From the Midwest to Denver’s thriving bass scene, SNAXXX is quickly carving out her place as an artist to watch. Having already caught the attention of respected names in the community, she’s stepping back into the spotlight with renewed energy and a sound that demands attention. Electric Hawk recently witnessed that energy firsthand during her opening set for Jkyl & Hyde at the end of February. An electrifying performance that left a lasting impression and sparked a deeper curiosity about her journey.
In this exclusive interview, SNAXXX opens up about the origins of her project, the contrasts between the Midwest and Denver electronic scenes, what it’s been like returning from a creative hiatus, and what lies ahead. So sit back, grab your favorite snack, and dive into our conversation with one of bass music’s rising voices, SNAXXX!
In Conversation with SNAXXX
seradopa: Since our Electric Hawk community is getting to know you! Take us back to the beginning—what first pulled you into electronic music?
SNAXXX: The people that I was hanging out with at the time. I mean, really, I listened to Skrillex and Deadmau5 a lot when I was 18, but I didn’t really start getting into shows and stuff until I was 25. Excision really brought me in, the first time I ever saw Robo Kitty – I was hooked for life! That’s really where it started!
seradopa: What made you want to go to the shows? Why did it take a little bit longer?
SNAXXX: I don’t think I knew about the scene, actually. I did listen to EDM a lot, but I wasn’t aware that there was a whole world out there with festivals and shows. Back in the day, the concerts I was going to in Indiana were a lot of rap shows, like Lil Wayne, and rock concerts like Linkin Park and Incubus. But then I discovered music festivals, and it’s just history from then on!
seradopa: Do you remember a specific moment or artist that made you think, “I want to do this”?
SNAXXX: In Indianapolis – where I’m from. I’m originally from Ohio, but I moved to Indy when I was 12, and then I moved to Denver three years ago. Indiana was the big upbringing of SNAXXX. I had a lot of friends at the time who were DJing and just starting out. I played the viola and piano most of my life, so I do have a little bit of a music background, and I kind of like to be the life of the party.
Sometimes I’m a mix of extroverted and introverted, but I just saw my friends up there, and I thought, I really feel like this is something I could do. With my music background, I just knew I would love it, so I went all-in and bought an SX2 board. They had a night called Open decks at the Mouse Trap in Indianapolis. I picked my name (SNAXXX), and I went up there and had a huge crowd of friends, and I was hooked from night one, really!
seradopa: So, DJing came first before production. When did you start doing the production side of things?
SNAXXX: About two years after DJing.
seradopa: Did you have torrent or buy Ableton, or were you using Pro Tools or Logic back then?
SNAXXX: It’s always been Ableton. I think my boyfriend would kill me if I didn’t use Ableton. He’s an Ableton certified trainer [laughs]
But I’ve always been very adamant about learning on my own. He is always so helpful if I have any questions, but I’m very stubborn. I want to do it myself! So a lot of Ableton tutorials, a lot of YouTube, and things like that.
seradopa: Dubstep and bass music clearly played a role early on—what drew you specifically to that sound? Especially over other genres!
SNAXXX: Again, going back to Excision, I think I was just like infatuated with that music. From the beginning, I’ve always liked really loud, bassy music. I spent a lot of my younger years in cars with dudes who had sound systems that made their license plates shake, and it sounded like shit [laughs]
I think just for a long time, I’ve just really liked loud music. And I also like rock music a lot. I used to be kind of a goth back in the day, and I think there’s a lot of dubstep that I love that incorporates heavy metal and emo stuff. And so that’s just kind of my niche!
seradopa: Where did the name SNAXXX come from?
SNAXXX: So I love food [laughs]
seradopa: Who doesn’t?
SNAXXX: I know that sounds so basic, but I believe I love food more than the average person, and I don’t mean just eating. I think since I was a kid, literally two or three years old, I was watching the Food Network. I was watching Emeril Lagasse instead of Barney, and learning to cook from my mom. So I’ve always loved cooking, eating, and trying new foods.
I remember when I was a kid, I would call my dad at work, and he’d say, “Hey, how’s your day?” And I’d be like, “What’d you eat?” I wanted to ask everybody what they were eating on the phone: my grandparents, my dad, my neighbors, whoever. It just kind of stuck with me over the years. Not a lot has changed. I still ask people what they ate today [laughs] So SNAXXX just kind of came to me.
seradopa: You’ve experienced both the Midwest scene and now Denver. What stands out as the biggest difference?
