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WEHM All Access - Sag Harbor American Music Festival - Lydia von Hof · WEHM All Access

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's WEH M All Access, the Steg Harbor Music Festival, as we get to know the artist performing at this year's 2026 Music Festival, and so many great performances free all over Steg Harbor for four days, and one of them is happening Saturday, September 26th, 3 30 p.m.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Lydia Van Hoff at the Steg Harbor Inn.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Lydia, how are you?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the program.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: I am good.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: My pleasure.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for coming on.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was uh I guess I feel like it was probably last year where I first uh get handed or I guess handed a link to one of your your songs.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And you're you're incredibly talented and you've been doing this for for a bit.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Where where are you initially from?
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: I am from Long Island.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from Comac and I'm still here.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, born and raised Long Island, so this is a huge deal for me to play the Sag Harbor Music Festival.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very, very looking forward to it.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is uh very cool.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're doing this this Saturday afternoon at the beautiful Sag Harbor Inn.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: When did you uh I guess let's go back a little bit for people that that want to know kind of your your history.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: When you grew up in Comac, but uh when did you start getting interested in performing in music?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: I've always been into music.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's always been uh my main hobby.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um I would say I went to school for music.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um I initially went to school for classical music and opera.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of shifted gears during COVID and realized um oh, I started picking up the guitar during COVID and I started teaching myself production and kind of like bringing into reality the fact that like the singer-songwriter track can be possible and it can be something that I can help myself do.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that all kind of started becoming the thing, I would say, circa 2020.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I've been gigging all over Long Island, I want to say close to 10 years now.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely since I was a kid.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, but it's always just been for fun until I would say COVID kind of changed a lot for me and gave me the space and time to figure out what how I could pursue it in a way that was super fun.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: What did you uh grow up listening to?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Did were your parents uh into music and kind of how did that affect you growing up?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, my parents are super into music.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: My mom's from Ohio and my dad's from Long Island.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so there's a little bit of a mixture of the two musical cultures.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um my dad's favorite artist is Bruce Springsteen, so we grew up listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen, um, which is like not only is it rock and music, but such songwriter music.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so super grateful for that.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: That was always playing.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my mom has a taste for everything.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: She loves country music, classical music.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Broadway was like the big when we were growing up.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like we are big theater people too.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a little bit of everything.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite um artist when I was a kid was Michael Jackson.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was obsessed.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: So he's like a huge musical hero for me.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, lots of everything.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Lots of the chicks from my mom's side.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So you've been exposed to a lot growing up, and kind of I guess it took until uh about 2020 and COVID to kind of figure out which which direction you wanted to go.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And you you had classical music training though, right?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I grew up playing classical piano and jazz piano.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I went to school initially for opera, so I was very much in the classical tract.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because there's that's like tr like traditional for how you can pursue music academically.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know that there I I eventually switched schools to Belmont University in Nashville to pursue like a songwriting degree and music business degree.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um I had no idea that that was like ever gonna be an option academically.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I was just doing what I was familiar with, which was classical music and yeah.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: How did uh how did classical training kind of shape the way you you leaned into more of an indie feel, an indie sound?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's such an interesting question.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I don't know, so somebody uh if I'm impacted by it, I might be somewhat blind to it, but I can see it on other artists really well.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: I uh my favorite artist of all time is Rufus Wainwright, and he is one where you can see every genre he's touched by, especially his classical training, be it his like unbelievable piano skills, or be it like I mean, I like he writes with like the vein of opera so much.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so like he like I I do think classical music most likely colors my music in a way that might set me a little bit apart from the in indie genre, but um yeah, it it's so interesting because it's something that's very visible when I see it on other people, but I myself am like kind of blind to it.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: What was the shift like?
