#01: Stephanie Hatzinikolis - on Marcus Aurelius, Elliott Smith, Anxiety and Michael Scott vs Toby
Hailing from Spokane, WA and currently based in Los Angeles, Stephanie Hatzinikolis is an up and coming Indie Pop Rock artist/songwriter with a penchant for writing infectious tunes and relatable narratives. With a new EP set to be released November 11, 2022, Stephanie has begun the process of releasing singles this year and getting back into performing live. Inspired by acts such as Elliott Smith, Sufjan Stevens, and The Beatles, Stephanie’s music journey began at a tender age playing piano and she eventually started performing live towards the end of high school. Being an avid storyteller, Hatzinikolis draws inspiration for her music from her personal experiences, demonstrating an exceptional ability to invoke strong emotions in people through her writing. Stephanie also seems to have a unique innate competency to ingeniously present music in multiple styles, all while maintaining a consistent brand; one of the factors that make this artist one to keep an eye out for.Learn more about Stephanie Hatzinikolis and do not miss out on her music, which is currently available on digital music streaming services everywhere.
Learn more about Stephanie Hatzinikolis at:
https://linktr.ee/Hatzinikolis
You can find OTHER EPISODES | LINKS | TRANSCRIPTION | EXTRA SHOW NOTES at:
https://thekillahcortezshow.com/episodes/episode-01-stephaniehatzinikolis
Let me know what you think about this show by sending me feedback on twitter @killah_cortez
Note: This episode was recorded on 7.25.22
ABOUT KILLAH CORTEZ
Killah Cortez is a music producer, musician, and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Specializing in alternative/indie/pop, Cortez is richly creative with a remarkable gift of enhancing projects and taking listeners on a journey.
Cortez has also landed reviews from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Lyrical Lemonade, and Paste Magazine with his compositions appearing in commercials and tv shows like "Younger".
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“Songs For The Apocalypse” Playlist On Spotify
SHOW NOTES | LINKS | TRANSCRIPTION
LINKS
“Elliott Smith” - Elliott Smith
“Long, Long, Long” - The Beatles
“The White Album” - The Beatles
“I’m Only Sleeping” - The Beatles
George Carlin - “It's The Quiet Ones You Gotta Watch”
“The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron
“Songs For The Apocalypse” Playlist On Spotify
“Mr. Blue Sky” - Electric Light Orchestra
“Caring Is Creepy” - The Shins
“Shout At The Devil” - Motley Crue
“One More Time” - Stephanie Hatzinikolis
TRANSCRIPTION
Killah Cortez: All right! Welcome to the inaugural flight of the Killah Cortez Show. We're going to be interviewing guests and talking to them about music, philosophy, life and everything in between. Todays guest is Stephanie Hatzinikolis, she's an up and coming indie pop singer songwriter with a penchant for writing infectious tunes and relatable narratives. We just got done recording an EP over at New Monkey Studio, and we are about to drop the third single this coming Friday. By the time this podcast comes out, so definitely go check that out. The link will be in the description below. And yeah... Enjoy this interview with Stephanie Hatzinikolis.
Killah Cortez: Marcus Aurelius says: "Love the humble art you have learned, and take rest in it. Pass to the remainder of your days as one who wholeheartedly entrusts all possessions to the gods, making yourself neither a tyrant nor a slave to any person". How do you interpret that?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Wow. Hitting me hard early. I think, to me, the first impression I get from that is to kind of go about.... Whatever passion you have in life with a sense of balance and without a sense of entitlement to... To use that power for anything other than the purity that it stands for... So... I don't know.... I think that's to me, it's just all about balance and not manipulating it to your advantage, I think.
Killah Cortez: To go with the flow. ( Yeah) . I Like that. Like that. Thank you. That was the first quote. The first second of the Killah Cortez show.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yayy
Killah Cortez: Amazing.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: What's up?
Killah Cortez: What was the last thing you listened to?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: The new Ty Segal record, It just came out like a couple of days ago. And... I'm actually worried about his mental health. It's like, oh, very like, very beautiful, like Bee Gees slash Beatles harmonies on the top... But then these, like, really, really hard to listen to, Distant or not distant, but... What's the word? Uh, not distorted but just very clashing chords underneath.
Killah Cortez: cool recommended first track to listen to off of that?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: The whole thing front to back I would say. But if you had to pick one, I really like the song "over" that one's really cool.