SNAXXX: Everybody here in Denver talks about how it’s such a small community, how everyone knows everyone. I guess I haven’t gotten to that point yet, because I’ve only been here for a few years.
I feel like Indianapolis still is a big place, but the music scene is a lot smaller. There are around five music venues and a few promoters. So we really everyone knows everyone. In Denver, I think the main difference and a reason why I moved here is that it feels like there’s more opportunity. Indiana, I owe that place so much. It helped my career get to where it is today. But I just felt in Denver, it’s the Bass Capital, and there are just so many venues and cool new places to play. So the big difference to me would be variety!
seradopa: What would be the difference between the two crowd comparisons?
SNAXXX: In Denver, everybody loves everything, at least from what I have noticed. I’ve been to shows where there’s been all different kinds of music played, and everybody is still dancing. And everyone’s having the best time.
Yes, I’ve seen that in Indiana. Maybe it’s because lived there for a long time, but I feel like everybody is very, this is what I like, and it’s this genre. You wouldn’t necessarily see the whole room dancing. But here, I feel that everybody’s just hyped to be alive and listen to good music. I love that a lot, because I know that if I don’t play a dubstep song in my set and I want to switch to Bass House, people are still gonna love it! Which has been really cool!
seradopa: How did relocating (or becoming part of the Denver scene) impact your growth as an artist?
SNAXXX: To be honest, my growth has not been so great lately until now. I’m finally getting my foot in the Denver door. That was kind of a choice of my own, though. Once I moved here, life got in the way, some personal things happened, and I ended up in a new place without really knowing anyone, any music promoters, or anybody in this music scene. And I just shut down. In the Midwest, I was doing really well, playing a lot of shows all over, and traveling. When you’re not doing stuff as an artist consistently, it can make you get down in the dumps.
So I just stayed there for a while, which I used to regret a little bit, but I see it as a blessing that helped me fix other things in my life. Then I thought, “You know what? SNAXXX is who I was meant to be!” I just truly know it, and I love doing it, so I’m just gonna go out there and meet people in the music scene. I met the guys from Bass Bingo, and I owe those guys so much. They’re like my brothers, and they recently took me on as a resident DJ, so I’ll get to play there once a month! Met some other amazing industry people, played the Cervantes Show [with Jykl & Hyde], and am booking some other future shows. Things are starting to bloom again!
seradopa: Honestly, that’s okay! I’ve told this to a lot of artists that I have chatted with. That took a few years just to settle in and figure out life first. The music industry, as you probably hear from a lot of people. It’s just not for everyone. While you have to persevere through it, you still hear all the nightmares of burnout or meeting bad people in the scene. Maybe, as you said, it was a blessing to figure out life first, so you could give this scene 100%!
SNAXXX: It’s a tough industry to be in. It has its ups and downs. I just saw Crankdat post a full-circle moment: he said a year ago he almost quit, got cut by his management, and said, “I have six months left of Crankdat in me.” And then boom! Look at him now! You can’t quit. You really can’t.
As I said, I pretty much quit for two years, and I had so many people reach out to me saying, “Hey, are you gonna come back? We’re really devastated to think that you never would.” So thank you to all those people who sent me kind messages, because it really did help.
seradopa: So, since you did take a break, how does it feel creatively making the music you are starting to make now?
SNAXXX: Yeah, so I mean I felt like a baby bird going back into production again [laughs]
I haven’t made a lot of my own original tracks. And that is procrastination, and I think I have a really big fear of tackling things that I’m not familiar with. I have a bad case of ADHD. I’m going and using the most complex computer program I’ve ever seen, and trying to do something I don’t understand.
It was a little rough at first, but then I thought, “You know what? I really just want to get my voice and my music out into the world.” So I put the work in, and I cranked my new track out in about two weeks. For not doing production for two years, I think it’s pretty awesome. This is my best song yet, for sure. I’ve definitely been feeling super inspired, and now a lot more willing and ready to learn. I’m ready to get new SNAXXX music out into the world, because it’s about time.
[Laughs]
seradopa: You briefly touched on it, but you recently opened for Jkyl & Hyde and also did the Keep the Dream Alive Live Stream Charity. What did these experiences mean to you?
SNAXXX: Keep the Dream Alive was awesome. I’ve been on it twice now, and Jacob Butler, who runs it, is one of the nicest human beings I’ve ever met. Everything they’re doing with the charity and donations is just so meaningful. So to just be a part of that has been really awesome. And I would do it again and again.
