Interview
Here on the West Coast, Tony H may need little introduction. As time goes on, Tony's consistency continues to leads him to new peaks in the music industry.
As Label Manager at Space Yacht, founder of Late Night Munchies and Munchies After Dark, and a highly acclaimed producer in his own right, you would think Tony would be bound to the studio and office. However just this year, music has taken Tony to Detroit for Movement, Miami for Music Week, Indio for Coachella, all on top of holding down clubs in Seattle regularly.
Not sure how he's found the time to put something together for us here, but it is a pleasure to share a bit about Tony here.
Beyond the music, tell us about your personal story from Alaska to the PNW, and over the years, behind Late Night Munchies and Munchies After Dark.
Ohhh man, where to begin haha! I ended up in Alaska because my dad got stationed there while I was going to college in Panama. But, since everything was so expensive, I decided to move back home with my fam and it was just my luck that they were headed to Alaska. After being there for a few years I knew in order to advance musically and to get booked in other states/countries, I needed to move, so Seattle (thanks to the homie Myndgruv) ended up being that place. The scene musically was exactly what I was looking for and needed.
What lead to your currrent role as Label Manager at Space Yacht?
I feel like that all happened naturally. Rami aka LondonBridge who is 1/2 co-owner of Space Yacht had put put a tweet about people to interview as they were getting their podcast back up and running and a bunch of friends tagged me in. To my surprise, he actually had already heard about me AND my label Late Night Munchies and enjoyed a lot of the music from the label. During the interview he found out that I used the same system they were going to use for their label. So fast forward a few months and Rami gave me a call and asked if I wanted to become the Label Manager for them andddd of course I said yes haha.
Can you share a bit about what it's like as Label Manager?
When I first got brought on it was really just to handle ingesting releases into the system and make sure all the assets got to the artists. These days I handle that, the accounting side for the label, A&R'ing and even some graphic design stuff for the releases.
Although high energy, you're well calculated in your approach on the Pulse It EP. Can you share a little about your production process, and how it's changed since your early releases?
My production process has definitely evolved from when I first started. My workflow and output are wayyyyy different now, but that's definitely because I've learned so much either from collabing with people or from endless workshops and youtube videos that I've watched. It's always funny because people are always like man you have so much unreleased music or you finish so much music, but a lot of that is just me trying to get ideas out and continuing to get my workflow in an even more efficient way. A lot of those finished songs will never see the light of day lol. Sometimes it's just for practice or to hopefully spark another idea out of that.
What's the secret to your success balancing your label with Space Yacht, not to mention your own releases?
Honestly, I don't even know lol. It feels like muscle memory at this point, that I'm able to do multiple things at once. Between managing all 3 of my labels (Late Night Munchies, Munchies After Dark and not me being chaotic), running Space Yacht Records, finishing my own music, gigging in town or traveling somewhere else, throwing events and also making myself available to anyone who made need help or advice, I really don't know. I do know that I really have a passion for music and community and those are definitely two things that drive me.
From Detroit, to Miami, Alaska and Coachella, just to name a few recent stops, music obviously has you on the move. What is it about Seattle though that keeps you at home?
Seattle has been a great home to travel out of (well it used to be cheaper pre pandemic ughhh haha), but I've also met some dope people in the scene. My manager Rob is a close friend and someone who is super active in the scene and we have been supporting each other from the jump. My girlfriend Bahar, I ended up meeting at Monkey Loft, where I play and hang out a bunch and she's been a big support system and someone I can run ideas off of. The non profit DJ Academy that I am starting called Bassline Beats Academy is something I am working on to bring the community together and many of the people helping me with that are close and trusted friends in the scene. So, it's definitely safe to say that Seattle has been a good home.
You mentioned Bassline Beats Academy, a nonprofit music initiative you are launching soon. What's the inspiration and mission behind the organization?
The mission behind this is providing an all inclusive safe space for music lovers and creatives. The general consensus among my peers and friends is that they wished they had a place like this when they were getting started, to learn, to network and to create. On top of that, this is a way for me to uplift and push for more Minorities, LGBTQ and Women in the scene to be included on line-ups and for the ones that are producing, to push their records out for the public to hear.
Looking to the future, what else is on the horizon for you at this time?
The future holds a lot haha. After the success of my first album "Big Whopper" that I released in 2020, I am slowly working on my 2nd one that I plan on releasing in January of 2024 which will also be the 200th release for my label, Late Night Munchies. Besides that plenty of gigs coming up including APOG Festival, Disco Donnie's Fourth at the Mural, Day Trip Seattle Festival, Bassline Beats Academy Fundraiser that will be at Madame Lou's in August (be on the lookout for that announcement) and many other gigs. Lastly, I have plenty of new music coming out this year including releases on Country Club Disco, Desert Hearts, Flashmob Records, Sub 49, Uniting Souls + more.
For more from Tony H, follow him here:
Instagram
SoundCloud
Late Night Munchies
Munchies After Dark
Space Yacht