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First SAC spotlight concert attracts huge audience

Date 9/23/2004 1:00 AM | Topic: Arts & Culture

Last Saturday, SAC spotlight put on its first Marty's concert of the year when they hosted Minneapolis-based Olympic Hopefuls, along with Friends Like These and Ames, Iowa's The Envy Corps.

All three bands wowed a big crowd with over 350 people in attendance.

Olympic Hopefuls has exploded on to the Minneapolis rock scene after their debut album release, The Fuses Refuse to Burn, distributed by Hidden Agenda Music Company.

Self-described as a mix between Weezer and The Apples in Stereo, Olympic Hopefuls's melodic indie-pop sound stems from Daryn Jackson (Kid Dakota) and Erik Appelwick (Vicious Vicious) who combined their talents and called themselves Camero.

After increased demand from fans for an album release, the two formed the current five-piece band Olympic Hopefuls, which includes music vets John Hermanson (Storyhill, Alva Star), Heath Henjum (the Beatifics), and Matt O'Laughlin (Friends Like These).

Opening for Olympic Hopefuls was Twin Cities-based Friends Like These, produced by Olympic Hopeful member Hermanson.

Formally starting in early 2002 with John Solomon and Adam Switlick, the guys added drummer Matt O'Laughlin (Olympic Hopefuls) and bass player Steve Murray to form the current lineup. Their self-released album I Love You was recorded in 2003.

Lesser-known band The Envy Corps, based out of Ames, whose album, Soviet Union, released in February of 2004, reached number 63 on the CMJ charts and has been played on over 200 stations nationwide.

Luke Pettipoole, lead vocalist of The Envy Corps, sat down for a quick interview Friday evening. He described himself as the ultimate driving force of The Envy Corps, having formed the band in 2000.

Only he and drummer Derek Powers have been with the band since the beginning.

"It's basically been the same kind of band since then," Pettipoole said.

Because of the tendency for members to come and go, the band often has to start from scratch with new people.

"The band is an evolving thing," said Pettipoole. "Every time there's a new person we're working on new material."

The band rarely has trouble finding new members. Although Ames isn't huge, Pettipoole says there is a small group of musicians that aren't doing hardcore music in Ames but are still looking for some sort of musical hobby.

"You end up meeting people," Pettipoole said.

Music, Pettipoole claimed, has always been a part of his life, having come from a very musical family.

"I was given OK Computer at the age of 16 by my 91-year-old grandmother for Christmas," said Pettipoole, when asked about his early inspirations. "It just blew my mind."

Since then, he's been keen on early 90s music but isn't trying to form just one sound.

Pettipoole describes the sound of The Envy Corps as a mix between Radiohead and Moody, but claims he doesn't just play one kind of music.

"I'm not married to one style. We're just trying to write good songs. You can play it country or you can play it rock and roll and it can still be good," said Pettipoole.

The Envy Corps sticks to playing around Iowa, Omaha and Minneapolis, only touring on weekends and when they can find time. Most of the members are also in other bands.

For right now, they're working on getting a demo together and gaining some local interest around the Midwest.

Although the name suggests some sort of communist-leaning agenda, Pettipoole said they do not take any sort of stance on politics - he currently has his vote up for sale on EBay. But it's worked more to their advantage than disadvantage, he said.

"One time, we were playing at some art center and the guy who organized the event asked if we were socialist leaning. We didn't take any opinion on the matter but we ended up getting a ton of money donated to us that night."

For now, the band is just trying to write fresh material and enjoy playing local venues.

"If you're good at something you do it," said Pettipoole.

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Michelle Matthews

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