300,000 TikTok Fans, Barely Known at Home: Columbus, Ohio's HummusVacuum Built Its Following Backwards

Columbus, Ohio emo-punk band HummusVacuum has more than 300,000 TikTok fans and over 100,000 Instagram followers. Yet when Columbus Underground co-founder Walker Evans asked around town about them earlier this year, almost nobody knew who they were.

Frontman Kevin Cappy has an explanation. He said Columbus Underground is "kind of reverse-engineered." Most bands win their city first and spread outward. HummusVacuum went national online and is only now planting its flag at home.

A screen name that became a band

Cappy grew up in Cleveland. He picked up his first instruments at 10, was playing in touring bands by 19, and played his first show at Peabody's, a scrappy club near Cleveland State's campus. That's where he fell in love with emo and hardcore.

A pandemic-era job loss, plus a long-distance relationship he wanted to close the gap on, brought him to Columbus. Soon after he settled in, he started posting music videos and comedy on TikTok under the username HummusVacuum. It was a COVID project, not a band. The name simply stuck.

Today HummusVacuum is a real lineup: Cappy on lead vocals and guitar, Christian Gehring on drums, and Evan Applefeller on bass and vocals.

Pop-punk with a punchline

The band's Bandcamp sums up the mission as bridging sincerity and humor: big, anthemic power-pop songs mixed with fast, eccentric detours. Live, they write comedy bits between songs that lead into the next tune. Cappy compares the vibe to Bo Burnham with extra caffeine.

The songs can also bite. Tracks like "G-U-I-L-L-O-T-I-N-E" and "Salt & Vinegar" carry pointed political lyrics, and Cappy's short-form videos, some with millions of views, often pair those songs with clips of people he wants to call out. He doesn't consider HummusVacuum a political band, but he won't steer away from what he feels strongly about.

The Art of a Fake Laugh

The debut album, The Art of a Fake Laugh, came out May 22, 2026, on Smartpunk Records, an Orlando, Florida, label that began as an emo-punk blog in the MySpace era. The 11 tracks mix fan favorites that trickled out online with brand-new songs, including "The Claw Is Rigged Anyway," "Whoops! (I Think I Ruined My Life)" and "Lexapro Skater."

Cappy wrote the music and lyrics. Steve Perrino produced and mixed the record, Adam Cichocki mastered it, and Amanda Eiginger made the artwork. A colored-vinyl pressing followed on Aug. 14.

Cappy says the theme is staying light-hearted in a world that often feels dark and finding humor where you least expect it.

Why Columbus matters to them

HummusVacuum spent the summer on the road, playing Jorts Fest in Nashville, Stoopfest and PUG Fest in Michigan, and club dates in Iowa City and Minneapolis. At home, the band saves its Columbus shows for special occasions so it doesn't burn out local fans.

Cappy still loves Cleveland, but he's bullish on his adopted city. He points out that Columbus has roughly double the reliable 100-to-300-capacity venues of Cleveland or Cincinnati.

Where to listen and follow

Stream or buy The Art of a Fake Laugh on Bandcamp and find the band as HummusVacuum on TikTok and Instagram.

Sources

Columbus Underground — "Sounds of Columbus: HummusVacuum"
Bandcamp — "The Art of a Fake Laugh"
Smartpunk Records — Bandcamp community page
Tower Records — vinyl listing