The Hip Snacks, a Denver-based six-piece, joins KGNU’s DJ Jules for a studio session before kicking off their Colorado and Bethesda tour. The band plays a few songs from their recent release, What Lies Ahead, and discusses their tour and journey as a band (Interview date: 11/12/2024)
DJ Jules: I am lucky enough to have The Hip Snacks in the studio with me. Hello everyone!
The Hip Snacks (Kara): Hey, Jules.
DJ Jules: How are we doing today?
The Hip Snacks (Kara): Fantastic. Thanks so much for having us.
DJ Jules: What brings all of you into the KGNU studio today?
The Hip Snacks (Kara): We have never been here before. We are so thrilled to be playing on your radio. And we are here to promote a gig that we have coming up at the Velvet Elk Lounge on Thursday, November 21st. We’re going to be teaming up with our buddies River Spell. So we’re really excited about that and happy to be in Boulder.
DJ Jules: Wonderful. Have you guys ever been to or played at the Velvet Elk Lounge?
The Hip Snacks (Kara): We have not. This will be our first time there.
DJ Jules: Oh, yay. That’s so exciting. We are so excited, so happy to have you here and so happy that you get to share your music for the KGNU listeners to get them ready and excited for your upcoming show next Thursday.
The Hip Snacks (Kara): Thanks, Jules.
DJ Jules: Of course. All right. So let’s get to some music. What song do you have in store for us as your first song for this afternoon?
The Hip Snacks (Kara): So we’re going to play four songs from our album that just dropped in June called What Lies Ahead. The first one’s called “Love You in the Morning”.
DJ Jules: Oh my, that was a tasty little snack right there. You have a nice smooth sound. How long have y’all been playing together?
The Hip Snacks (Kara): Only a year and a half, actually.
DJ Jules: Oh my gosh. Amazing. Can you introduce and let everyone in the KGNU world know who’s in the studio right now? Who’s in the band?
The Hip Snacks (Kara): Yes. Thanks, Jules. So again, we are The Hip Snacks. I’m Kara Durante, lead vocals. We got Ricky Feria on guitar. Adam Schini on keys and backup vocals, Dylan French on the drums, Ben Suarez on the bass, and Felipe Cantuaria on backup vox and guitar as well.
DJ Jules: Amazing. I’m so happy y’all are here. Thanks for making this stop before your show next Thursday on the 21st at the Velvet Elk. You have some more shows lined up. Where’s the road taken you?
The Hip Snacks (Ben): We’re really pumped. We just played our first night of the honeymoon tour, is what we’re dubbing it. Because Kara and I just got married last month.
DJ Jules: Yay. Congratulations!
The Hip Snacks (Ben): Thank you so much. Appreciate that. We had a great first night of the tour. We played Cervantes Ballroom with Clay Street Unit, and we were lucky enough to sell it out. We had a great night. Our next couple shows are around Colorado. We’re rounding out the year with Maggie Rose, Grammy nominated artist, back in Bethesda, Maryland, in our hometown. We’re going to be playing in the Bethesda Theater on the 21st, so we’re really pumped for the whole tour. You can check out our website for our dates. We’ll be all over Colorado except for that one Maryland show.
DJ Jules: Okay, you had your sold out show at Cervantes, and you’re in the ballroom, you’re not on the other side. What was the energy like? How did it feel to be there playing your sold out show, especially after just getting married? I mean come on you guys.
The Hip Snacks (Ben): That was right after we got married, correct? Yeah, such an extraordinary experience. We were pumped to be there supporting Clay Street Unit, and this other band Arkansauce. We were really lucky that everyone came and showed up early on a cold day that turned into a really warm night. The stars aligned in our favor, and we had a packed room and we played well and it was such a thrill.
DJ Jules: And then how are we feeling about the Maryland show? With that being a hometown show, where does that sit? What are all the feelings around that?