Killah Cortez: Okay. I like that.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah
Killah Cortez: I haven't listened yet, so I'm definitely going to check that out.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah, it's good.
Killah Cortez: So I read that you're born in the Bay Area.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yes
Killah Cortez: Grew up in Spokane.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Mm hmm
Killah Cortez: And but you've in conversations, you said you lived kind of all over the US.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Mm hmm
Killah Cortez: What was it like growing up?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, man, I had a it was just like everything, like every setting you could possibly live in. I've lived in. So whether it be like the suburbs or literally living on a farm or living in the city, I've kind of done it all. So I've just never really felt like I had a.... A strong like, oh, this is home sense... So I just feel like I'm a little bit like a hybrid of all of those environments. So I really resonate, you know? Partly with the country and partly with, you know, the city life and so....
Killah Cortez: Least favorite place to live?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Sorry, Indiana, but it was.
Killah Cortez: wow
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Romney, Indiana.
Killah Cortez: What was wrong with Indiana?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: It was just really humid. It was really like even at nighttime, you would go outside and you feel like you just felt like you couldn't breathe. It was just.... Just that humid, but.
Killah Cortez: Favorite place to live?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Probably LA. Yeah. Actually...
Killah Cortez: California forever?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: You know, I have to take that back. I think my favorite place, honestly, was Spokane, because that's where I like really grew up and really just formed into the human that I am.
Killah Cortez: Cool
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: But... But LA's been really fun... It's I've been here down down here for like nine years now, so...
Killah Cortez: Right
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: It's been cool.
Killah Cortez: Heck Yeah.... I read in some other interview that you liked to go to record stores and dig for music back when there was record stores. Yeah.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: So, like,
Killah Cortez: they're coming back
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: They're coming back.
Killah Cortez: What was your... Your best, like, record store find?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh. Um. I know this is probably a cop out to all the fans who know that I love Elliott ( Smith ), but his self-titled, I found I found his self-titled... And it was it was an awesome find... And that was actually here in San Pedro. So that was a pretty cool one. This is a very obscure band, probably for everyone, but there was this band called Spanky and Our Gang. And I like I love that group.
Killah Cortez: What kind of what kind of music?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: It was like Jefferson Starship kind of vibe, you know, just very, very much, you know, that hippie era.
Killah Cortez: And it sounds like you have to be high to listen to that.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah, you should definitely be high. No, it's. It's good either way, you know, sober or not. And but that was probably like another cool find that I found. I was like, Oh, yeah, this band is awesome.
Killah Cortez: So cool
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah
Killah Cortez: Yeah. So I... Just knowing you. I know a big influence, Elliot
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah
Killah Cortez: Big influences, Sufjan. Big influence. Beatles. I have to ask as a fellow Beatle nut.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah?
Killah Cortez: What is your favorite Beatles song? If you had to pick one?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: The first one that pops into my head is from the White Album. "Long, long, long". That one.
Killah Cortez: "Long, long, long". Okay.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: That one, I think I don't know if it was written by George Harrison, but it wasn't one of their more popular ones. But that one.
Killah Cortez: Do you know, sing it for me.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: It's been a long, long, long time. Yeah. No, I'm so happy I found you. I don't. I'm pretty sure it's the White Album. Maybe it's like a yeah.
Killah Cortez: I don't know off hand. So I grew up I grew up on the Beatles. And every Sunday was Breakfast with the Beatles with me and My Pops. Oh, yeah, I'm not feeling too familiar with that one, but. Okay, now I've got to do some digging.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, shoot
Killah Cortez: felt. I felt pretty familiar. I thought I was prepared for that question.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: No.
Killah Cortez: No, that's amazing. I love it. What would be a second favourite Beatles song?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: I think. I think it's from Revolver. It's the "I'm only sleeping".
Killah Cortez: Oh, yeah,
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah. That one's.
Killah Cortez: Classic.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: That one is so freaking cool to me. I could listen to that one on repeat and I'm just. It just doesn't get old.
Killah Cortez: John ( Lennon ) sounds so lazy in that song.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah. Oh, I love it. I love. I know it sounds like such a fricken, like, copout answer, but, like, all their music is just gold. It's so good.
Killah Cortez: Yeah. Favorite Beatle?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Probably. George ( Harrison ).
