Hooka Hey is the band created by Hugo de Saint Quentin, a recent addition to Austin, Texas by way of Paris, France, who was raised on American and British rock music. Hooka Hey plays blues-based tribal beats with smoky, sludgy riffs drenched and charged like the air just before a rainstorm. Organic and raw, Hooka Hey’s “Transylvanian Voodoo” sound encompasses a wide variety of grooves and tones evoking artists like Queens of The Stone Age or Jack White.
Living in NYC for two years in the early 2000’s, he started to blend in the local scene filling in different bands. After moving back to Paris, influential national radio station Radio Nova started giving Hooka Hey air play, and soon de Saint Quentin was playing gigs with international artists including Built To Spill, Ted Leo and Miles Kane. The band was also invited to open for the Black Keys.
Over the years, Hooka Hey has collaborated with great names in music. The band found themselves in sessions with Youth (producer for The Verve, Paul McCartney) at the famous Olympic Studios in London. And the 2011 EP “Little Things” was mixed by Mark Plati (producer for David Bowie, The Cure…)
Now Hooka Hey came to Austin to “play the music I love for the people who love this music” and be a part of a vivid music scene with bands de Saint Quentin" feels a connection with. Today he releases his first EP “Untamed” in over 3 years. But, judging by the quality of the songs and the sonic textures, there’s a strong chance he will be contributing music, not only to the fabric of a music scene he loves, but by inspiring other bands the way that the American rock bands inspired him.