Some people spent their time during the height of the pandemic panic buying toilet paper and watching Netflix while doom scrolling the news all day. Others, like Alex, John, and Zack from Tall Boy Special, actually made productive use of their time. Cedric the Entertainer featured them on a CBS special. They also honed their comedic and songwriting craft. The result? Viral success on social media as Tall Boy Special, and a crowdfunded full-length.
That album, 19 Total Feet, releases today. Containing the wit and humor that made them viral hits, as well as high-quality production and musicality, the songs on this album are both smart, funny, and enjoyable to listen to. Musically, Tall Boy Special falls somewhere in the middle of Cake, They Might Be Giants, Weezer, and Ann Arbor’s favorite sons, Tally Hall. If this is your vibe, then you’re going to enjoy their new album immensely. If it isn’t, give it a shot anyone, they just might surprise you.
To celebrate the release of their debut full-length, 19 Total Feet, the trio stopped by to give us their thoughts on favorites, overrated, and underrated album choices. Take a look at what Tall Boy Special had to say.
Favorite Album
John MacGregor – My favorite album is 19 Total Feet by Tall Boy Special. These boys tell 12 separate stories ranging from a tragic zoo escape that wreck an idyllic suburb town, to a Hot Tub Hot Air Balloon used for business (killing the Lake Michigan serpent) and pleasure (soaking and floating, baby).
They manage to flawlessly leapfrog from genre to genre, weaving through pop-punk, musical theatre, and alternative rock while also keeping the listener entertained with tales of a limousine in the shape of a giant L and a Hibachi chef who may or may not die by the end of the meal. Although I may be biased, because I’m best friends with two of the members and see the other one in the mirror every morning, I think this album will eventually be regarded as not only one of the all-time great comedy/music albums, but as one of the greatest albums of all time.
Alex Kagy – This one’s easy! 19 Total Feet by Tall Boy Special. This album relies on clever narrative and irrelevant references to make you laugh. The instrumentation is simple yet effective, mostly guitar/bass/drum driven with pops of horns/synths/pianos. Every song needs to be listened to multiple times to fully catch every intricate lyric. It might be fair to confess that I actually befriended two of the band members while living in Boston. The other one lives in my skin. Tall Boy Special seems to effortlessly navigate the largely unexplored territory that is comedy music and they will not soon be forgotten.
Zack Barker – My favorite album? Well that’s got to be 19 Total Feet. If there’s anything anyone could use these days, it’s a good laugh or a good tune, and to me, 19 Total Feet delivers on both fronts and does so with the charm of a band that one might feel they could grab a beer with. From start to finish it’s clear Tall Boy Special had a blast writing this album. And from every lyric to every note, their intentions were for you to have a blast too. But, I’m just a fan boy so take this with a grain of salt, ’cause personally I think John and Kagy are two of the coolest dudes around. And also, I exist within the conscience of Zack.
Overrated Album
Alex Kagy – Green Day got me through middle school, but American Idiot tops my overrated album list. Maybe the over saturation of both the title track and “Wake Me Up When September Ends” on the radio brought them too far into the mainstream. It just didn’t sound like the songs from the guitar tab printouts littering my bedroom floor. I’m glad that they compiled their best of album International Superhits in 2001, three years before American Idiot’s release. Also, I would have been way more excited to see a Green Day musical adaptation called Dookie! on a Broadway marquee.
John MacGregor – Kina Grannis, “You Are My Sunshine (single)”. This album/single is SO overrated. My 7-month-old daughter cannot fall asleep unless she’s listening to this song. The worst part? She has to listen to it AT LEAST ten times before she can even THINK about going to sleep. It plays five times while she thrashes her little chunky arms around and around, rubbing her cute eyes, screaming, and shoving her fingers in her mouth which currently have two tiny teeth peeking up through her bottom gums. By the sixth time she has slightly calmed down and as the seventh time this COMPLETELY OVERRATED song plays she is now staring at me, smiling and trying to roll onto her stomach. By the eighth time the song comes on, I have given up trying to get her to stay on her back and let her stay on her stomach.
It doesn’t take long for her lack of muscles and over tiredness to take over and her head slowly lowers to the mattress, not knowing how to get herself out of the predicament she is in. All the while, YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE MY ONLY SUNSHINE is on its 10th go around. The best part of my day is when my daughter’s eyes slowly start to close, heavier and heavier, and I turn get to turn the song down. And finally, my day is complete when I get to turn this overrated song off and wonder why my daughter can’t listen to a cool song to go to sleep. Something off The Slim Shady LP maybe.
Zack Barker – I have no answer for this question. Every artist deserves the praise they receive. Who am I to say otherwise!
Underrated Album
Zack Barker – Summer Underground’s HoneyComb is my choice for most underrated album. While I love all of their music, this album has been one that always seems to end up on my Spotify end of the year playlist. Between their powerful lyricism and incredible vocals, I’m fully captivated and invested in the stories they tell with their music. I encourage you to check them out! (They now go by Grant Carey and The Sandwoman, and still collaborate while working on their own individual projects!)
Johnny Mac – The Lonely Island, The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience. What draws me to this album again and again is how it seemed to be made for no reason at all. With no goal in mind. This album is driven by a love for ’80s baseball in Oakland, and nothing else. Like comedy/music snipers, the specificity of the album manages to miss almost everyone and completely decimates the select few who understand it. These friends made something musically and lyrically compelling, heartfelt, funny as hell, and specific and didn’t seem to care what happened after. This is how every great artist starts, and the kind of content I believe we are all dying for.
Alex Kagy – Say what you will about Coldplay today, but Parachutes is an incredible introduction to a band that would go on to become a household name. I feel a comfort from the chords at the top of “Don’t Panic” and that comfort never leaves. “Yellow” was one of the first songs I ever covered for an audience. The album is unpretentious. What’s my evidence? “Shiver”, “Spies”, and “Trouble” are all great songs with one word track titles. Doesn’t get much less pretentious than that. It’s probably the only debut album to come close to topping 19 Total Feet by Tall Boy Special.
