Meet Strictly Skunk from East County

Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Cronan and Kaya Hall.

Travis and Kaya, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Kaya and I first met in pre-kindergarten, around the age of four. We grew up down the road from each other, went to the same schools, and soon united our passions for music! The name “Strictly Skunk” was birthed in 8th grade after collaborating ideas with one another. I thought of strictly sensi, Kaya said skunk, an right then we both knew the name “Strictly Skunk” was perfect. Our freshmen year of high school, we met Maria Connors when she visited West Hills to teach the guitar class. She became our music teacher, then later joined our band playing keys, trumpet, and singing backup vocals. It is really awesome that Kaya’s father Daniel is a part of our band, along with his childhood friends Nate Baack and Crossby Vargas. Daniel plays percussion and sings back up vocals, Nate’s on trombone and the trumpet, and Crossby plays the drums. Our brotha Alex Bellafaire is the bassist in the group, and he occasionally switches it up and jams his saxophone on songs as well. Together Strictly Skunk is a seven-piece band. We have a 17 track self-titled album available on all platforms, and currently, are working on a new project that will be released at the end of this year!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Along our journey, the struggles that we’ve faced have only brought us to a higher ground. Those experiences weren’t as much struggles as they were tests. We are constantly learning more on our musical path as we progress.

Please tell us about Strictly Skunk.
We consider our genre to be Roots-Rock/Hip-Hop. We are known for our versatility and unique style. The more people we can appeal to, the more people we can bring together in harmony through the power of music. We cover a wide range of creation. From writing, recording, performing, to booking our own shows. To make a new song is a priceless feeling. But then to be able to take that creation on stage and exchange the energy with the crowd is so powerful. That is what we are most proud of as a band.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
That’s a great question! There are many fun memories from our childhood. Kaya and I grew up with a great group of friends. We were always on the go and did everything together. We really enjoyed going swimming at Kayas house in the summertime. In high school, every Friday once we got out of class, we would get all of our buddies together and head to Ocean Beach. Kaya and I love jamming down there!

Contact Info:

• Email: strictlyskunk@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strictlyskunk/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StrictlySkunk/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/StrictlySkunk
• Other: https://youtu.be/LmrChuNBRiw

Image Credit:
Leah Wodaszewski
Brandon Breesee
Crossby Vargas

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