We recently connected with Miles Crowl and have shared our conversation below.

Miles , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Everything I do is pretty much the most meaningful project to me. I’m not doing it if it doesn’t end up with a piece of my soul and spirit in it. But with that said and to break it down, Mile High Arts is what encompasses everything I do as a whole. From the music like Naughty Frog and my Solo Hip Hop stuff, to all the visual arts, paintings, music videos, that’s where you can kinda find everything categorized.

Originally Mile High Arts started before I graduated high school as a way to post my drawings and paintings to social media. I also used my platform to share projections and visuals I would work on for events and so forth. Then I graduated in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. I ended up taking the brand on the road and did a series of vending gigs at concerts and festivals despite the world being “shut down”. This would help me get my foot in the door of the music business as well as the two go very hand in hand.

During the spring of 2021 I would set out to begin my solo hip hop path.I released my first EP “Kick it Back” in March and would begin playing shows towards the end of the summer. During that Fall I would get in connection with Dan Barker to start recording music and playing some house parties through the winter.

At the beginning of 2022 Dan and I would form together to create the band/group Naughty Frog. Here we use this platform to experiment with our sound all around from reggae and funk, to punk and metal, we even get jazzy sometimes.

All these projects fall under my brand Mile High Arts which has been my baby since day one. Coming into 2023 I’m excited for where we’ll be going and what you’ll be seeing from us!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve never grown up in a normal life and it probably never will be. But for some reason I know this is where I am meant to be. I’ve been dreaming of working in the arts since my brain was able to function. My mother was and has always been an artist of many crafts just like me. My father was a hustler beyond belief, there’s no chance in telling him no or he can’t do something. That’s probably we’re I get my “dive in head first figure it out later” attitude from. I grew up traveling and moving every couple or so months between New York and Florida before my mother decided to settle down and try to give us a normal life and send us to school.

I actually used to do really well in school, good grades, get all my work done. Then I turned into a teenager and I think we all know how that goes. It’s not that I wasn’t interested in learning, I just felt there was more to learning then they were teaching us. So I started self educating myself in stuff I actually enjoyed like music and art and whole cultural lifestyles in general. None of which I would learn there.

I am the first male of several generations to graduate from high school on my side of the family. I hated it, boy did I hate it, but I did it anyways and got it done and I’m grateful I did that with the push of my friends and family.

Basically I would live out the rest of my high school like it was 1967. Experimenting with psychedelics and getting as weird as I could. My biggest influence in what I do as an art form would be Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. His writings, movies, and music of all them, being wacked out… but free… Was amazing to me. They influenced a whole way of life and nobody’s even knows it. All done behind the scenes.

Graduating during the 2020 COVID Pandemic was interesting to say the least. We were kicked out and had to do the rest of the year on computers with no clue what would be held next. I survived all of this and would take on the road for the next couple years as Mile High Arts and Miles Crowl music before starting Naughty Frog with Dan Barker.

It’s only been about 3-4 years since I’ve taken off on my journey and I know there’s so much more to come still. 2023 has already been a blessing and there plenty more to come this year.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I come from a very back-wooded rural area that’s not to fond of getting out of themselves. Very close kept town where no one wants to leave, there’s no drive for anything more or better. Not trying to dig on my hometown because it has made me who I am. But I’ve watched countless friends and family fall victim to it and the problems found in town. Kids destroyed by drug abusive, a failing economy, and just a common feeling of “not giving a shit”.

The fact that I get out every weekend and travel city to city, show to show, meeting person after person, there’s no better feeling than being out in the world and taking in all it has to offer. I may not be out one hundred percent yet, and I’m not necessarily trying to, but being able to leave and get out enough to know I’m not trapped I can go somewhere when I want is so empowering and want people to know that need the push, GO! DO IT! Don’t let anything hold you back and just go!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Obviously I can say “Buy a ticket” or “Stream the music” but that just goes over mosts heads. So here’s this…

Try being a fan. Just try it. I get the popular stuff is cool and we should like that, it’s popular for a reason. But I’ll ask you this. Go out of your comfort, see what you don’t like, and what you do like. Take what you do like and embrace it. Does it make you think, relax, get hyped up. Allow new chances for something great and unexpected to come into your life.

We all need to try and be more fans of each other than standing on the sidelines and presume it will all work out for them.
Get engaged in your life and find what you love.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://solo.to/milescrowlmusic
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milescrowlmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/miles.crowl?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5W4Wo8KitDWEex7klm371A
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/341tn9Zd579b1bOgXe4PI8?si=aG8KuuYGSuCLc0mbhVMNLA SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/ZqJEgQEg6Wf8aJkq7

Image Credits
Cassie Loftus Clifford Bozarth