Q&A: Hippo Campus Returns to Original Feelings to Create Their New EP “Good Dog, Bad Dream”

Q&ASpotlightMusic

Jun 29

☆ BY Anu Makinde ☆

WORKING TOGETHER AS A BAND TO UPLIFT SINCE 2013 — Hippo Campus provides youthful truth and energy, as their previous albums and EPs have been the background of festivals like SXSW, Firefly, and Governors Ball. Now, in 2021, the group has released their new single “Bad Dream Baby” and announced their new EP Good Dog, Bad Dream, scheduled for release later this year.

In the music video for the lead single, “Bad Dream Baby,” the hazy blue, sometimes smoke-filled room the band plays in invites the viewer into a new world. As they dance around the room, we can’t help but be entranced by the track, yet strikingly be brought back to reality through the lyrics. Reminiscing about parking lots in Minnesota and including dog bark adlibs, “Bad Dream Baby” is a reminder of the joys of life and bitter moments in between.

We spoke with Hippo Campus about their music video and the evolution of their band. Their new EP is a return to “the same feelings [they] had when [they] started Hippo,” as they continue to make music that pushes them and reflects the ways they have grown as a band.

LUNA: Let’s address the elephant in the room: How has the last year and a half been for you all?

LUPPEN: It’s been strange to not play shows, but we’ve been staying fulfilled in other ways. We moved into a new recording studio in December where we have been working on a bunch of different projects.

LUNA: What’s been essential to your existence, something you think has kept you alive this past year — it could be art, a hobby, an experience?

LUPPEN: Honestly, reality TV has been a godsend. Love Island, The Bachelor, you name it.

LUNA: Your new music video and record gave me everything I loved about early MTV when I discovered it, specifically the blue haze dream sequence in the TVs. What’s the feeling you wanted to elicit with that visual?

ALLEN: We wanted to try and match [how] the production feels on the song to the video. Polished, but a bit crunchy and gritty. Also a little unsettling. The old tube TV effect happened to fit perfectly. It gave it the depth; the added textures and the unsettling feeling that we wanted. Exactly MTV (laughs).

LUNA: I think with the lack of concerts for the past while, music videos have given us space to imagine being in a performance setting again.Your video made me want to go crazy in a crowd! Are there any specific songs you're excited to experience in a live setting?

ALLEN: We are excited to play all of these. “Bad Dream Baby” specifically has the perfect vibe for going crazy at a show. Can’t wait to see how people react to it live. Also the ending of “Deepfake” will be so fun. Stoked for that one

LUNA: The song is pretty upbeat, and then when I heard what you’re saying it made me sad. Was this the type of song you intended? (The Britney lyric, reminiscing on the old men you used to drink within the parking lot) Or rather did you find it came up as you were making the song?

LUPPEN: Overlaying heavy lyrics with upbeat melodies has always been one of the defining characteristics of our band. This is the first instance of us using humor so directly in a track. The inspiration for that came from a Larry David binge early in quarantine.

LUNA: The band started in high school, so how do you think your sound has developed between the state of the world and evolving as individual artists as well?

LUPPEN: In the early days, we thought less about what we're doing — we would just get in a room and write whatever came naturally. Once we started touring it became more about, “Why are we doing this?” “How do people see us?” “Does this music matter?” I feel like quarantine helped us get back to the same feelings we had when we started Hippo.

LUNA: You guys have said that the underlying current of your band is constant change, which could be a juxtaposition. Why do you think embracing change is so important to who all of you are and what you bring to the music you make?

LUPPEN: We are rarely satisfied completely with what we make. Obviously we’re proud of everything that we’ve put out, but we see that there are still many ways we can grow, both as humans and as artists.

LUNA: What can we look forward to from you all in the future?

LUPPEN: DeCarlo’s band DNM.

STOCKER: This ^

SUTTON: “Shiny” out now!

LUNA: Here’s a fun question to wrap up: What song would each of you like to cover and how would you re-work it?

LUPPEN: We do a mean “Sweet Child of Mine.” Just as ripping as the OG.

STOCKER: “Adore You” by Miley Cyrus has always seemed like an obvious choice for me. I think it’d be cool to just make it heavy/dark as hell. Sludge it up.

JACKSON: That ballad that they play during sad exposition on Naruto, but Nathan plays the flute part on slide guitar.

SUTTON: Benny and the Jets, no piano. 5 drummers, horn section, tuba (in for bass), woodwinds.

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