Sky Kinchen, singer and songwriter of Hey Turtle, formed the band early in his junior year. The, now senior, can proudly say he has performed at the Tahoma talent show on two separate occasions. I took a seat with Kinchen to take a look at what the journey has looked like so far.

As far as Hey Turtle goes, Sky says he is influenced by Mac Demarco alone, but wouldn’t really compare the two, saying Mac Demarco is self proclaimed as ‘’indie jazz,’’ while Hey Turtle is ‘’not really indie. It’s just like, whatever we want to play, you know. I mean, if you listen to our old stuff, it’s like, not indie at all.’’

Kinchen expressed that the band’s biggest struggle was getting people together, due to communication and people’s schedules. In terms of how the music is written, they used to struggle with ‘’coming up with lyrics with the beat, or the melody, but now [they] do it around the lyrics…’’ He also said that they have struggled with members, saying they have lost two members to various issues, but it seems that now they have found their core members. One misconception Hey Turtle is currently trying to shake off is the idea they are disbanded, as they have not been nearly as active as they were early on this year.

When writing lyrics, Kinchen writes about anything, saying, ‘’usually sceneries come in place first, so, I imagine somewhere, say, a train station. But it won’t be in the song, that’s just what I would imagine. Or a whether, you know, and the moods that come with it.’’ Besides music, he has a passion for film, as well as ‘’being in charge of things,’’ but he would like to ultimately be known for being a musician and ‘’record label man.’’

Currently, there are no long-term plans for Hey Turtle. Sky sees the band as a ‘’high school project,’’ and looks to get their songs recorded before graduation, just to ‘’have something to remember the band,’’ as a majority of the members will be graduating this year. It has been a year and a half in the making, and even if some people may believe they are broken up, Hey Turtle has earned the title as Tahoma’s Token Indie Band.