A SHARK
STAYS SWIMMING
CE Creative Director Ryan Schmidt interviews rap artist and label owner Mike Tumbarello
on what’s good. Lizzy Sullivan shoots the pictures and video.
Name:
Michael Angelo Tumbarello AKA: Baje One
Age: 30
Ryan Schmidt: Occupation?
Michael Angelo Tumbarello: I run an independent record label called Modern Shark.
I also rap in a group called Junk Science.
RS: You’re Brooklyn born and bred as I understand it.
Give me a few of your favorite venues in Brooklyn:
MT:Court Street Bakery in Carroll Gardens. Di Fara Pizza on Avenue J.
Happy End (Polish lunch counter in Greenpoint).
RS: Your record label Modern Shark is fairly new, tell us how you got the idea
for the name, and why you wanted to start your own label:
MT: It was either going to be Modern Shark or Shark Deco, and I liked the idea
of the label not being tied to any particular time. They all sounded good though…
Shark Nouveau sounds cool too. Renaissance Shark.
Originally I wasn’t going to start a label at all.
The previous Junk Science record had been released on Definitive Jux
(through a license from Embedded Music) and I would’ve been happy to stay there.
But when both of those labels announced that they were shutting down,
something just clicked. I was never fully happy with just making and putting out
my own records; I always wanted to be in a position to present music to the world.
So now Modern Shark is my platform to do it,
all I have to do is figure out how to build a bigger audience.
RS: You work from home. Besides the opportunity to play chef and
test recipes daily, what do you like about that:
MT: I like to be around my cats, make sure that they’re not
fucking the place up too much. Also, I don’t have to ride the subway as much.
It took me 30 years living here to realize that riding the subway is the worst.
RS: Any pitfalls of working at home?
MT: Oh yeah. It’s easy to not do shit when there’s nobody looking over your shoulder.
RS: You come from a musical family, tell us about them and where you live:
MT: My brother Vito is a DJ (DJ Vito Fun). He’s kinda famous. We live together,
along with my wife and his girlfriend. It’s not as freaky as it sounds.
The other day there was a limo parked in front of our house and I’m saying to my wife
“Who the fuck is this asshole?” And sure enough, Vito steps out of the limo.
My older brother Eric apparently used to do a radio show when he was in college,
and my brother Andrew used to DJ local parties, which is how I got my first records –
from stuff that they left at the house when they moved out.
RS: Tell us about the video for “Really, Man” where you play John Lennon:
MT: That was the director’s (John Ta) idea. At first I felt a little nervous
with the idea (especially since he was dead-set on re-doing that Rolling Stone cover
where I would be totally naked). But as soon as we started shooting, I got comfortable.
There was something strangely soothing about knowing that
I was playing somebody else. I didn’t have to worry about looking cool
in front of the camera or whatever, I could just pretend to be in this world
that we were creating. It made me want to try acting. And (spoiler alert) I ended up
keeping my boxers on, so it was a win win.
RS: What artist would you most like to collaborate with?
MT: Junot Diaz. Me and him could make a record
and Egon Schiele could do the cover art.
RS: Tell us about forthcoming releases on Modern Shark:
I just put out a new record from Tone Tank & Scott Thorough
that has some crazy songs on it. I’m releasing a conceptual EP
soon that I made with J. Howells Werthman, it’s called “What’s It Gonna Be?”
There’s also new Junk Science music on the way, and music from
Serengeti and Cool Calm Pete too.
RS: What are your current musical influences:
MT: Andre 3000 is my favorite rapper ever, I hope he comes out with something soon.
RS: What’s on your classic playlist?
MT: The best playlist I ever came up with: “Sleepwalk” by Santo & Johnny, on repeat,
while the sun was setting over Miami.
RS: Do you read any paper magazines?
MT: WIRED. Game Informer.
RS: How do you feel about the rise of the internet as the
modern record store / music source:
MT: It is what it is. What I’m concerned with is the scary possibility of
everything becoming disposable. When everything is free (music, information, etc.)
the people who create stuff tend to put more crap out there, which only reinforces
the idea that everything should be free, and we all spiral towards a standard of crap.
The question is: How, with less money, do you make stuff with the same sort of
quality controls that were the standard before the internet?
In my experience the answer has been that you end up having to learn to do
more things yourself, and you end up working a lot more, for what amounts
to a smaller hourly wage. But if that’s what it takes to make something that
DOESN’T feel disposable, then that’s what we’ll do, until we burn out.
RS: I know you like vintage style clothes, give us an idea of where you shop for your looks:
MT: I’m not much of a digger, I get a lot of my clothes from Beacon’s Closet.
According to my boys, I only recently started dressing halfway acceptably.
RS: Your wife is a writer, do you read a lot?
What kind of books are you into?
MT: Jade and I have both been reading a lot of Hemingway actually.
‘A Moveable Feast’, ‘The Sun Also Rises’, ‘The Old Man And The Sea’.
He was a great storyteller. So matter-of-fact, sentence after sentence.
But then he hits you with one great metaphor, and it just kicks you in the face.
RS: Favorite places you have traveled:
Oaxaca, Paris, San Sebastian, anywhere where it’s beautiful and you can eat well.
RS: Where would you love to tour, ultimate dream country to tour in:
MT: Italy. Also, in this dream I speak perfect Italian,
and every show is a sort of homecoming celebration. And we travel by train.
Motto:
No one knows very much.
Mantra:
You have to create your own standard of success.
Drink:
WaterCoffeeBeerWine
Any last words?:
Be good to somebody today.
CREDITS
Photographed by Lizzy Sullivan http://www.lizzysullivan.com/
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