Conversations with Hoity-Toity

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hoity-Toity.

Hi Hoity-Toity, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hoity-Toity began as an all-girl powerpop band of young teens over a decade ago. Our singer and keyboardist Shelby Muniz was among them. Shortly after our formation, we stole our bassist Tana Snyder from a young metal band. We then released our self-titled debut EP at the Pomona date of Warped Tour 2016 (and recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary!) We grew our stage presence and developed our sound from there, which led to the alternative rock stylings of Not Your Kind released in 2019.

The pandemic hit us hard and totally killed our momentum. When live shows made a comeback, we shared the stage with our drummer Terah Fullerton who was in another band at the time. After recording our sister EPs As Above and So Below, we decided to steal Terah away as well! We spent the first half of 2022 touring alongside Crawlers, The Aquadolls, and Sitting on Saturn. In 2023, we released As Above | So Below which showcases bright grooves and pop melodies that contrast a darker alternative rock sound.

A year after the release, we stole–you guessed it–yet ANOTHER musician from another band. Longtime listener and guitarist Jose Plascencia hopped in our van and shredded his way across half the country with us on tour, supporting Sarah and the Safeword and Cheap Perfume in the summer of 2024. Our latest escapades took us to Las Vegas to play the Neon City Festival 2025 supporting Bowling for Soup, and to Anaheim to perform at the NAMM Show 2026. The moral of the story is that you better hide your bandmates or we will in fact steal them from you and take them to all sorts of places!

Between touring, festivals, and all the awesome opportunities we’ve had in between, we managed to catch our breath long enough to begin writing new music again. It’s taken some time to develop creative chemistry between the four of us, but it’s been a fun ride and we’re really into the new direction our sound is going. We’re set to release two new singles this fall, so watch out for those!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
If you’ve been a band as long as we have, you’ve just about seen all there is to see at this level. We have many touring horror stories from bookings gone wrong, to our van breaking down on multiple occasions, to fearing for our lives driving through a blizzard in Colorado. We’ve had merch stolen, had to reshoot an entire music video, faced sexism and sexual harassment, and encountered our fair share of internet trolls. Through every trial, lineup change, and falling out, we’ve learned and grown so much from the countless experiences we’ve had over the years.

Like any band that starts young, we had to learn how to be a band while still figuring out how to be ourselves. Half of our members grew up in this band, and as a result, our dynamics were shaped by some of the growing pains that came with teenage angst. As members matured into adulthood, the band’s identity also matured. Some members grew deeper into the band while others grew apart from it. It’s been a long road full of the good, the bad, and the just plain weird, but it’s been worth it to get to where we are now. Along the way, we found our people: Shelby, Tana, Terah, and Jose. Hoity-Toity has taken on many forms over the years and we’re feeling optimistic about how it evolves from here.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
While we mostly hover in the realm of poprock alternative, we don’t limit ourselves to a single genre. It’s way more fun that way! Evolving from our beginnings with powerpop and pop-punk, we’ve dabbled in new wave, blues rock, and 2000s emo. Lately, we’ve been having fun combining metal instrumentals with disco vocals, diminished licks with spooky synths, and punk riffs with irregular time signatures.

We believe our genre blending is our best trait, because our sound doesn’t lie in our genre but rather in the individual players of the band. With Shelby’s catchy pop vocals and synth textures, Tana’s irresistible bass lines and killer tone, Terah’s calculated pocket drumming and classical background, and Jose’s vicious rock riffs and gorgeous tones, we’ve combined our varied styles into an accessible amalgamation of sounds. Our diverse influences merge to form a fun, dynamic style that sets us apart and creates an energetic live show that we think any music lover can relate to.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
This year, we’ve been fortunate to find a new mentor in our community: our audio engineer, Jon Mireles. His guidance has helped us navigate recording new music almost completely independently before sending our songs off to him for final mixing and mastering. It’s been hard work, but we’ve enjoyed having more creative control over how our music turns out. It’s given us a stronger feeling of personal accomplishment. Jon has also been a huge help with marketing tips, release strategies, and long-term planning. Overall, he’s been super nice to work with and has been a total asset to this new chapter of Hoity-Toity.

Networking with fellow bands, bookers, venues, managers, sound engineers, producers, listeners, and concert goers is the lifeblood of any local music scene. Over time, we’ve gotten to know many great bands at various levels. Approach more experienced bands with humility and a willingness to learn from their experiences. Furthermore, be approachable and share your own wisdom with a band that might just be getting started. Buy that band’s merch, attend other bands’ shows, hype up each other’s music, get to know your audience, etc. We know listeners who have been with us since day one and have recently met people who were stoked to discover us just a few weeks ago. It’s been so cool to get to know the people who are excited about what we’re doing. Those of us who get involved in music do so because it’s what we’re passionate about. That passion is contagious, so show up for the community in any way that you can!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hoitytoity.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoitytoityofficial
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hoitytoityofficial
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/hoitytoityofficial
• Other: https://hoitytoity.bandcamp.com/music

Image Credits
Jessica Greif