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A "Hopeful" return
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After nearly five years, Minneapolis indie power pop favorites The Hopefuls (formerly known as the Olympic Hopefuls) are back with a new album, Now Playing at the One Seat Theatre. Two new tracks can be heard on the band's MySpace page and an album release performance is scheduled for December 20th at First Avenue.
Fans have long held out hope for a return of the band that captured the local music scene in 2004 with their debut album, The Fuses Still Refuse to Burn. Brimming with catchy melodies, killer hooks, and sugar-coated harmonies, the album quickly established a dedicated following in the Twin Cities.
The Fuses Still Refuse to Burn was, without a doubt, the local album of 2004. Tracks were played on regular radio rotation and City Pages announced the band as landslide winners of the annual Picked to Click poll. National exposure soon followed, most notably with their song Let's Go being played on the Fox teen drama, The O.C. Even the threatened lawsuit from the Olympic Committee which compelled the band to shorten their name did little besides provide more publicity.
Not a bad start for a band that began as a pastime collaboration between Erik Appelwick of Vicious Vicious and Darren Jackson of Kid Dakota. Both members soon found their "full-time" bands being shadowed by the unanticipated appeal of The Hopefuls. Yet despite such lofty early promise, the band seemed to flounder through long periods of dormancy. When in 2006 Erik Appelwick left to join Tapes ‘N Tapes, many were prepared to write off The Hopefuls.
True to their name, however, The Hopefuls have at long last completed their second album. Now only the public reception awaits. Will the absence of Appelwick impair the exuberant pop confections that made their debut so addictive? Or will this release mark the second coming of a band that once seemed poised to reassert local rock on a national stage?
Wherever the future holds, the December 20th show will be a welcome homecoming for a band that's been missing from the scene for way too long.
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