The Hopefuls: Two Years Later

I knew in writing about The Hopefuls that I was writing an incomplete story. As long as Erik Appelwick, Eric Fawcett, Darren Jackson, and John Hermanson keep making music, there’ll be more to tell. In that spirit, I’ve decided to continue to compile and document their ongoing adventures, and release updates every couple of years.  

Believe it or not, it’s been two years since I sent The Hopefuls: Chasing a Rock ‘n’ Roll Dream in the Minnesota Music Scene off to the publisher, so that means it’s time for the first update, covering mid-2018 (where the book ends) to mid-2020:

Appelwick

When we last left Erik he was doing freelance composing, and had teamed with Johnny, Fawcett, and Todd Casper in a new band called Intl Falls, who released their self-titled debut in early 2018.

More recently, Appelwick has taken a job at Dual Citizen Brewery, though thankfully he continues to write, record, and produce. 

He did some playing and producing for the Minneapolis electro-pop group Totally Awesome Summer on their 2018 Beauty School EP. And through “a string of serendipitous coincidences” Appelwick has teamed up with Nashville singer-songwriter Bethany Parks in a project called Citrîne. Sending songs back and forth Postal Service-style, the duo have created two EPs (Spine in 2017, Waves in 2018) and a full length –Dreams – in late 2019. Like most of Erik’s 2010s work, Citrîne’s songs are dreamy, vibey, and dancey. Parks’ elastic, buttery voice lays perfectly on top of Erik’s soundscapes. Dreams, especially, is a finger-snappy triumph that deserves a wide audience. And it may get one. Citrîne’s songs have been featured on MTV, HBO, and CW shows.

Erik also reunited with Tapes ‘n Tapes for the first time in seven years. The group did a secret show at the 331 Club in August 2019, followed by a free performance at Dual Citizen in September. In a brief Star Tribune article, the band mentioned they had some new songs in the works. However, so far there’s no word of a fourth album or any further shows.

The biggest Appelwick-centered news of the last two years is the return of Vicious Vicious with a new album called Gravity. Though it’s academic at this point whether Appelwick calls himself Tropical Depression or Vicious Vicious, there’s nonetheless a nostalgic rush seeing new music under the VV name. As has been typical for Appelwick, the album dropped without fanfare on June 2 (some of this was not his usual aversion to promotion, but extremely unlucky timing coming in the midst of the protests and destruction that roiled the Cities following the murder of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis).

The record is 8 songs of layered aural pleasure, highlighted by the aching “Satellite of Love” (a duet with Bethany Parks), the lost‘80s jam “Scandinavia,” and the piano-driven “Waitress with the Cocaine Blues,” which could have been a Beatles b-side circa 1969.

Fawcett

Fawcett continues to guide Egg Music forward, even as he and Johnny have left behind their fancy downtown Minneapolis digs in favor of a house in south Minneapolis. This returned them to their roots at Citycabin, however unintentionally.

In March 2018 he posted a picture on Instagram of himself recording drum tracks for a second Intl Falls album. The picture has since been deleted, and the record has yet to materialize. Fawcett has also shuttered his Dumb Drummer website, which is an unfortunate loss considering the wealth of essays and interviews once hosted there (thankfully it all still survives on the Internet Archive).

In March 2020, designer and artist Virgil Abloh, who is Black, chose N*E*R*D’s In Search Of… as a defining creative influence in a brief New York Times essay, citing the way it helped him find an identity that wasn’t fully defined by a single race or a single genre. And of course Spymob was a big part of that. On the Spymob Facebook page, Eric wrote, “We're reminded why we were smart to submit to the musical vision of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo nearly 20 years ago. My bandmates and I grew up being inspired equally by white and black artists. It's profoundly moving to have played a small part in inspiring artists who once felt they didn't fit in to realize they have a voice deserving to be heard.”