Killah Cortez: Why, George?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: I like the quiet people. Those are my people. So I don't know. I just always I really obviously appreciate the songwriting of Lennon and ( Paul ) McCartney, but but there's also something there's always just something to that person who's, you know, the quiet one in the room. And it always makes me wonder, like, what? What is it that they have up their sleeve? Or what is it that they're not sharing right now? And those are the people I'm like, I want to get to know that person.
Killah Cortez: George Carlin has this great bit on like the quiet person in the room.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, yeah.
Killah Cortez: He's like, somebody walks in and he's like, I'm going to kill the next motherfucker that walks through this door. And there's a quiet person in the corner. He's like, Who are you going to watch?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: That's such a good bit. All of man. Carlin is the man.
Killah Cortez: So I read. I might have read it, heard this in another interview that. You struggle with anxiety and chronic depression your whole life. What would you say to a listener that's been going through the same thing and what has helped you on your path to just like. You know, stabilize and get get things going forward for yourself.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: It's a good question. There have been a lot of things, you know, but I would say the quickest way to feeling better is just literally forcing yourself to do the things that whether you used to love or things that you do love. You know, I've... I think we've talked about this a couple of times, but we've we. I'm sorry. Scratch that part. But I've I've really I've learned a lot from books and TED talks and other people who have struggled. So it's kind of led me to having this morning routine where I journal every morning, I'll write three things that I'm grateful for. I'll do a meditation that's helped so much just to kind of be present with what's happening. And that alone, the meditation has helped me to, to really see thoughts and emotions more for like what they are and, and just not have to wear them as your armor is so much.
Killah Cortez: Your thoughts and emotions.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Exactly. So I think just a combination of, you know, self-improvement acts and I think a huge one is just really taking care of yourself and the whole bit about eating well and, you know, getting some exercise and sleeping well. Like I wasn't doing any of those things before. So once I really started to, you know, just take all these things and put them together, it just kind of. You just start to feel better. And then when you inevitably have those spells of, you know, depressive thoughts or just high anxiety, you still feel it. You still struggle like it's it sucks, like it's always going to happen. But I think when you practice more and more self-love, it just gets you just learn the tools to how to bear it a little better. And so it's not that it gets easier, per se. It's just it just seems like the time that you're in, it doesn't feel like your whole world is going to end as much. So. Right. Yeah.
Killah Cortez: Would you do you have any particular book or TED talk or YouTube video that that you felt like was was a turning point or something? Or anything you'd recommend?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: There's a lot of those. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron was a huge one for me. That was where I got the morning pages from. My friend had recommended the Headspace app for meditation. It's like guided meditation. So if you're new to that, it's that was huge for me because I didn't know how to sit still for 2 seconds without, you know, letting thoughts overrule everything. So that's a really cool app that I like as far as the YouTube or like Ted Talk stuff, I mean, I just kind of would go down the rabbit hole and honestly anything about, you know, self improvement or, you know, how to how to be happy or how to find your purpose and stuff like that. That's I would just start there. And if there were books recommended from those, then I'd go check those out, you know. So it's just kind of this cycle of knowledge. But I think we talked about like sometimes the act of. Going down that rabbit hole can also be like a crutch. So just keep yourself. Make sure you're still living your life. And not just, like, trying to study yourself the whole time, so.
Killah Cortez: Right.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: But, yeah
Killah Cortez: So I heard that your mom is a huge fan of your work. What is your most embarrassing mom story of her sharing your music or putting you on the spot?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, my gosh. That's a good question. Well, she just, you know, it's just kind of this general like I'll call her usually like once a week and and inevitably she'll be like, Oh, I gave you give your information out to some stranger. Like, "thanks mom". Like, so it's just there's not really, like, one that shines above the rest, but it's just like, I'm like, "Mom, I love you. Thank you so much for sharing the music. I'm so grateful". But it's just like, you know, I'll actually have some people hit me up on.
Killah Cortez: Yeah, like people reached out to you?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: They're like, your mom's super cool.
Killah Cortez: And I'm like, Anyone cool? Anyone surprising?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Not really surprising. But there are just a couple like, like in no offense to the guys, but I was just like, like, "mom, do you know who this guy is?" Like. Like, I don't know. You know, so I just. God bless her. But, yeah, that's.
Killah Cortez: shout out to mom getting the word out.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: She's my number one.
