Ricky Hoover borrowed his mom’s car and drove eight hours to audition for a band. That drive led to touring the world with Suffokate. Years later, after leaving the band and building a career as a barber, he thought that part of his life was finished. Then the pandemic closed his shop, and the need to create brought him back to music.
At Ricky’s shop in Las Vegas, he tells Tab how Ov Sulfur began as something he wanted to do for fun. He was looking for musicians and a creative outlet. What grew from that search gave him room to bring together the heavy vocals he was known for and a singing voice he had been developing since childhood. His dad sang around the house and quizzed him on songs in the car. His uncle was a professional musician. Long before the breakdowns and growls, music was part of the family.
Ricky and Tab follow those influences through punk, hardcore, death metal, and the bands that first made them want to pick up an instrument. They talk about catchy choruses in heavy music, the intensity of a live show, and the pressure to prove that your taste is brutal enough. Ricky’s answer to the guilty-pleasure question is simple: enjoying music gives him nothing to feel guilty about.
The stories become personal when Ricky talks about his wife. They met through Instagram, had their first date at Disneyland, and built a relationship across borders before she moved in with him. He and Tab compare fatherhood, the urge to protect their children, and the feeling of finding someone who becomes inseparable from the life you imagine for yourself.
Barbering, touring, marriage, and raising a family all demand his attention. Ricky connects them through the same drive that sent him on that eight-hour audition: when he cares about something, he gives it his full commitment. Returning to music meant bringing the barber, husband, and father he had become back onto the stage.