Jkyl & Hyde was insane [laughs]
That was crazy. I’d never played at Cervantes before. The show was supposed to be on the Other Side, but it grew so big it ended up in the Main Room. So I don’t know that I was prepared for that!
I have played in front of 1000s of people before, but it had been a really long time since I played in front of a crowd like that. To me, it really was everything, because everybody in that crowd was headbanging with me, dancing with me, and singing with me during the feelsy songs. I felt super connected to everybody, and I think it gave me a foot in the door of gaining new Denver fans as well. I had a lot of people reach out to me after the show with so many kind words, which meant so much. That show was epic! Jkyl & Hyde is the nicest guy, and I was really grateful to be on that lineup.
seradopa: You’ve been building your project for a while now. From what you’ve told me, what’s changed the most in that time?
SNAXXX: If anything, I’ve changed the most.
The music has changed a lot. I have my original USB from when I started. It’s got over 2000 songs on it, starting from 2016 and 2017, and listening to what I used to love to now, my music taste has changed a lot.
Dubstep has changed a lot. And I think the OG music is coming back a little bit, and I am here for it! But yeah, me in general, I have done a lot of growing. SNAXXX back in 2017 was a wild animal [laughs]
I’m not afraid to admit that! I had a blast! I definitely have adulted a little bit more in life. But she’s still in there – the 2017 SNAXXX is still there. She comes out on stage with my flailing arms and all of the dancing!
seradopa: Looking back, what do you think your early self would be most surprised by today?
SNAXXX: I think old SNAXXX wouldn’t believe the shows we have played.
Like I talked about earlier, you can get kind of down in the dumps when you’re not consistently booked for shows, but I think it’s really important to look back at what you’ve already accomplished. I have played with artists like Shaquille O’Neal, SVDDEN DEATH, Dillon Francis, Kai Wachi, and Level Up. Those are some of my dubstep heroes. So sometimes when I get sad, I just try to look back and be like, “holy shit, like we did this.”
I don’t think I would have ever guessed that I would be as successful as I am now. Maybe some would call my career not super successful. I’m not Excision, but to me, I am SNAXXX, and I’ve done so much cool stuff. And I’m really proud of that!
seradopa: How do you protect the long-term vision of SNAXXX in an industry obsessed with immediacy?
SNAXXX: I have grown some roots and fans over in the Midwest a lot, and now in Denver. I think that it’s hard not to check your Instagram every day, scroll, and see everybody doing more things than you. We all only post the good stuff! But just taking at least 30 minutes a day consistently to be creative, and putting the work into my project, especially after this last show at Cervantes, has just really reignited my love for what I do. And it makes me want to write a lot of music!
seradopa: That easily leads to the next question: What excites you the most about where SNAXXX is heading?
SNAXXX: The tunes! I cannot wait for “Prehistoric Snacks” to come out! Friday, April 3rd!
seradopa: Friday, April 3rd.
SNAXXX: Friday, April 3rd. It will be out! [Laughs]
I’m just so stoked about that. I wish I had just jumped on the producing train a lot earlier, but I think everything in life happens on our own timeline when it’s supposed to. So now is the time for the new original SNAXXX music to start coming out more often. I’m just excited for people to hear my new releases.
seradopa: Are there any goals or milestones you’re currently working toward?
SNAXXX: If I could pick a venue in Denver to play, I know everybody says Red Rocks, and if the Red Rocks people are reading, I still want to play there!
seradopa: AEG, please!
SNAXXX: AEG, you see me Bass Bingo all the time! But I want to play Mission Ballroom. Bad.
Love that venue. It’s epic. The sound is great. And I would love to play Lost Lands. I was on their schedule one year. I played one of the campgrounds, a real stage with real visuals.
But I want to play the main stage where the dinosaurs are! I mean, my new track is about dinosaurs! And again, I want to get a lot of music out so I can play a big originals set.
seradopa: Maybe an Electric Hawk SNAXXX Mix?
SNAXXX: I would love to! It’s been a long time since I made a mix. Actually, I think my last one was The Pantry Volume Three. That’s what I call my own label, The Pantry. But I haven’t done a mix in years, so I would love to!
seradopa: Well, we will let our people know, and also if AEG and Excision are reading
Both: Mission Ballroom. Lost Lands.
[laughs]
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