Hey guys! I am soooo excited to share an amazing interview I did with Ohio natives, Hooked Like Helen!
From their bio: Hooked Like Helen began as the musical brainstorms of husband-and-wife, Jon and Nikki Stipp. Quickly they started gaining placements on MTV and Netflix and taking home awards from established Independent Music competitions such as the Josie Music Awards, International Songwriting Competition, and Unsigned Only. After several years of Cedar Point residencies, Hooked Like Helen developed a reputation for one of the most energetic, awe-inspiring live shows you will ever see.
Now I think it's important to mention that these two are major advocates for addiction awarness as they celebrate 11 years sober!
September is National Recovery Month so we are goingt to get back together to talk about what sobriety looks like and what resources are out there.
Below you'll see I linked their single 'Sleepwalker'
Let's get into the Q&A, thank you for reading and enjoy!
As always, take care of yourself.
Love, Carrie Danger
CD: I see you’re from just outside of Cleveland, (right down the road from my old station WLKR 
HLH: Ahh we LOVE Kelly Rose and everyone at WLKR, that's so cool you were once a part of that crew! I (Nikki) actually grew up just north of Los Angeles, but I've now been a part of this sweet little OH community for 10 years! Jon grew up here in Berlin Heights and has so many fond memories of rocking out in legendary venues like The Agora, The Odeon, Beachland Ballroom, etc. He and his high school band played some epic Battle of the Bands at Peabody's back in the day as well haha.
CD: I love that you guys are advocates for Sobriety, that’s huge and so important to use your voices to, as you said, to try and get anyone struggling to come to the other side. So with all of that, how do you keep your mental health in check when you're touring?
HLH: Thank you so much! Connecting with others who struggle has given meaning to our "sober journey" outside of ourselves. It has been so fulfilling and such an important part of our own healing, honestly!
When it comes to mental health on the road, two things come to mind immediately: keeping up an exercise routine and trying as hard as possible to eat healthy. Gas station food is delicious and very convenient (takis and hot Cheetos are my JAM), but putting in that extra effort to get some apples and bananas in, and vitamins, is so good for the body and soul, and therefore the mind. Being on stage every night of tour is probably the best thing for our mental health though - Music is healing, and sharing that experience of live music with the crowd feeds the soul like no other!
CD: This song really is an anthem, it’s BIG! In fact it brought some emotions out of me I didn’t know needed to be drawn out. Do you ever get emotional on stage when you’re performing huge songs like this when you know so many of your fans are either struggling with addiction or trying to help a loved one?
HLH: First of all, thank you SO much for the kind words. So cool to know that you've listened and that you felt something haha. We are pretty darn emotional on stage at all times, to be real. We kind of lay it all out there. During the actual show, we all kind of get in this zone that's just high energy, feed-off-the-crowd vibes and it's full of endorphins and fierceness. It's really the moments after the shows, when we're meeting the fans and talking to them one-on-one about their life experiences and their emotions that it's hard to keep it together. I'm pretty sure I've cried with fans and exchanged trauma stories at literally every show on tour. And it's beautiful and powerful and I'm so grateful for that human connection. It's REAL.
CD: Your busy summer doesn’t stop and you have a fall tour next month, what city are you most excited to play?
HLH: We are MAD excited to play Lakewood as we'll have some hometown love there! We haven't played the Winchester Tavern yet but we're pumped to get on stage there!
CD: What city did you enjoy playing the most in the past?
HLH: We had several favorites on the last tour. Boston was killer at Brighton Music Hall, in part due to the amazing sound person, Brit, who happened to be the only female sound person we encountered on that run (shout out to our ladies of the board!). The audience was just so full of love, it was magical!
CD: What bands are you hooked…. (Had to) on right now?
HLH: Haha! We just opened for PVRIS at Sandusky Pride last month and have really gotten into some of their stuff. Incredible! Hotmilk, Hey Violet...of course our upcoming tour mates The Haunt, Halocene and No Resolve! So much great music out there right now! It's a great time to be alive with ears!