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned kind of 2020 and COVID uh for you.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of I don't want to say caused that, but what made you kind of move in a different direction?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it time.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: There was so much time on my hands, and I was listening to so much music, and I also felt like a sense of like it was my freshman year of college when COVID hit.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't totally like I I went to school for classical music, but I wasn't totally sure like if it was the place for me, if it was the path for me.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so just a lot of time on my hands.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: I had so much time to sit at the piano and write, and that's just kind of where I wanted to spend all my time and it learning the guitar, um, learning production, like it it just was addicting and uh which made me learn that like it well, maybe it's not addicting, it's just what I need to be doing.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's just this is I guess the the path for me.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: You had done a lot of different performances before 2020, and I think I read that you won Long Island's Got Talent and some some other things.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: What was that how did that shape you as a young performer?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm I'm curious the effect of that and and where your head was at after after that was it kind of like, hey, I maybe I do have a chance to try something in music, let me try to figure it my own way, or what what was the effect of that?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, performing with like had such a profound personal impact on me because I was a very shy kid.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I was always performing as a kid, and that was like the only time I felt um like there were no obstacles in the way of like how I felt about myself and stuff like that.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I was very grateful that I was performing so much as a kid.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um but uh it those uh like milestones when I was a kid performing, like I don't know.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: I did I didn't feel that they'd be indicative of like where I'd would go.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: I just kind they were I was super proud of them as like these accolades, but I uh I genuinely was in the dark on like where I was gonna go with music.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Where did you um as you got more involved in kind of developing your sounds um back in in 2020 and and moving forward, uh, what's it been like to collaborate and meet other Long Island musicians kind of in the same vein?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: How did that start for you?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it started um actually with somebody who has played uh the Sack Harbor Music Festival before.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: It started with um Delaney Hepner of The Bell Curves, and um she has a studio uh or at at the time had a studio named Silo Recordings, and I was interested in laying down demos, and I reached out to Delaney and kind of was introduced with to like what like it feels like the Avengers of Long Island songwriting, which is like Sarah Gross and like eventually Pete Mancini.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um like genuinely that was a such a small thing that I did one day is reach out to her on Facebook and it has changed my life.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: I just finished up a tour with Sarah Gross, and um truly like she is my like north star for songwriting, and the people I've been able to meet with her are not just amazing songwriters, but just amazing humans that have uh time and again proved like alright, this is where I'm supposed to be, this is who I'm supposed to be with.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, so I am so so grateful for that that chunk of the songwriting community on Long Island is super special.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: When did how did you find your way down to Belmont?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I uh one of my favorite artists um to this day is Annie DeRusso, who is such an indie icon.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I read in an article that she went to Belmont, and I really randomly DM'd her.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: I did not think she was gonna respond or anything, but I was like, I heard you went to Belmont or go to Belmont.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do you uh like it?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Did you like it?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And she answered me, she gave me her phone number and we had a nice chat about it, which, like, as a fan was insane to me.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: But also it was super fruitful, and I it kind of convinced me like this is the place I gotta go.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: I had never been to Nashville.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: The first time I went to Nashville was when I moved down there.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I had no idea what to expect, but yeah, she really sold me on it.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: She was she it to this day is one of my favorite musicians.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: How did uh how did that I guess going to Belmont and taking those courses, how did that kind of take you in a way to the next level where you know when comparing to staying on Long Island, but what what was it that you really noticed that you were learning and and kind of growing as a as a songwriter?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely like the actual art of it and the practice of it, um, and how that I I I I like have reservations with using the word formula, but how there is somewhat like of a practice um and how it's applicable to every genre, because I was definitely out of my depths with I had never written country music before Belmont and getting to meet so many different kinds of musicians of genres that I had never imagined collaborating with or even finding myself in, um, all of a sudden it was like I was taking classes uh and like the homework assignments were to do that thing and like to find another person that has the opposite style of you and and find a way to make it work and stuff like that.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: So just kind of diving into the universal practice of it, regardless of genre, was a super new thing.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's very, very interesting.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how do you how does your sound process work in and writing uh and how has it changed since the 2020 edition of of Lydia Now to to today?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's so much like it it is so much more random today than it was.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: I like as a kid, I was always at the piano, and so a lot of uh my songs stemmed from mistakes that I would make while practicing classical music that I thought sounded really cool and wanted to branch out from that.