Killah Cortez: Who needs Tik Tok when you have mom?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, my gosh. She's she beats all of it. So yeah for me.
Killah Cortez: So... I asked you to make a list of 15 songs. So of course this Killah Cortez Project, Killah Cortez Show, I'm going to be interweaving my songs for the Apocalypse playlist. And so normally I had chosen like 33 songs... And so I think the new twist on it now is going to be, I'm going to do 15, I'm going to play three from you. And then I wanted to get your selection of 15 songs to mix in. Nice. So give me give me some of the highlights. What do you got for us? Oh. She's pulling up in the list.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: I was prepared to.
Killah Cortez: The listener can't see.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: So I so my first ten so you told me to choose ten that were like my go to songs or like tried and true songs and then you told me to choose five that I'm just kind of listening to right now that I'm excited about. So I can start with the ten if you want, or...
Killah Cortez: Just give me the highlights. Yeah. People excited. What are they going to hear from from Stephanie Hatzinikolis?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: you said it, right. Yay. Well, I don't want to be that person, but there's always Elliott in there. I added "Mr. Blue Sky" - Elo. I was. That's always a good one for me. "Caring is Creepy" by The Shins. That one is just like like high school on, anthem. Beck's "Go It Alone", Radiohead "Pyramid Song". Pyramid Song was one I used to gig with in Spokane. That was that was always like a really... Fun one to play because the people that knew it were like always so excited and the ones that didn't know they're like, Oh, this is a pretty cool, mellow song. But you know, like, so it was kind of a, I don't know, I don't know, trying to say.... I have that Beatles song that we talked about. The long, long, long, long.
Killah Cortez: Long, long.long
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: I've like everyone else, I've been into the stranger things and so I've been listening to the Motley Crue "Shout at the Devil". That one has just been like, I've been so obsessed with that song lately. It's so fun. And there's also this band. I don't know if you've listened to them, but Lucius, the two, two ladies and their last their recent record Second Nature, I think is what it's called. There's this a cappella intro song, and it just gives me goosebumps every time. And then it comes in, you know, with the full band. But it's called 24. That song is so sick.
Killah Cortez: Yeah. We have a friend of the pod shout out to PFred who plays in the Lucius band.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, hey, shout out. Yeah, that's awesome.
Killah Cortez: It's such a good record.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah, cool. Yeah.
Killah Cortez: Well, I can't wait to listen, so. Yeah, for anyone listening, I think the idea is going to be I'm going to put like 6 to 10 songs into we've through this to this show and then at the end I'll put the entire playlist so that you can stream and then you can always go find the playlist. So. It is absolutely no secret that your favorite TV show of all time is The Office as you're holding your Dunder Mifflin pillow.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, my gosh.
Killah Cortez: Here's the question. Yes. If you could have dinner with one character from the office, who would it be and where would you go?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, my God. That is a great question. I think it would have to be Michael Scott. I just have so many questions. I think we would probably have to go to that same Italian restaurant so I can order the gabagool. But yeah, I mean.
Killah Cortez: If you could have a tag along, who would Michael bring?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, God. Probably. Toby.
Killah Cortez: Toby. Wow. You just want to see a dynamic in real life.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: I just want to experience the shit, like the hate.
Killah Cortez: That dinner is going to be, like, one minute they might not even get to the dinner.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: I just want to. I just want to see him.
Killah Cortez: You're just gonna have dinner with Toby?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah. It might be true, but. Yeah, but, yeah, I just. I think that dynamic would be really hilarious.
Killah Cortez: Love it. If you. If you were a character from the office, who would you be?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, probably Kelly. Just always, like, just in the middle of a bunch of drama and just. No, I don't know. For real, I. I feel like I would be. I almost feel like I'd be like Oscar. Just always, like, rolling my eyes at everyone. Just like, you idiot. Like, I don't know, just. He was the hardest one. When they filmed everything, he was like, if they could make him break, if they can make him laugh, it was like a win for everyone and they would celebrate. So. So I feel like I would, I, I could probably relate to that.
Killah Cortez: I love it. So, yeah. Kelley She was a writer on the show, right? What's her real name?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Mindy Kaling on Mindy Kaling. Kelly I'm not quite sure how to say her last name.
Killah Cortez: But apologies to the listeners who love The Office, so great writer of The Office. You are a great writer as well, making amazing music. Let's talk about your latest project. You have an EP coming out.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yes, sir. So it's it's been. It's been a very, very passionate project. Really, really excited to share this. It's we have our third single coming out at the end of this week, actually on the 29th of July. And you were our amazing producer.
