| The Hopefuls | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Alias: | Olympic Hopefuls, Camaro[1] |
| Origin: | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Genre: | indie-pop, power pop |
| Years Active: | 2004-2010[2] |
| Label: | 2024 Records Draw Fire Records |
| Associated Acts: | Alva Star, Tapes 'n Tapes, Kid Dakota, Vicious Vicious, Beatifics, Storyhill, Spymob, Friends Like These |
| Past Members: | Darren Jackson Heath Henjum John Hermanson Eric Fawcett Erik Appelwick Matt O'Laughlin |
The Hopefuls, formerly known as The Olympic Hopefuls, were an indie-pop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Hopefuls won both the Artist of the Year and Best Pop Artist awards at the 2005 Minnesota Music Awards.[3]
The Hopefuls' music is peppy, light, and often deliberately corny. They defined their music as "fun music for fun times" and kept their songs upbeat and fast-paced. They often used xylophone fills, synthesizers, and hand claps to, as their webpage said, "keep heads bopping and asses shaking."
On their first album, Jackson and Appelwick switched off writing and singing songs; Appelwick sang the odd-numbered songs and Jackson sang the even-numbered. Their songs were typically about romance and the problems associated with it.
Darren Jackson and Erik Appelwick, (of Minnesota bands Kid Dakota and Vicious Vicious, respectively) began recording and performing under the name of Camaro in the early 2000s. As their popularity on the Minneapolis music scene increased, they changed their names to The Olympic Hopefuls and were picked up by 2024 records, a local independent label. They released their debut album, The Fuses Refuse to Burn in 2004.[4]
In 2005 the band was forced to shorten its name to The Hopefuls after being informed that the United States Olympic Committee owned the trademark to the word "Olympic."[5]
The song "Let's Go!" was featured on the second seasons of both The O.C. and .[6] [7]
The song "Drain the Sea" was featured on the first disc of the "For New Orleans" charity cd set produced by "Sugarfoot Music".
In April 2006, Appelwick left The Hopefuls to play bass for Tapes 'n Tapes.
On December 20, 2008, The Hopefuls released their second album Now Playing at the One-Seat Theatre on local independent label Draw Fire Records. Due to their busy schedules, all four band members were never present in the recording studio at the same time during the album's recording. The band's last show was played the following year.[4]
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In 2018, Paul V. Allan released The Hopefuls: Chasing a Rock 'n' Roll Dream in the Minnesota Music Scene, a book about The Hopefuls and many other related bands (Spymob, Storyhill, Kid Dakota, Tapes 'n Tapes, Vicious Vicious, etc.)