Review Fix Exclusive: Paul V. Allen Talks ‘The Hopefuls: Chasing a Rock ’n’ Roll Dream in the Minnesota Music Scene’

Review Fix chats with “The Hopefuls: Chasing a Rock ’n’ Roll Dream in the Minnesota Music Scene” author Paul V. Allen to find out what inspired the book and what he’s up to next.

About the Book:

Songwriters, performers and producers Erik Appelwick, Eric Fawcett, John Hermanson and Darren Jackson were important players in an early 2000s musical collective. This collective included genres such as folk, power pop, R & B, electro-funk and indie rock. Well-known bands Storyhill, Spymob, Alva Star, Kid Dakota, Vicious Vicious, Tapes ’n Tapes, Olympic Hopefuls and others were part of this movement. These four men worked for their rock n’ roll dreams, producing well-crafted albums and exciting live performances along the way. Their shared biography draws from dozens of new interviews and hundreds of articles to document their intersecting musical journeys—from playing air guitar to KISS records to rocking gyms in high school cover bands to touring the world with some of pop music’s biggest names. Equal parts celebration and cautionary tale, this book discusses both the rewards and difficulties of life as an independent musician.

About the Author:

Paul V. Allen is an early literacy specialist. He lives in Normal, Illinois.

Review Fix: What inspired the creation of this book?

Paul V. Allen: I’d been a big fan of the music of Erik Appelwick, Eric Fawcett, John Hermanson, and Darren Jackson when I was living in Minneapolis in the 2000s, and had always been fascinated by the way they had a collective that worked together on these really stylistically different projects. They had a handful of years at the top of the local scene and it really looked like they were going go national, but then things just dissipated. So I was interested in revisiting those glory years, learning how it all started, and finding out why it didn’t last.

Review Fix: What makes the Minnesota music scene worthy of a book like this in your opinion?

Allen: The Minnesota music scene has produced an inordinate number of national acts with very distinctive and influential sounds – artists like Prince, The Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks, Semisonic. At the same time there’s this whole other aspect of the scene where independent musicians can become prominent there and sometimes even make a living off their music without touring or getting national attention. I wanted to explore that, because that’s the story that doesn’t typically get told.

Review Fix: What was the writing process like?

Allen: It was two solid years of work. I did over 30 interviews, read hundreds of articles from local papers, listened to a ton of albums, and scoured dozens of old websites on the Internet Archive. It’s a complex story, so it was a fun challenge to weave all of the different strands together into a coherent narrative. But it was also tricky trying balance all the different perspectives, especially when they differed from one another.

Review Fix: How do you feel the music scene in Minn. will be looked at in a few decades?

Allen: I think what happens over time, for better or worse, is that the bigger stories get bigger and the smaller ones fade away. The actual complexity of a place or time period gets forgotten as the decades pass. So when it comes to Minnesota’s music scene it’s going to always be about Prince.

Review Fix: What did you learn through the writing process that you weren’t expecting?

Allen: There were a lot of surprises and twists related to their story, mostly because I went in only knowing the very basics. One of those surprises was the fact of why the musical collective fell apart, which was a culmination of interpersonal issues between some of the guys that are still simmering. That led me to my biggest lesson, which is that writing about living people is a minefield.

Review Fix: What are your goals for the book?

Allen: My primary goal was to get it in the hands of people like myself who were fans of the various musicians and bands it’s about. But, as I said earlier, I also hope I’ve recorded for posterity this great time in the Minnsesota music scene that would essentially be forgotten if it wasn’t documented.

Review Fix: How would you like it to be remembered?

Allen: I hope it survives as a record of that time in Minnesota music, both for those who lived it and those in the future who are interested in the history of the scene. I also hope it will lead more people to discover these guys’ music, because they really are great songwriters and performers.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Allen: I’m finishing up writing a history of Random House’s Beginner Books early reading series that started with 1957’s The Cat in the Hat. I’ve been working on it since I finished primary work The Hopefuls in the summer of 2017, and now just have a few loose ends to tie up before I start looking for a publisher.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Allen: You can buy The Hopefuls in paperback directly from McFarland, from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or ask your favorite independent bookstore to order you a copy. It’s also available as an ebook. You can learn more about the books and musicians at www.thehopefulsmusic.info.

I also have a website (www.paulvallen.com) and a Twitter account (@UnrealPaulAllen) if you’d like to keep up with my work.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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