Artist Spotlight is a segment that we started to introduce our listeners to some deserving up and coming artists/ bands. They have made an impact on us for all of the right reasons. We think they kick ass and we hope you do too! Today, we’d like to shine the spotlight on music shapeshifter HU$H!
In a landscape where genres often collide, HU$H is emerging as a truly unique artist, fearlessly navigating the realms of metal, punk, rap, and electronic on his eighteen track Strange Music debut LP, SKUNKWORKS which is out now.
His ability to seamlessly fuse the aggression of metal, the rawness of punk, the lyricism of rap, and the electronic experimentation creates a sonic tapestry that defies conventions and captivates the senses. Each track on SKUNKWORKS unfolds like a sonic adventure, taking you on a rollercoaster ride.
On SKUNKWORKS, HU$H displays his talents as an artist by assuming the roles of producer, instrumentalist, songwriter, and vocalist on every track. Catching the attention of Strange Music with his shapeshifting style he signed with the label in 2021 and has since generated over ten million streams and counting.
Born in Silver Spring, MD, his parents followed the Maharishi community—“The Movement”—to Iowa where he primarily grew up. At five-years-old, he messed around on a friend’s piano and fell in love with the instrument. Eventually, he received a guitar for his birthday and proceeded to “learn every Nirvana song.” As practitioners of “The Movement” in rustic smalltown Middle America, his family faced constant discrimination as he endured hell in school.
Finally, he left Iowa in his teens. He spent two months homeless in Florida with “nothing but a nylon string guitar, a skateboard, and a suitcase.” He’d skateboard around until he found someone to jam with or a floor to crash on.
Through a strange turn of events, he wound up in California. He recorded in Los Angeles and attended Evergreen State College before finding himself back in Iowa. During 2017, he introduced himself as HU$H. Grabbing the mic and spitting fire, he served up a showstopping lyrical display on Soltan’s “Sick,” which Shaquille O’Neal even touted during DJ sets. Reeling in millions of streams, he turned up on Soltan’s “Trouble” in addition to collaborating with Whales and Megalodon. He caught the attention of Strange Music with his shapeshifting style, inking a deal with the label in 2021.
We sat down with HU$H for a short, but fun and interesting Q&A!
Every superhero and villain have an origin and an artist is not different. Well, minus the radioactive spiders and secret government experiment. What’s the origin of HU$H?
I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, was definitely an outcast even to the outcasts. The only thing I had was music, my mom got sick shortly after my dad’s MS put him in a helpless position, so I had to take care of them and just stayed home and made music all day. After my mom got better and started taking care of my dad again, I left at 15 to live on the street in boulder and a couple other cities. Music kept me going, was and still is my life’s blood.
Tell us about your new album SKUNKWORKS. What was the writing and recording processes like, where did the name of the LP come from?
Well, I wrote most of it through the pandemic, different life events that had happened before and during the lockdown were also an influence. It was weird being disconnected from the world and I really just went off into many different genres without the influence of going out and hearing what other people are doing. It really was a very experimental time for me, hence the name skunkworks. Skunkworks is a term commonly used in technology described as “an experimental laboratory or department of a company or institution, typically smaller than and independent of its main research division”. This album is my experiments for sure. Lots of genre mashing.
Some artists cite when they heard a specific album or saw a band live as when they knew music was going to be their life. When were you bitten by the music bug?
It was actually playing piano that is my first memory of falling in love with music and knowing that’s what I was supposed to be doing. I was 5 years old and figured out if I play only the white keys in the middle of the piano it usually sounded good… and I loved it… and it felt amazing. Every new instrument or melody or style of creating music has been a new way for me to express something greater than myself.
We’ve lost quite too many music icons over the last few years. If you could pick one or two to jam with, who would you pick?
Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots.
You’re booking a tour that you’re on and you can bring along any 4 bands (even if they are no longer with us or broken up). Who would you choose?
Slipknot, Soulfly, Madonna, and the Beatles.
Do you have a favorite tour or show story you can share?
An appropriate one? Naw not really lmao.
If your music were a cocktail what would be in it?
NyQuil, DayQuil, vodka and sprite.
Connect with HU$H online:
https://www.instagram.com/ohshutit