Darren

After toying with the idea of going to law school or getting a master’s degree in English, Darren chose neither. In fall 2018 he left the Twin Cities again and headed back to South Dakota to teach at Belle Fourche High School. The move sparked a burst of creativity, not just in the musical realm. Having always been interested in the art form, Darren began creating eye-catching collages using images from vintage magazines. His worked ranges from the political (a homeless man sitting in a sports stadium) to the absurd (a series featuring classic country stars superimposed on images from the cosmos).

In December 2019 Darren digitally released a Kid Dakota single called “Thoughts and Prayers.” Though its title makes the song seem political – referencing the empty words uttered by politicians after every single mass shooting – it’s more about confronting his own mortality aftermath of his bike accident. The last verse moves outward, excoriating those who deny science and evidence but benefit from it every day, especially medically. The song features guitar work from Spymob alum Brent Paschke and Honeydogs frontman Adam Levy.

Some of Darren’s collages ended up serving as cover art for a series of five digital singles he released between January and April 2019. As is typical of Darren’s process, these were all were from a variety of studio sessions and Kid Dakota eras, as evidenced by the rotating drummers: Christopher McGuire on “Futurecide” and “Prairie Flowers,” Ian Prince on “Age of Roaches” and “Serenity” (which also features Appelwick on bass), and Peter Anderson on “45s ‘til 3" (which you might remember as being part of the Camaro repertoire circa 2002). “Futurecide” dates all the way back to 1996, when it was called “Trans/port" (the cover art is pictured to the right).

In March 2020 Darren made a couple of big announcements. One was the fact that he had been accepted in the University of Minnesota’s Masters of Music program, meaning another relocation back to the Twin Cities, and another return to academia. He also announced a September release show at Icehouse for the sixth Kid Dakota album, Age of Roaches. One assumes all of the digital singles will be included, along with a couple of other teased songs, “Stephen Hawking” and “Cold War."

Johnny

Just as The Hopefuls was about to go to press in the summer of 2018, Storyhill announced an end to their hiatus with a new live album and a series of concerts in both Montana and the Twin Cities. The album, Stages, was compiled by manager Jim Kowitz, and showcases performances taken largely from Chris and Johnny’s spring 2015 “farewell” concerts. The tracklist is purposefully representative of the duo’s post-reunion work, and features two “new” songs that have yet to appear on a studio album – “Wide Jordan” and “Spring Snow.” It was funded through Kickstarter, which allowed Storyhill to appear on vinyl for the first time.

2019 marked the 30^th anniversary of Chris and Johnny’s musical partnership, and the duo celebrated with a four-day traveling road show in late July in Montana. The first day featured a concert in their old choir room at Bozeman High School and a talk with their choir director Marco Ferro. On the second day there was a visit to Our Lady of the Rockies (Mary on the Mountain) in Butte, and shows at Bridger Bowl and Hyalite Lake (cite of the original Storyhillfest). On day three the band played a selection of their songs about rivers at Missouri Headwaters State Park and capped it all off with a 30^th Anniversary Show at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds. Johnny’s sisters Jenny and Heidi played cello and violin on a handful of songs. A November show at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul brought the celebration to Minnesota.

Storyhill continued the nostalgia trip with the release of their fourteenth album, Where to Begin, in November 2019. Rather than feature new songs, the guys revisited tunes from their first three records. They enlisted Gil Stober, who recorded the Chris and Johnny cassette in 1989, to record the album.

The guys also started their own Patreon, allowing fans access to rare recordings, live performances, and other perks for a minimum $5 monthly fee. So far the rarities have included a 1987 performance of their very first song “Broken is the Word” and a Depeche Mode cover from around the same time, as well as unreleased songs from the Dovetail sessions.

Chris and Johnny did shows in Colorado and the Pacific Northwest in late winter/early spring 2020, right before the shutdowns prompted by COIVD-19. They had planned a return of Storyhillfest, but were forced to postpone until summer 2021. 

The guys are also working on a Christmas album, currently planned for a fall 2020 release.