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then since then there have been so many more mediums for me to dive into music, be it like logic, be it guitars, samples, and stuff like that.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: So now it's really, really random when um when inspiration sp spikes and where it comes from, and and like also writing has been writing words has been so different because of just as you grow in life and as you read more, like there are different things you learn and different ways you learn how to say them.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it's so much more random and so less neat than it used to be.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it started from a messy place, like it genuinely started from a mistake, like from mistakes.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just only gotten messier, but I do think like that is a is a really, really special place to make art from, is is the messy.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: How does it uh when you when you're writing, what comes first?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Is it is it the music, is it the lyrics, and where do you kind of begin with that?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: It used to be music only, and I was like always way, way into the music side more than the lyric side.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Again, like I think in 2020 it switched.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I I want to credit like Phoebe Bridgers, is when I really started heavily listening to lyrics.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so since then it's been kind of a mix of like if a line comes into my head or if I'm right like journaling and something sounds a little bit more accidentally profound than what I meant for it to sound like for just a journal entry, like it it's uh it used to be music, but now it's a healthy mix.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: You've uh built a strong presence online, and I think it's it's kind of needed for artists today with the TikTok and reels, Instagram.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: What's that like for you?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh to kind of how do you balance being an artist that's authentic, but also the pressure to constantly post and constantly get content out there?
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very uh present online and I I I put a lot of effort into it.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: I will say, like, if it were up to me, I would not have social media.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like if I didn't have to do it, I wouldn't.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it has been interesting and it's kind of I it's like not at all as dimensional, but it's it's almost an art to itself of like how to figure out people and how to make sure you relate to them and how to find the perfect wording to get people to relate immediately to your music.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because I mean we used to have a little bit of leeway with how people listen to music when we weren't advertising it online.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like people used to sit and listen for a little bit.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's you have to pair it to with the right visuals and the right words to immediately get somebody on board with it.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know, in a way it's it's almost a creative practice in itself.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's not at all what I like feel my purpose is, but uh it's been fun to kind of it's almost like a puzzle to like figure out what works and like how people I don't know, want like what makes people want to jump on board.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh performing at the Sag Harbor Music Festival Saturday, September 26th at the Psych Harbor Inn, how do you um how do you design your set uh for compared to previous sets or things that you're doing at different types of venues?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Is is there something for this that you kind of look at and it's a little bit different, or how how do you how do you look at it?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: I will say uh ever since so I started playing with my full band just a few years ago, and having them in my creative process, like they're they definitely have shaped my opinions on like how a set should be, and just based on their energy too, like what makes sense with their preferences of of songs, like how they play them based on like how they feel about them.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: So um my band is super amazing and super creatively charged that I think that they are like a key part in in deciding how a set goes.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um for this set we're gonna be doing a trio, so it's gonna be a little bit stripped back.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: We're usually a four-piece.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think we're I think we're doing a cajon instead of a drum set, so it's it's a matter of what songs mold right to that kind of setup.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh are you uh are you writing uh for for new music?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Would you look to put together maybe a full-length record?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know there's an EP out there and some songs, but where do you want to go in the in the near future, so to speak?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: A full-length record is a dream.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: I for the meantime, I am working and I just finished up in the studio recording a new EP.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very, very excited about it.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm working on it right now.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: We are we fully finished the first single, and we are getting ready to put that on the calendar and and get ready for that rollout.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I'm very excited.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to like, I don't know, I if if if it were all up to me and there was you know nothing else to worry about, I'd write all day.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's my favorite thing.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, I I hope one day to have the resources to release a full-length record and to do it again and again.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, excited to hear about an EP coming soon, and that's uh that's great.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations on getting that done and and wrapped up and hopefully out soon, and uh maybe we'll get a taste of that at the uh the Stag Harbor Music Festival coming up at the end of September.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that sounds good.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Lydia Van Hoff, thank you so much for your time.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to get to know you a bit, and we look forward to uh following you in the near future.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: It was my pleasure, and looking forward to seeing Stag Harbor in it's a Saturday, September twenty sixth at three thirty.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Lydia Van Hoff uh performing.