to making a cover?
T: First record was just a photography, but the second one and the EP and the singles they're all different pieces of art, all by the same artist, Cecile McLorin Salvant. In retrospect, I wish they were all a doodle or drawing. In a way it helps you stay in a world. I like the art direction in this new album better. She made a poster for me, and I asked to turn it into a shirt and it went from there.
M: just to end on; what is your message to fans or within your music?
T: It was eight years ago when I really got into meditation and went on my first silent retreat for ten days, no talking, no phone. It lead to my punk album in 2017. The songs were buddhist themed. Tōth is not possible without that silence. It emerged from that silence. We're all shit shows, so I guess if the music can in some way help a shit show be less of a shit show, if it can help other people, because there is so much suffering, then it's a message of love. A vote for love.
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