Killah Cortez: And yeah, which, by the way, I'm an act as if I know nothing about this, but I know everything about this. But keep go in for the listener.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Greg. Greg here, has he really helped bring these songs to life? So I guess if we back up a bit, I had I had a bunch of song, little voice memos on my phone and just some ideas recorded at home. And I think it was 2021, early on we decided like I really wanted to do a full EP with Greg, and Greg was gracious enough to be like, "Yes, let's do this". And I was so excited. I wanted to work with Greg for so long. We had just done our first single together.
Killah Cortez: Greg is my alternate name, by the way.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, Killah Cortez. Sorry, the killah. But long story short, we got we wrote about 40 different song ideas last July 2021. We narrowed it down to our favourite six. And those six are the ones that are going to be on this upcoming EP that comes out.
Killah Cortez: Do we have a title for that already?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: It's either going to be Mockingbird Days or Mockingbird. I think I'm leaning towards the "Mockingbird days", but.
Killah Cortez: I dig it.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: But yeah, I just where we live and all around LA there's mockingbirds.
Killah Cortez: Just mocking us
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah, they're always mocking us. But to me, it just kind of, I don't know, it's not like I got obsessed with them, but I'm really fascinated that they can remember up to 200 little sounds. And so every time I hear one, I just stop and I'm like, That is so cool.
Killah Cortez: Mockingbirds can remember 200 sounds?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Up to 200. Yeah.
Killah Cortez: I can't even remember what I have for breakfast.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: It's like so when like, other birds are like, oh, yeah, we got this song. The mockingbird is like, I got 200.
Killah Cortez: Wow
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: But I think, I think that's like their max, like what they can remember in their lifetime. But, but they just fascinate me. And I think that they just kind of became the symbol for this period, especially like the past two years with COVID. And I know that a lot of artists are saying, like, whatever projects come out now are just kind of, you know, inadvertently called their COVID album. So this is kind of the COVID album and the Covid EP for us. But sure, but yeah, there's there's a lot of a lot of love that we put into this and I'm super proud of it. And yeah, I don't know if that answered the question.
Killah Cortez: No, that's great. Yeah. So yeah, this is your first EP and how long?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Uh.
Killah Cortez: Eight years.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Wow. Yeah.
Killah Cortez: Back on the scene.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah, it's been a minute. It's been a minute.
Killah Cortez: And you've been doing interviews, and you just did a live interview yesterday. How's that all been?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: It's been. It's been a learning curve for me, for sure. I just played for the first time since, like 2018 in front of strangers. So, you know, obviously besides recording but but actually just playing for people, it was. It was really cool to be back in that headspace.
Killah Cortez: Yeah.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: But the interviews, man, I got to be honest, like, I like this one's super cool. Don't get me wrong, I love this, but, like. But the other ones, man, I like. It just I just feel so nervous and I, like, I just say way too much. Like, I just go off the deep end and I'm like, Shit, I shouldn't have said that, you know? So I get. I get a little too meta about it, but.
Killah Cortez: Sure.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah.
Killah Cortez: So we recorded a bunch of this EP here where we're recording podcast or show whatever you want to call it. We did a bunch at New Monkey Studio. Tell me about that. How how was that experience?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, my gosh. It's one of my highlights of my not just my career, but my life. For those who don't know, New Monkey was Elliott's studio before he passed.
Killah Cortez: Elliott Smith.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Elliott Smith. Yeah. And. He's just been such an icon, just an iconic songwriter and just music hero of mine. And so to actually not just be in his studio, but then to to record there and to write and to work with Greg Killah Cortez. It was an absolute joy. And I'm still like, honestly, I'm still just kind of... It hasn't hit me still, you know what I mean? I'm still processing it. I'm one of those people that doesn't I don't process things until after they happen. And I'll definitely cherish that chapter for sure the rest of my life.
