KENNYHOOPLA // New Sound, New Wave

KennyHoopla is one of the most exciting names in today’s alt scene.

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There’s no doubt about that. The triple-threat (singer, songwriter and rapper!) impressed with his debut EP last year. He’s now back to kick ass and take names with Survivors Guilt: The Mixtape. It was made with Travis Barker, a collaboration that Hoopla says was a dream come true. With so much to dig into, we got the Wisconsin-based artist on the line for a chat.

Hysteria: Tell us about how your collab with Travis Barker came to be.

KennyHoopla: It was just through Instagram. We followed each other, so I hit him up and asked if he wanted to make music. We made Estella in one night, and then the rest was history. We ended up making a mixtape that was a collection of songs. It was crazy.

Travis has spoken so highly of you and your music. If we were in your shoes, we’d never stop bragging about that!

I still can’t believe it. We’d be in the studio, and he’d compliment something, and I’d just be like, thank you, Travis Barker (laughs). All I can say is thank you, it’s such an honour. I try to express my gratitude to him all the time. If only he knew!

Did you learn anything memorable from that partnership that’ll stick with you?

To just go with your gut. Travis really helped me trust myself as an artist. He instilled in me who KennyHoopla is. I can’t explain it, but he made me feel like an artist. So I’m definitely going to take that with me. I trust myself more. And I also don’t care as much anymore.

Your vocal range on the mixtape really stuck out to us. How’d you go with those screams?

Yeah, we had a couple of weeks to make these tracks. We did what we could with the time we had. I almost didn’t try. I just did it. It was something I didn’t really think about. I dove straight in and trusted Travis.

I look back, and a lot of the shit I did myself was me proving something or someone wrong. Out of every situation, I laughed because I did it myself.
[ KennyHoopla ]

Tell us about some of your earlier musical memories of Blink-182.

Some things you stop listening to over time, but not for me. I still listen to the same stuff. Blink-182 has always stuck with me, and I’ve grown with them. Even just driving around in cars growing up, I’d listen to Blink and just think about how I wanted to get in a room with them and get a chance. To see it come to life is crazy. Manifestation is real.

What excites us so much about today’s scene is how much freshness there is. To be completely blunt, there’s a whole new face behind it. You’ve got the likes of Meet Me @ The Altar, Willow and Yungblud breaking the stereotype. So how do you feel about being part of that?

I stick to myself honestly. I think I got looped into that whole thing, and I don’t really feel like I’m a part of it. I don’t identify with it. I might regret saying that down the line. People might think I sound pretentious, but I’m in a completely different space. It looks like that to the public, and it makes sense, but I think people will see me out of that box the further my career goes. I’m barely peeling the scab off now. There is so much left in me that I haven’t even tapped into. So I’m eager to get back into the studio.

We don’t think that sounds pretentious. Going off your last point, what else are you hoping to achieve in your musical career?

I just want to be greater. I want to get better with my words, be real and dig into stories. I guess you could say my stuff is deep, but there’s so much more that I’m living that I haven’t shown. So I just want to lean into that.

How you’ve mixed up a whole bunch of genres, especially on your first EP, stuck out to us. Will that be something you continue to do?

Yeah, but it won’t be all over the place. That first EP was an introduction sonically to what I like and what it would sound like. I was just dipping into things that will make sense further down the line of my career. When it’s all said and done for me, it’ll make sense when I look back at my discography.

So if you could go back to young Kenny, from the position you’re in now, what would you tell him?

Fuck everybody and do you. You’re completely right in everything you’re feeling. I have a problem with being alone. I’m not very good with being in my head. It’s not even that. I like the people around me. But, a lot of the people around you aren’t good for you. They don’t see things the way you think they do because you romanticise them. I look back, and a lot of the shit I did myself was me proving something or someone wrong. Out of every situation, I laughed because I did it myself. Since I was a kid, I’ve known that most people don’t see things like me, and I have to trust myself, but I would lean into it harder. I wouldn’t shrink myself down for other people’s comfort.