It was a busy weekend for music southeast Alaska. Juneau songwriter Liz Snyder kicked the Southeast Alaska State Fair for Homeskillet Festival. We caught up with her to talk about Sitka and her new project, the Wool Pullers.
Excellent: Who are the Wool Pullers and how would you describe your sound in one sentence?
LS: The Wool Pullers are Liz Snyder and Alex Kotlarsz. Our sound is… Acoustic folk rock. An unexpected thrill of female and male harmonies atop the rhythm of two acoustic guitars. Kinda catchy stuff.
Excellent: Why did you choose Homeskillet over Haines Fair?
LS: Originally, I didn’t know they would be scheduled the same weekend. But Haines has never been appealing to me as a musician in the sense that music is not its main focus. Homeskillet is ALL about the music. The genres were all over the place with hip hop, electronic, acoustic, folk, blues, indie, experimental, etc. The artists were mind blowing. It was something I did not want to miss out on.
Excellent: Have you performed at Homeskillet before?
LS: This was my first year.
Excellent: Which artists were you most looking forward to seeing there?
LS: I was excited to see all of them. I hadn’t heard of many of the artists on the line up and made a point not to listen to any of them beforehand so it would remain a surprise for me. And what a surprise it was. It still hasn’t all sunk in. I am still asking myself if this festival even happened or if it was all in my head. What a treat to admire these artists in action while also being able to hang out with them and talk music/get to know them as more than just musicians.
Excellent: How do you think Homeskillet fits into southeast Alaska’s music scene?
LS: It needs to be more known. Its a wonderful opportunity for local Alaskan musicians to share and network with up-and-coming artists from outside of Alaska. Not only that, it it provides the people of southeast with a very special and unique opportunity. Face it, good shows are hard to find around here. More people need to attend this festival. It is a diamond in the rough. I was surprised to find out none of my friends from Juneau had even really heard of it. We need events like this within our community. All ages shows where the focus is to appreciate the art, the music, the passion rather than just going out to get drunk while maaaybe hearing the music in the background. That would be impressive.
Excellent: Anything you else you want to tell people about Homeskillet, yourself, ect.
LS: I’ve never been more inspired by a music festival in my life. To quote Mikey Nice from Kingdom Crumbs, “damn.. People like this actually exist?” Yes. We do and we are starving for more.
