“A little darker, a little heavier and a little more moody” – the Minnesota outfit discusses their highly-anticipated debut album and reflects on past experiences.

On this fine cold Wednesday night Hippo Campus are about to round off the UK leg of their headline tour. As I have some spare time before our scheduled chat I wander around Dingwalls for a while, and shortly I spot a few people already queuing alongside the canal. “That’s a very promising crowd”, I think. Then I quietly sneak inside to catch the soundcheck. Well, that’s very promising too.

After a quick introduction, exchanging pleasantries and a little hassle with finding a quiet place for a chat, we end up in the middle of the hallway whilst the supporting band is prepping for their performance next door.

Before arriving in Camden the guys have visited a few cities across the country, and as it appears the tour has been pretty good. Any favourite shows?

Manchester was fun – starts Nathan Stocker (guitar / vocals).

Yeah, Manchester was awesome – adds Jake Luppen (vocals / guitar).

Glasgow had a certain rustic charm – Zach Sutton (bass) ponders.

Leeds was cool last night, they’re all good – Jake sums up.

Any particular differences comparing to playing gigs back in the US?

People in the UK really like to sing along with the riffs – Zach explains. Not the words, just the guitars. It’s really hilarious. Why are you doing this?

I think it’s awesome – Jake says.

It’s like a football game or something – adds Nathan. I’m sure that’s where it comes from.

Alright, so the band has got back on the road only recently but they must have a few juicy stories to share.

Some dude kept yelling that my dad sold Avon at the Manchester show and I didn’t know what that meant – Jake recalls. I still don’t know. Something mean I guess.

Yeah, and we were walking around in Glasgow, and we had just been out on the town for a while. We’re like crossing an intersection and there’s this dude who’s passed out outside of McDonald’s.. – Nathan tells.

KFC – the rest of the guys quickly jumps into the conversation.

Yeah KFC at 4:30 in the morning. He’s on his side and his eyes are open but I swear he’s not breathing. I’d run up but he was surrounded by all his friends…

You don’t know if they were his friends – Zach comments.

Well, they all had the same coloured hair so… Everyone had blue hair but yeah, I thought he was dead, and all of a sudden he goes [now Nathan vividly reenacts the scene of the guy waking up].

Did you see that? – the band ask.

Yeah, it was crazy.

So far Nathan is the only one who saw him wake up – Whistler Allen (drums) points out.

He may be dead still – says Zach.

He’s alive – Nathan concludes. It was crazy. I hope this is a good answer to your question. That was the weirdest thing.

I’m sure there’s more but I believe that covers our ‘bizarre-stories-from-tour’ section pretty well.

Hippo Campus emerged on the music scene with independently released debut EP, Bashful Creatures, in 2014. We didn’t have to wait long for new material to follow as their South EP was revealed a year later. Since then not only their fan base has grown bigger, but they have evolved significantly as a band.

This St. Paul quartet is a quintessence of sparking sun-drenched guitars and upbeat vocal melodies, what could serve as a description of any young indie band I know, but somehow these guys inject a refreshing tone into the modern soundscape. Confident and persistent in their beliefs, with a radiant maturity of the lyrics and a nostalgic twist, Hippo Campus epitomise boundless potential. Let’s not forget about their unmissable wit and magnetic stage persona, and you have a pretty good material for your next favourite band.

Now Hippo Campus are gearing up for the release of their long-awaited debut album, landmark, out later this month. Exciting times. Looking back at the writing and recording process, what seems like being the biggest challenge?

Just knowing what we were doing maybe… – Nathan doesn’t sound convinced.

Personal relationships were tested for sure – Jake points out. Just making a project to that magnitude. I think it definitely tested our relationships with each other and our producer, and relationships with ourselves really.

I think choosing which songs to let die and just keep working – adds Zach. Because you know, some of them have a lot of sentimental value and you just gotta let them go. That was really tough for me.

However, when asking how they would describe their debut album in one word I don’t have to wait long for the answer. “To describe it? Oh, ‘bad’”, I hear from the bassist and they all laugh. I’m pretty sure that’s a huge understatement. I bet they can do better.

I’d probably just say ‘fresh’ – Jake clarifies.

I hope so – Zach laughs.

It terms of relationships it is ‘different’ – Whistler ponders.

There’s just more layers – Nathan explains.

I’d say it’s mature a little bit – drummer continues. The sound has changed. It’s a little darker. Yes, definitely a little darker and heavier, a little more moody which goes along with personal relationships and energies we were experiencing while creating it.

And just a small detail I couldn’t help but wonder. What’s with the lack of capitalisation? Any story behind it?

After a short discussion on lower and upper case letters issue, I hear:

I don’t know where that came from – Nathan admits.

The idea started off with ‘Landmark’ in the building’s name we went to in high school – Landmark Center which is a capital letter – Jake explains. We wanted to make the album title lower case to refer to landmarks as in the things we’ve seen on the road, the experiences that we’ve held onto. By having that lower case we’ve just figured we tie the theme into the rest of the fountain on the album.

It’s efficient – Nathan sums up.

As many bands before them, the Minnesota boys have a diverse history of being in various groups before forming Hippo Campus. Having enjoyed each other’s company for a few years now, it turns out they don’t stray away from arguments or fights.

“We fight every day”, they all agree.

Since the moment we met there’s been plenty of physical fights – Zach recalls.

If you’ve ever heard of PUP song called “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You”… Well, it’s applicable sometimes – says Jake.

It is, but no fist fights yet – bassist adds. I’m looking forward to the future. Hopefully there’ll be some.

Keeping an open mind – drummer suggests.

It’s like a marriage, there’s always gonna be a bunch of fights – Nathan ponders.

Hopefully, not physical ones in there – Jake points.

I’m looking forward to those! – here goes Zach again.

Oh my God – Nathan expresses and I believe you get a clear picture of the situation.

I think we’re all good – Jake sums up. At this point we’re family so no matter if you’re mad at anybody, at the end of the day you still love everyone that you’re with and we’re grateful that we’re able to do this together.

Any highlights so far?

Maybe in 10 years, we’re still waiting for that day of our lives – Nathan states.

The whole thing is surreal. It’s like one crazy moment after another – adds Whistler. It’s hard to single out just one thing I guess.

That’s lame – Zach cuts in. Dingwalls tonight is gonna be great.

I guess being able to sell out a venue in the UK is pretty crazy for us – drummer sums up. For now it’s like a pretty big milestone.

So I figured I would spare the guys the brain talk and all that, but let’s delve into that nickname thing one more time.

Classic! – says Zach. I think those are being fazed out very slowly. We used to have those nicknames that came about as this.. I don’t know, contrived little facade that we wanted to have. Then it became more of a joke than it did mysterious you know. So Beans (Whistler) – he was wearing a hat one day and he looked like a guy named Beans. Espo – that’s in Finland, a town where I lived. Stitches (Nathan) – I don’t know how you got  your name?

I had a friend who just called me Stitches cause I had like an imaginary cat, like a different personality, alter ego – Nathan explains. Stitches the cat, he was satanic. Anyway…

Turntan (Jake), your own creation – Zach continues.

He’s a mystery and he’s pretty good at golf – Jake sums up.

Mysterious or satanic, I’m still not sure which one I like better.

Catch the band on tour, you won’t regret it. As for now, you can read and see what happened at Dingwalls here.

Hippo Campus‘ debut album, landmark, is set for release on Feb 24th.