Hippo Campus

Minneapolis five-piece Hippo Campus released a new single “Ride Or Die” via Grand Jury. It’s from their forthcoming LP3 due on February 4th. "It’s more about the way the words go with the melody than the words themselves,” explained Hippo Campus' Jake Luppen. “It’s one of my favorite songs on the record -- you can really hear everyone in the band doing their thing. It’s about wanting to find a partner who would do anything for you.” 

The band cites that LP3 marks a sort of ego death returning to the way all five of them made music in the early days and not compromising on their visions for outside factors. Hippo Campus' Jake Luppen said, “With LP3, Hippo felt like a very safe space to express those things because you have your best friends around you, rallying behind you. And each person could chime in with their own experience. I felt like it was a very safe space to be earnest." 

Hippo Campus was formed when Jake Luppen (lead vocals/guitar), Nathan Stocker (lead guitar/vocals), Zach Sutton (bass/keyboard), and Whistler Isaiah Allen (drums/vocals) met at the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists where they studied jazz, and Luppen trained in opera. SPCPA friend DeCarlo Jackson (trumpet) began playing regularly with them in 2017. Many of them played in other bands (Blatant Youth/Whistle Kid; Danger, Will Robinson/Northern) before uniting as Hippo Campus, a name Nathan Stocker chose while in psychology class. 

On November 18, 2014, Hippo Campus independently released their EP titled, Bashful Creatures, produced by Low's Alan Sparhawk. They later signed with Grand Jury records, and re-released Bashful Creatures with their new label on May 5, 2015. The band supported the release with an appearance at SXSW, and a performance on Conan. In 2016 The band released the single "Boyish" prior to their first full-length album, the guitar-based Landmark, which came out February 24, 2017. The #3 Billboard Heatseeker album was produced by BJ Burton, who produced albums for Low and Bon Iver. 

The band's sophomore album Bambi, released September 28, 2018, was preceded by the singles "Passenger", "Golden", and "Bambi". During June and July of 2019, the band released two demo albums. Demos I was released on June 14, 2019, and consisted of early/alternate versions of songs that had been previously released on Bambi. Demos II was released on July 10, 2019, and consisted of songs that were worked on during the same time as Bambi, but not included on the album. The band's front man, Jake Luppen, released his debut solo album as "Lupin" in October 2020. On August 6th, 2021, the band released a new E.P. titled Good Dog, Bad Dream and a new single, Boys on October 18th, 2021. That released was followed by the announcement of the release of the new album titled LP3. 

The band will tour the U.S. and Canada starting February 18th through April.

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