[photos and interview by karol o.]

Ask Tim Fite the same question on two different days, and you’ll probably get two different answers. That doesn’t mean he’s not honest; Though Fite cultivates a fairly elusive and enigmatic persona in the music press, he is also disarmingly frank and unpretentious. After years of creating meticulous and finely crafted sort-of-hip-hop (that still somehow sound homemade), Fite is taking stock of his career to date, and planning his next bold moves.

I caught up with Tim Fite after his third and final Halloween Bash, after the dust had settled on some legal matters and as Fite prepared to launch his brand new website. The site showcases Fite’s full spectrum of creativity, including lots of (FREE!) music, and a wealth of visual art.

EID: I don’t know if you remember me. On Halloween night I was one of the Canadians that you gave a bag of fireworks to.

TF: Yeah, I totally remember. Those fireworks were precious. I heard you got in trouble.

EID: On our way home we ended up lighting a bunch of them off at a truckstop. A guy who worked at the truckstop McDonald’s told us to put them in the garbage and leave. About twenty miles down the road, five state troopers stormed onto the bus I was on and… Well, to make a long story short, I was charged with 5th degree Arson (with intent to damage property) for torching a garbage can. I guess some of the spent fireworks were still hot.

TF: Oh my god. That’s fucked up. I’m so sorry, man.

EID: I just want you to know that I didn’t snitch, so you’re safe.

TF: {laughs} I’m glad. We don’t like snitches. But either way, that sucks. I didn’t think you could get in that much trouble. If I did I wouldn’t have given them to you.

EID: I remember you handing them to me and saying “I want you to get arrested in New York.” And we had a good laugh about that. {laughs}

TF: Will you have a record in Canada?

EID: I’m currently arranging to pay restitution so the charges get dropped. I won’t have a record. My friends who were involved in the fireworks display have offered to split the fine with me.

TF: Thank goodness, man. I’d offer to chip in too. I have friends who have gotten into that sort of thing. You know, you do something foolish, and you end up being treated like a terrorist forever.

EID: I’m not too worried about it. And it was a good story. Dealing with the State Troopers was a trip.

TF: I think there are no human beings more awkward than policeman. They serve the function of every fucked up, socially awkward activity known to man. You know, they’re simultaneously brutal and non-communicative. {laughs}

EID: One of them told me that if I went for the door, he was going to shoot me.

TF: Aw, Christ.

EID: Have you ever been arrested?

TF: Never officially.

EID: What does that mean?

TF: I’ve been… Like when the police harass you and put you in the car and make you feel terrible but you really didn’t do anything wrong so they haven’t really arrested you.

EID: What was your last experience with a police officer?

TF: We hit an old lady’s car at Bonaroo. We backed into it and she took my license and registration and insurance card and ran into her house and held it hostage until the police came. The police sat us down and were mean and fucked up to us because we were in Tennessee. We didn’t even bump the lady’s car. There was nothing wrong with it. But they went along with her and claimed it was going to cost a thousand dollars to fix.

EID: Have you ever been in trouble on Halloween?

TF: Yeah. Not with the police, but pretty much every single physical fight I’ve ever been in has happened on or around Halloween. You know, it’s a mischief night. People are out acting bad. Kids are all around and you have to defend your honor in order to win the game.

EID: This year marked the third and maybe final installment of your Halloween trilogy of albums. Why Halloween? Why not Christmas or Mother’s Day?

TF: Because I like dressing up scary and being scary. It gives you a lot more room to pretend. I guess you could pretend in the same way on Mother’s Day but that might be creepy. Like, really creepy.

EID: It seems like the Halloween thing is one part of a larger enigma of Tim Fite. It’s hard to find a lot of information about you.

TF: It’s all true. And none of it’s true. Just like any good story.

EID: How do you decide when to tell the truth and when to make stuff up?

TF: I don’t know if I really even know the difference. {laughs} Maybe I tell the truth when I don’t want anyone to have a good time. {laughs}

EID: What’s the most personal question you’ve ever been asked?

TF: “Do you love me?” And the answer is invariably “yes.”

EID: Is there anything you won’t write about?

TF: I don’t know. I don’t think there’s anything I wouldn’t write about. Maybe if I was sad because my dick fell off or something. I might not write about that.

EID: You don’t just write, and make music. Visual art is a huge part of the show. The Halloween bash in Brooklyn was decked out in art of your own creation. You could just as easily just get up there and play. It would still be entertaining.

TF: But it wouldn’t be as much fun for me. The art stuff I do to entertain myself. The music helps to entertain the people.

EID: Will you ever make Halloween music again?

TF: I think I’m done. I think I’m good to go. I need a Halloween off where I can go get into some fist fights.

EID: What’s happening on 11/11?

TF: I’m relaunching my website, I’ve redesigned it. There will be a bunch of stuff available that hasn’t been available for free. I’m gonna be a lot more vigilant about updating it. There’ll be 40-or-so drawings that you can suck into your computer. The Water Island record for free, which no one has been able to get their hands on real easily, and a new animated thing I’m working on called Dog and Pony Show.

EID: You give away a lot of music, but you’ve been doing this for a while. It doesn’t seem part of this trend of bands just giving away their music. Why did you start doing that?

TF: There’s a difference between what I do and devaluing music by the current trend of giving it away. I think that current trend tends to devalue music because it’s not truly free. People turn around and figure out a way to sell it later. I give shit away because it’s free and kind and that gives the value back to it for me. I get value out of sharing it in that way. The shit that I sell, I don’t make any money off of anyway. {laughs}

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