Today we’d like to introduce you to Zack Hoskins.
Hi Zack, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Started out as a young whippersnapper in Merriam, KS with my non-verbal autistic twin(Jake), and dysfunctional parents that eventually divorced when we were 6.
Mom was a writer – that would eventually settle into a job that accomidated flexible schedule needed to raise a special needs child,
Pops was a musician – did quite a bit of traveling/playing with various groups in the late 80s/early 90s but would eventually fizzle out into the void of corperate America.
Once they realized that they really didn’t like each other, their prides collided and created a bit of a dumpster fire in my upbringing, mom/dad did the best they could circumstantially, seperately, yet couldn’t agree on what day of the week it was.
Thus created the perfect concoction for an emerging music artist out of the nation’s heartland.
Started with a room in the basement full of instruments, keyboards, guitars, upright basses, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, you name it. When my dad and his friend(s) would be down there jamming, it was the coolest memory i take from my youngest parts of childhood I remember.
FF a few years when Yahoo music videos were hot(YouTube was in its infant stages at this point, maybe not even here yet) I remeber watching Nickleback, Yung Joc, John Mayer, Skateboard B(Pharrell Williams before he was Pharrell Williams) and many others, thinking to myself “I want to do that, why can’t I do that? Why not me?”
As I went through the trials of life(tried/did everything – Quarterback, Wrestler, Leadership club, mathletics errythang), First, learning how to play guitar and sing at 10, it became an obsession. Sitting at the computer in the dining room for hours learning chord structures, transitions, walk-downs, walk-ups. I Loved it. A new cover learned was like a stone collected by Thanos for me.
FF to Highschool. Transferred to a private catholic school thinking it was going to broaden my potential for a successful life. This was before I knew that I would pursue an artist profession. Slowly let go of organized music practice, put down my sax, and periodically would still play guitar. Towards the end of highschool I would start to post cover videos to my facebook page for the love of the game.
Post-HS was ROUGH. Got unjustly prescribed adderal that I would quit cold-turkey because although it was helping me focus, I had lost myself. No colorful personality, talking to everybody in the room, singing/humming down the hallway Zack, so I had to figure that out. Little did I know, your not suppose to just quit that stuff cold-turkey. For the next few years, I was thrown around in a broken, minimally-maintenence, objectifying American mental health system, that would eventually leave me to dry all together. I had to come to the realization that my journey back to sanity was up to me.
Few years pass after that. I’m tinkering around in a local hip hop scene. I don’t really know anybody, just glad to be around all the rejects and misfits lol. Started recording music, and as I kept finding a way to record music, I realized that my musicianship that was imprinted on me at a very young age could Flourish in this world. I started putting melodies in my raps. Then used less words. Then experimented in different sound pockets. Started really obsessing on arrangement/song structure of the songs I was writing, funding all of my projects/efforts working for a small landscaping company out of Overland Park.
Taking the “leap of faith” back in 2022, quitting my 9-5, to really build this Swoovi thing out has been the most challenging, yet the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Between music gigs, and various subcontractor jobs(remodeling, plumbing, exterior work, etc.) I have somehow not only kept the ship afloat, but have started to make shape out of the Swoovi module all together.
(15) total recordings that include an EP, two jazzy big-band christmas records, and a polethora of sound styles, “Swoovi” deriving from the two words “Suave” and “Groovy” is now coming into it’s form. A TRUE multi-genre, complation of world-class multi-instrumentalists/producers that have pioneered a sound that timeless collides with futuristic. && we ain’t slowing down anytime soon!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
i think i did this last time where i put all the answers to these other questions in the first one lol refer back to the last section for this
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I listen to JRE, Telepathy Tapes, the books “The alchemist” & “The Power Of Now”… i cant give u all my secrets lol
Contact Info:
- Website: https://everythingswoovi.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swoovi_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EverythingSwoovi/
- Twitter: https://x.com/ThatSwooviDude
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Swoovi
