August Spotlight: Hooked Like Helen
Excited to share their creative processes and aspirations as musicians, Hooked Like Helen sat down with Next Wave for a lovely interview. Frontwoman Nikki Stipp shared what it’s like to create songs that are heavy yet sprinkled with notes of hope and how the response to the band’s latest single, “OCD (these thoughts again),” has been received. Hooked Like Helen’s passion for connecting with as many people as they possibly can fuels their desire to create which has allowed them to continue to grow as artists and ultimately lead to their upcoming EP, Promise Me You’ll Run. Dive in to Hooked Like Helen with us and get to know this self-described “sad glam rock” band on the rise.
Next Wave: How would you describe your music to new listeners?
Hooked Like Helen: “Alternative Rock” is the short and easy answer, but it's such a broad and vague term… We feel like our music is kind of a blend of the old and the new. We pull influence from grunge, emo, and classic rock in our songwriting and tones, but our lyrical style and approach to production and mixing is super modern. It’s like sad glam rock, I guess haha. Very personal and raw thematically, melodic, and the new stuff that we're currently releasing has a heavier rock edge that we feel is our most authentic music yet!
NW: What is your songwriting process like? Is there anything that particularly fuels your creativity?
HLH: I (Nikki) am the primary songwriter for Hooked Like Helen, and when I’m first bringing a song idea to life, I prefer to work alone. I take my time perfecting melodies and chord progressions, and I just don’t like having an audience for that part of it. Our songs are deeply personal, and that can only happen when I feel comfortable enough to get vulnerable and real.
“Negative” emotions like sadness, anger, anxiety, depression, guilt, etc fuel my creativity. It’s rare that I write a genuinely happy song, but I do try to lace most of our songs with at least a little bit of hope. For both the listener and for myself.
NW: How do you handle creative blocks or periods of no inspiration when working on new music?
HLH: For me, I feel like my default mode IS creative mode. I’m only ever not actively in songwriting mode when we’re in a different part of the indie band cycle and I literally don’t have time to write. Like, when we’re on the road touring, or releasing an EP and we’re hyper-focused on creating new visuals and getting the word out about the new music. During those times, my creativity is being used up on those efforts. As soon as I’m able to shift gears back into writing, it’s been (so far - knock on wood) a pretty seamless transition. Thankful for that haha.
NW: You recently released “OCD (these thoughts again)”. What has the response been like and how does that response drive your creative process moving forward?
HLH: The response to “OCD” has been SO amazing and humbling and wonderful. We’ve connected with people who understand and relate to the song and it’s been so soul-fulfilling to hear that it has given comfort to others. What more could you ask for as an artist, than to be told that your art has touched someone and improved their quality of life, even if just a little bit?
NW: You’ve opened up shows for bands such as Icon For Hire. What was the touring experience like for you?
HLH: It has been amazing so far! Icon was our very first tour and they really showed us the ropes and helped us out. And the Icon Army is literally the sweetest group of people you could ever play music for! We’ve made so many friends, met new fans, experienced dreams, created memories, and learned SO much this past year of touring. We’re looking forward to more - definitely road warriors for life haha.
NW: In the past, you’ve been known to complete pre-show push ups. How did this ritual come about? Has it helped with pre-show nerves?
HLH: YES! I think the first time we did them was before our 3rd show on The Reckoning Tour with IFH. This was in the greenroom at The Masquerade in Atlanta, GA, one of the coolest venues ever. I think Heather Thomas, our drummer, may have been the initiator. And that show ended up rocking. So we kept doing it haha.
Thankfully we don’t really get pre-show nerves anymore, but we do get general anxiety pretty much all the time haha, so having our little ritual for “good luck” has been helpful.
NW: If you were to go on your own headlining tour, what would be a dream city and venue for you?
HLH: Ohh we would LOVE to play literally anywhere in South America. We feel like fans down there go SO hard and it’s such a beautiful part of the world.
State side: Red Rocks in Morrison, Colorado would be sick because it’s so gorgeous and legendary. It would also be amazing to headline the House of Blues in Anaheim because as a SoCal native, I have so many great memories there, and Disneyland is my favorite place on planet earth and it’s right next to it haha.
NW: Looking ahead, what are your goals and aspirations as an artist? Any upcoming projects or collaborations you’re excited about?
HLH: Our goals are to be heard by as many of our musical kindred spirits as possible. We want to reach the people that need to be reached, the ones who are comforted or helped in some way by our music and our message. We want to tour the whole wide world, we want to make music videos that express our artistic vision, and we want to ROCK. We are currently in the middle of releasing singles from a forthcoming EP called Promise Me You’ll Run which will drop on Oct 4th. The next single will be out Aug 9th, and the cover art for it was created from a photograph that the amazing AJ Gardner took of us at The Forge! The final single will drop on Sep 20th with a full-concept music video that we shot in our hometown in Ohio. We collabed with K Thrash on these upcoming singles and we had such a blast working with him! We’ve got some shows coming up in Wisconsin with the amazing Aranda in late September, and hopefully a tour to follow! It might be a good idea for new listeners to follow us on Bandsintown for show info, and sign up for our free VIP membership on hookedlikehelen.com/vip to get the latest news!