Killah Cortez: Amazing. So what what song do we have coming up next? Tell us a little bit about it.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: So the next one is called. "One More Time"
Killah Cortez: One More Time
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Not the Daft Punk. I think that was Daft Punk? I don't remember. Yeah, but "One More Time" is kind of like the first mellow one that we're going to be putting out, and it's actually going to be the closer of the EP. So it's not quite in order, but "One More Time" is basically just about realizing you're in a toxic friendship or toxic relationship however you want to view it. And. And just kind of. You know, the song is just about realizing it and just kind of saying it out loud. And the song itself has this crazy guitar bridge solo. And in my mind, that solo is kind of like if it were a conversation, you know, the character who has the realization is the singer and the Toxic Friend is the solo, the guitar solo. So to me, that was kind of like not a call and response, but it was it was a way for me to kind of make sense of the song and how it kind of came about. And then I just I like to leave things up to the audience to decide, like, you know, how does it end? You know, the will the person who's in this relationship or friendship, you know, will they continue, you know, enabling this or will they say enough? So it just kind of leave it up in the air? But this one was really cool, too. We added the mellotron in it and that was I love playing. That thing is so fun. So it was really cool.
Killah Cortez: Very cool. Well, I would say can't wait to hear it, but I've only heard it a trillion times.But everybody listening should go listen. So a couple more questions here. So as an up and coming artist, singer songwriter, what does the ultimate adventure look like to you? Like, best case scenario, what sold out festival, venue are you playing? Who else is on the bill? What is your show rider look like?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh. There's a lot of great questions out there. I mean, kind of two parts i'll answer, I guess if I were to do like a festival or just like something fun, I'm think. Either, like. I don't know if this counts as a festival, but like Madison Square Garden is like a huge frickin milestone and that's always been like, Oh my gosh, that would be such a dream. But you know, any anything like Bonnaroo or like even Coachella or something like that, I think would be super fun. But I'm easy, like just doing like a West Coast, you know, tour, festival. I think that would be really, really cool as far as like being in the studio. Like Abbey Road is definitely like on the bucket list. That's, that's always been like, if I can do that, I can be like I can retire now, you know, which who knows? Probably won't, but.
Killah Cortez: And what's what's on your show rider? You can get anything you want.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Oh, my gosh. I've never thought about this, to be honest. I don't know, man.
Killah Cortez: This is how we manifest in real time
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: kombucha, PH. Waters. I don't fucking know.... I would just say, like, just a cool spot, you know? Just a cool spot to chill out before and after. Maybe some incense to burn or candles? I don't know. I'll have to think about it. But for who is on the bill? I don't know, dude. Maybe like. Maybe like Phoebe Bridgers or something like that. Broken Bells would be sick, something like that. But that's that's that's really dreaming.
Killah Cortez: But that's. That's what we're trying to do here.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Yeah.
Killah Cortez: Um, okay, final question. If you could put something on a billboard... For everyone to see. What would you put? Not. Not like an advertisement, but just something that, like.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Just like a message?
Killah Cortez: Like a message or trying to send. What would you put?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Damn. You hit me with all the heavy ones. Um. I, I think I would say something like to the effect, like, you are enough and you know, just take it day by day because there's a lot of people more than we might realize, I think, that really do struggle with the self-worth and whether it's been ingrained from childhood or learned recently. There's a lot of people that I meet that have like hid it really well. And I just think whenever I see something that says like, "you are enough" or "you are worthy", it just kind of. Not always. But like, sometimes I'm like, "Damn, I needed to see that today". So I think I would do something like that.
Killah Cortez: Very cool. I like that. Why don't you tell the people where they can find you?
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: You can find me if you want to listen to me. I'm basically on Spotify and Apple Music and I think on YouTube and you can find me at Stephanie Hatzinikolis. My last name is spelled H-A-T-Z-I-N-I-K-O-L-I-S and I'm mostly on IG right now, but I'm going to try to be getting going on the TIK toks, but my IG is at Hatzinikolis
Killah Cortez: Amazing, and for the show listeners I'll put the links in the description along with links to any thing that Stephanie dropped like the Artist Way and anything else. Maybe The Beatles song. Stephanie, thank you so much for being the inaugural guest of The Killah Cortez Show.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: Thank you so much
Killah Cortez: Appreciate you so much. Yeah, we'll see you soon.
Stephanie Hatzinikolis: I appreciate this.
Killah Cortez: Thank you for listening to the inaugural episode of The Killah Cortez Show. Thank you to Stephanie for graciously giving her time. And thank you for taking the time to listen. If you liked this episode and you'd like to support, you can follow me on all social platforms at Killah Cortez. You can follow me at Spotify at Killah Cortez, and we will see you soon!