The Hip Snacks (Kara): We’re very excited. We’ve gone to a bunch of shows at the Bethesda Theatre to see Maggie. Ben and I are from there. Felipe is also from Maryland. We’re thrilled to be playing that one too. So much family, so many friends will be there, so it’ll be a big reunion of sorts.
DJ Jules: Oh, that’s going to be wonderful. I’m so excited for all of you. I’m excited for you to play another song because I’m loving your vibe and your sound. You’re going to play two songs for us now. What do you have in store?
The Hip Snacks (Kara): So our next one is going to be called “New Groove”. And the following is going to be called “Read My Mind”.
DJ Jules: So great. You guys have fun together. Just sitting here watching you, it’s awesome to see how you interact and your energy.
The Hip Snacks (Kara): Yeah, we love each other.
The Hip Snacks (Ben): Most of the time.
DJ Jules: Most of the time. It’s coming through right now. We’re loving each other right now.
The Hip Snacks (Kara): Indeed.
DJ Jules: It’s good stuff. Okay, so you mentioned that these songs are from the album that was released in June. Now, do we have stuff in store for The Hip Snacks fans? Is there anything in the works? What’s happening?
The Hip Snacks: Yeah, we have a couple of tunes that we’ve been playing in our rotation that are gearing up for the second album. We are in the writing phase and hopefully all of the tunes we’re writing make it on the album, but you know how it is. You gotta overwrite a little bit and get all the good stuff on there.
We debuted a new song that Ricky wrote at Cervantes and that’ll definitely be getting its rotations on the road. For those of you who were there at Cervantes, I’d be curious to see the development of the song. Y’all heard it for the very first time live that we were able to perform it. We’ve played it maybe three or four times before that. So it’s interesting. It’s important to take the songs out on the road when you can. So we’ll see where the new songs end up.
DJ Jules: That’s exciting. So now you get to workshop too on the honeymoon tour. This is so great.
Where are we drawing inspiration from? Is it people you’re currently listening to, things you’ve grown up with, life events, a little bit of everything?
The Hip Snacks (Ben): Yeah. We’ve definitely always been inspired by Allman Brothers. We love Tedeschi Trucks Band, but we also love funk music, like Lettuce. There’s so many. The Motet are one of our favorite funk bands from here in the Colorado area.
But we draw inspiration from everything. Felipe, Kara and I are from the East Coast, from the Maryland area. Dylan’s from New Jersey, and so we went to a lot of the same music festivals growing up. Ricky grew up in Ohio, and so he drew a lot of inspiration from those guys, played with a lot of the bands out there, played the Workout Festival and things like that. So yeah, we’ve had a lot of wide ranging inspiration, but a lot of longer improvisation, more structured songs, I would say.
DJ Jules: Wonderful. And hi Dylan. I’m a fellow Jersey girl. So with this upcoming potential album that’s going to happen, or future albums, who would we love to collab and work with? What would be the dream one? You can have your own answer. You can each have multiple answers.
The Hip Snacks: I certainly have my own. I’m a big fan of Eric Krasno. Having Krasno come in and work with us on a tune or two would be like a dream come true for me. And I know that most of the band also really enjoys Eric Krasno’s music and all the stuff he’s been a part of. So that’s my answer.
The Hip Snacks (Kara): Locally, we’re friends with and adore DJ Williams. That’d be super cool if he could play with us on a couple tunes, we’ll see. But he also did a guest appearance at Cervantes’ Other Side too. So we bump into him all the time.
DJ Jules: I love it. Okay, this is us manifesting right here. We’re putting the intention out there. We have one more song with The Hip Snacks today in the Boulder Studio. And KGNU listeners, if you’re just tuning in, they are performing at the Velvet Elk Lounge on Thursday, November 21st. What is this next song that you have? Our final song for today.
The Hip Snacks (Kara): Thanks, Jules. We really appreciate it. This one’s called “Isn’t That Proof”.
