One man's bands

By Lynn Taylor Rick, Journal Staff Writer | Monday, February 14, 2005

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Two distinctive music groups sprang from Darren Jackson's inspiration

When the Olympic Hopefuls play, people dance.

When Kid Dakota plays, the reaction is slightly different.

"I think they stand there and smoke," Darren Jackson said with a laugh.

Jackson would know. He is the frontman for both popular Minneapolis bands. But while the Olympic Hopefuls play an upbeat indie pop sound, Kid Dakota leans more toward deep, heavy introspection. "Kid Dakota is very dark, very serious. I guess it comes from more of a preoccupation with the difficulties of being alive," the former philosophy major said. "Olympic Hopefuls is like the other end of the spectrum. It's very poppy."

Jackson grew up in Bison, graduating from Bison High School in 1990. While he wrote music in high school and played in cover bands at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., he didn't start to take music seriously until he moved to Minneapolis in 1994. During those post-collegiate years, Jackson wrote incessantly.

For the first time, he recognized that songwriting and

music were things he needed. During that same time, he also found himself believing that drugs were something he needed. He began moving around the country, living in Chicago, Boston and Providence.

"I guess I was running away from problems I had created for myself," he says of his addiction. Still, he never stopped writing.

By the time Jackson returned to Minneapolis and began performing in 1999, he had beaten his drug addiction and compiled an arsenal of nearly 80 songs. Although Jackson performed and recorded a select few songs, it wasn't until he met Christopher McGuire that things gelled.

The pair formed a sort of "yin/yang" balance, with Jackson's stoic presence a stark contrast to McGuire's high-energy showmanship. The duo became Kid Dakota and began showing off Jackson's moody, dark songs to the general public.

In 2000, they released their first album, "So Pretty," which attracted the attention of Duluth band Low, which re-released the album two years later on its own label. A 2003 tour with Black-Eyed Snakes helped to solidify Kid Dakota's place in the slow core music scene. The band's last release, "The West is the Future," was released last year.

While Kid Dakota was finding its place on the music scene, other things were happening for Jackson.

In the spring of 2002, Jackson and fellow musician and South Dakotan Erik Appelwick began to carve out another niche in their musical horizons. As often happens, the duo occasionally performed with each other's bands: Appelwick with Kid Dakota and Jackson with Appelwick's group, Vicious Vicious. But the duo quickly discovered that their unique musical chemistry melded into a sound that didn't fit either of their respective bands.

The resulting light, fun pop sound drew the attention of friends and eventually, the pair began playing occasional gigs as Camaro. When fans began asking the pair about a CD, they decided to accommodate. In 2004, they recorded their first CD, under the name Olympic Hopefuls, with 2024 Records. "The Fuse Refuses to Burn," became a success, with the CD garnering such accolades from the PULSE of the Twin Cities as, " ... the best indie-pop album of the year so far."

In January, the song "Let's Go" from the album was chosen for an episode of the popular Fox series "The OC."

"You always think that when this happens, things are going to be different ... but really it's all very accumulative," says Jackson. "It was a little spike on the Olympic Hopefuls rise to whatever type of fame we may be rising toward." The group's success has been a bit of surprise to both Jackson and Apelwick, who initially thought of Olympic Hopefuls as a side project.

But while the "OC" episode has opened some doors, life remains much the same for the group. Jackson still works his day job at the University of Minnesota. In his spare time, he's planning his May wedding and working on a studio in his recently purchased house. He also expects to play his usual 100 gigs a year. And he forges ahead with his creation Kid Dakota.

Low recently invited the band to join them on a European tour, which gets under way next week.

Despite Kid Dakota's heavy themes, Jackson swears he's not all gloom and doom. Instead, he considers his music the kind people stand around and smoke to, as a warning.

"It's a call to action ..." he says. "It's just a wake-up call. Before you know it, you're going to be old. You have to do things now." Don't waste time dreaming, Jackson warns. Find a passion and pursue it.

Jackson is practicing what he preaches.

Lynn Taylor Rick can be reached at lynn.taylorrick@rapidcityjournal.com or at 394-8414.