93 FEET OF SMOKE

93 FEET OF SMOKE

By: Ashley Vitarelli

For many recording artists, collecting over 77 million Spotify streams, receiving acclaim from top music publications such as Earmilk and Elevator Magazine, and collaborating with some of the biggest names in the industry is the dream. For 93FEETOFSMOKE, however, it is reality. Outfitted with a style and a sound that is uniquely 93FEETOFSMOKE — from vocals that are unfiltered, raw, and real to explosive and captivating soundscapes that take listeners on a dynamic sonic journey — the gifted artist has gathered a vast and loyal fanbase and compiled an impressive discography. In fact, if 93FEETOFSMOKE’s recent debut album is any indication, this is just the start for the talented creative.

“I moved around a lot, chased ice cream trucks, and played outside in the woods,” the artist recalls about growing up. “My parents had a huge collection of CDs that I would put in a player and try to find songs I liked. I got my first guitar for Christmas in third grade. It was a $99 starter guitar and I didn’t really take it that seriously, I just played by ear to songs I liked. I didn’t start taking music seriously until way later in life when I was in college and got super into production and bass and jungle music.”

It was in college when 93FEETOFSMOKE began to thrive in the underground music scene in North Carolina and first started collecting fiercely dedicated fans. “It was really unexpected,” the singer says of gathering fans. “I definitely had a big imposter syndrome feeling from that. I just wanted to be around the music scene and other people who were making music and pursuing their creative passions. To have people actually rocking with my music was something I never at all expected.”

On a similar note of unexpected joys, another pleasant surprise came to 93FEETOFSMOKE upon discovering that making money from music was not only possible, but happening. “My big break was really just making $100 off of streaming for the first time,” the singer recalls. “Around 2015 or 2016 there was a moment when I matched the average amount I would receive from my restaurant paycheck with music. That was a huge moment for me and really solidified the feeling that surviving off of art could actually be possible.”

93 FEET OF SMOKE

Flash forward to 2020, when once again, the unexpected came to pass for 93FEETOFSMOKE — this time in the form of a collaboration with Savage Ga$p and a hit track called “Pumpkins Scream In the Dead of Night.” “I don’t think either one of us expected it to get over 67 million Spotify streams and 10 million cumulative YouTube views at all,” the artist shares. “That’s how it always goes though, the ones that you think are it usually aren’t. It’s the ones that you didn’t put that much thought into that become the ones that translate the most across an audience.”

Indeed, 93FEETOFSMOKE is an incredibly gifted collaborator, a fact that is further proven by the hit 2022 single with Phem and Tosh the Drummer. “One night I was about to fall asleep and I just heard the hook in my head so I recorded a voice memo and finished the song with my producer homies Aaron Osborne and Orion Meshorer a few days later,” the recording artist says of the creative process behind the track. “That’s usually how most songs go for me — it’s hearing it in its entirety in my head first and rushing to get it made on the computer before I forget how it sounds.”

93FEETOFSMOKE’s music runs the stylistic gamut, with highly intense tracks to more cathartic and gentle ones such as “All I Ever Wanted,” a song that is “really just about the human condition of achieving your goal and experiencing those goal posts shift downfield in real time,” the creative shares. “It happens to everyone. The ‘I got what I wanted why am I not happy’ paradox. After every success you’ll eventually notice that ugly thought lingering in the background. It’s the shadow on the walls of all of our human pursuits and it’s super normal to feel that way but it’s not real. Your brain is just lying to you, trust me you’d be feeling even worse if you didn’t achieve that goal. The never ending pursuit of happiness is kind of the point of life, isn’t it?”

The powerful way that 93FEETOFSMOKE can write about the human condition is something that the artist attributes to perspective. “My music is just an audio manifestation of my own experiences in life,” the creative notes. “Everything is vibration and the vibrations that sound good to you and are subsequently created by you have absolutely everything to do with your environment and the energies you are surrounded with. The power of music is everything. Sound can be a weapon. Sound can be healing. Music can be a ritual. Music can be a community. Music can be absolutely anything. Music is really just a collected arrangement of syncopated tonalities and vibrations and those respective tones and vibrations are incredibly tied to our physical and metaphysical world and have the ability to do a lot of things that I think humanity doesn’t even realize.”

For career highlights, the singer notes “making music, meeting other artists, and meeting other passionate people. Even though touring is hard and draining, it has been the source of some of my favorite moments. Being on the road with my friends back in 2018 and 2019 was such a cool experience — being on stage and singing songs with people that you’ve never met before but feel inexplicably linked to, sharing an unspoken connection with people and just looking into their eyes and feeling that and knowing it.” As for musical motivations, 93FEETOFSMOKE has many, listing Modest Mouse, Bright Eyes, Curren$y, Bassnectar, and Bladee. “I love the experience of creating new concepts and trying to come up with new ways to present said concept to the world in a way that maybe hasn’t been done before,” 93FEETOFSMOKE shares. “Art is super important to me and super important for the world and the world’s different cultures.”

Looking towards the future, 93FEETOFSMOKE has many exciting things on the horizon, including “tons of new songs, a new album, new EPs, and lots of new music and events!” Indeed, if 93FEETOFSMOKE’s career so far is any indication of what is still to come, the creative’s future is beyond bright. 93FEETOFSMOKE represents the kind of star that is always getting bigger, always shining, and always making the world a better, more authentic place. “Making music is therapeutic and I know it’s a tired thing to say but that’s the reason why I do what I do,” the singer says. “It’s always been for myself. Over the years people find the music and relate to it and then you meet these people and they tell you their life stories and there are so many parallels to your own life story and it’s honestly a bit cathartic and also a bit daunting. There are certain albums or songs in my discography where I can understand almost exactly what you’re experiencing in your own life based on what specific song or album you tell me resonated with you as a listener. It’s like an instant understanding of each other. I am endlessly grateful for those that resonate with my music. It lets us both know that we are not at all alone in these unique life experiences.”

Photographer: Heather Koepp Stylist: Camille Bersier Clothing by 5 Star Vintage