The Hopefuls

The Hopefuls: Chasing a Rock 'n' Roll Dream in the Minnesota Music Scene (McFarland & Company, 2018)   is the definitive musical biography of Erik Appelwick, Eric Fawcett, John Hermanson, and Darren Jackson and the musical collective that formed around them in the Minneapolis independent music scene, encompassing bands Kid Dakota, Spymob, Storyhill, Vicious Vicious, and many others.  The book comprehensively traces how their musical partnerships formed, reformed, and transformed from the early 1990s through the late 2010s. You can read the introduction  here  and watch the book trailer below. The book was recognized with a Certificate of Merit in the 2019 ARSC Awards for Excellence. It's available in paperback and ebook. Buy it from your favorite independent bookstore, Amazon , Barnes & Noble , or directly from McFarland . The official book trailer!

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 two years.   Believe it or not, it’s been six years since I sent  The Hopefuls: Chasing a Rock ‘n’ Roll Dream in the Minnesota Music Scene  off to the publisher. So it's time again for an update. This one covers mid-2022 to August 2024. The first update, covering mid-2018 to mid-2020, is available  here . And the second, covering mid-2020 to mid-2022 is here . Appelwick Following the February 2022 release of the Vicious Vicious album Paradise , Erik Appelwick went silent, only emerging briefly between December 2022 and August 2023 to release three singles with Bethany Parks under the Citrîne moniker: "Walk It Back," "Alchemists," and a cover of "Wh