Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Marie Hernandez and Zach Huckabee.
Karen Marie and Zach, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
At a young age, I (Karen) went through a lot of changes as I was placed in foster care and was moved around a lot. Because of this, I had a lot of trouble expressing myself, so music was my main outlet. I’d listen to the radio a lot until I got my own CD player and eventually an MP3 player- growing a liking to alternative rock and punk music. I bought my first guitar when I was 13 and quickly taught myself the basics, writing my own songs soon after.
Throughout high school, I tried forming bands or joining a few, but to my surprise they didn’t want a “girl lead singer” or to write “girly music” and would much rather have me play bass or rhythm guitar in the background. It took me ’til I was 17 to realize that I didn’t need a band to play live music, so I began playing solo acoustic sets at small art venues and restaurants. By 19, I finally reconnected with an old musician friend who was at a transitioning point in his life where he needed to start anew. Showing him my songs I had written, he began to write drum and bass parts for them and liked this new but 90s reminiscent post-grunge sound I had presented.
Since then, we’d been a partnership who’s written and recorded 4 LP’s together and have taken part in a West Coast tour and a national tour.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We’ve always struggled with bass players! We’ve never had a consistent bass player…just fill-ins and tour bassists. We’ve also always felt like underdogs in the scene, and have had to fight for the achievements we’ve made against financial factors and otherwise.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Cosmic Kitten story. Tell us more about the business.
Cosmic Kitten is a band who handles themselves professionally and makes music aimed around themes of self-empowerment, the empowerment of those around you, and raw expression of self. We try to stand out by being unapologetically ourselves while still having a heart for those who’ve had injustices done to them in our society.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I feel like we’ve created our own luck by not being afraid to ask and reach out to people. Handling ourselves professionally has also played a part in our luck, as we’ve met a handful of people and have made several connections because of that! Every big or small step our band has made (like booking tours, music video shoots) is primarily because we reached out to people. Other than that, word of mouth has definitely helped us quite a bit, along with promoting ourselves on social media.
Contact Info:
- Website: Cosmickittenband.com
- Phone: 615-802-8263
- Email: karenmhernandez19@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/cosmic_kittenofficial?igshid=32b7puk4cp10
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/CosmicKeeton/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CosmicKitten_1?s=09
Image Credit:
Kalynn Barnum, Van Corona, Josh Drew
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