Seven years ago, Hunter Pendleton ‘17 graduated from LT. He is now preparing to perform at Lollapalooza with his band, Post Sex Nachos [PSN]. 

The group formed at the University of Missouri in 2017 with original members Pendleton [drums], Sammy Elfanbaum [lead vocals/guitar] and Chase Mueller [bass], with guitarist Mitch Broddon added in 2018, and keyboardist Kevin Jerez in 2022. In the years following, this band, which started as a few college students practicing in an attic with cheap instruments, has blossomed into a group with a fan base around the country, PSN said. 

“It’s really just been a lot of luck,” they said on a phone interview with LION. “The internet streaming platforms have algorithms, and we got lucky that our song ‘Coffee’ slipped into one on Spotify a few years back. Up until that point, we didn’t really have much of a listenership or followership. For whatever reason, that song just started getting streamed a whole bunch by people around the country. This piqued interest for other music we had, and suddenly we had fans in New York, Denver, Austin, LA, Chicago.”

Though touring throughout the country, one of their favorite shows was at Subterranean in Chicago, they said. 

“It was a sold out show and we were playing our encore song, ‘Growing Old,’” PSN said. “We got to the verse, and literally everyone was singing the words, louder than the PA system. It was so surreal to have a crowd of over 400 people all knowing the words to your song.”

As an LT student, Pendleton was never involved in performance, but was always surrounded by music. 

“Funny enough, I didn’t actually play music until I got to college, but I was involved with WLTL,” he said. “I’ve always been a big lover of music and appreciator of the performing arts. WLTL exposed me to lots of new types of music overall.”

Today, the unique music tastes of each member influence the music of PSN as a whole. From modern stars to classic hits, and everything in between, their music reflects many genres, eras, and styles. 

“Our music is sort of a culmination of what we listen to and, at its core, what we intake,” they said. “We’re always listening for things that we like, and thinking about how we can emulate it in our songwriting. I don’t think any of us are that picky musically. We just listen to stuff that we think is cool and fun and interesting, and try to interpret that in our own work.”

For the members of PSN, receiving the opportunity to perform at Lollapalooza was one of the highlights of their career so far. 

“[Finding out that we were going to play Lollapalooza] was so cool,” they said. “It was really unexpected, and we didn’t exactly know that it was even a possibility. Our agent, who handles booking, has connections to some people at Lolla, and he texted us out of the blue one day in November with an offer to play at the festival. We couldn’t announce it until March, so sitting on that for months was definitely tough, but we are over the moon excited to be playing at Grant Park this summer.”

The band will perform on Sunday, Aug., at Lollapalooza. Their music is available on all streaming platforms. 

“For anyone that is interested in music or performing, just do it,” they said. “There’s truly nothing stopping you from getting into music and having fun with some of your friends, and I think that that is what this band is and has always been. There’s nothing holding us back and there’s literally no rules to the art that we are putting out into the world.” 

PHOTO CAPTION: Members of Post Sex Nachos pose for a promotional photo (photo courtesy of PSN).