Nadi McGill from Twin Cities United Performers (TCUP), and Hippo Campus members Jake Luppen and Nathan Stocker talked with host Jill Riley about the upcoming I.C.E. Out! show at First Avenue.

Listen to the full interview in the player above, and find a complete transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Jill Riley: You're listening to The Current, I'm Jill Riley. As federal agents continue to have a presence in Minnesota, chants of "ICE out" can regularly be heard on any given day, and neighbors are continuing to go out of their way to help each other. Musicians are also pitching in to use, really, one of their best skills, and that's using art, that's playing music. So joining me to talk about the upcoming I.C.E. Out! show that'll be coming up this Sunday night at First Avenue is Nadi McGill from Twin Cities United Performers, or TCUP, maybe you've heard it as that, and you might also know Nadi from the band Gully Boys. Also in the studio today are Nathan Stocker and Jake Luppen from Hippo Campus. Nadi, Nathan, Jake, welcome to The Current's Morning Show.

Nadi McGill: Thanks for having us.

Jill Riley: Of course, glad you guys can be here. Nadi, let's start with you. Tell us about the upcoming I.C.E. Out! show and what it's all about.

Nadi McGill: Yeah, so the I.C.E. Out! show is happening at First Avenue on Sunday, February 15, at 3 p.m. It's a matinee show. And we have a bill of iconic local artists. We have Hippo Campus, we have papa mbye, we have Durry, which we just announced, and 26 BATS! And 100% of the proceeds will be going to mutual aid funds helping people with rent, groceries. We have a list of vetted mutual aid lists from Minneapolis Public Schools, we work closely with Minneapolis Public Schools, so the families of those schools who just desperately need it. We also have an auction — so many small businesses donated amazing items that will also be live. So yeah, it's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be a really fun show.

Jill Riley: Very good. Jake and Nathan, what made you guys want to be part of the show?

Jake Luppen: I think we just wanted to do something, anything, to help the community here. And Nadi reached out, and we immediately were like, yes, we're good to go for this. And when we accepted the show, we did a lot of talking about how we wanted the performance to go. We were like, "Should we play Hippo Campus songs? That feels strange." So we morphed the show a bit into doing some protest covers with a bunch of our friends that are other Minneapolis musicians.

Jill Riley: So basically, you have put together a list of rotating singers. And this list is pretty sweet, I will say. So in addition to Hippo Campus and papa mbye, and 26 BATS!, and Durry, it really sounds like you're going to be kind of the house band for a portion of, again, protest songs. Can you guys talk about who are going to be these special guests?

Jake Luppen: Yeah, I think there's like 20 singers. So we could kind of — yeah, it's kind of everybody from Dave Pirner is coming out, Al Sparhawk, Craig Finn, Dave Simonett. We have Kerry [Alexander] from Bad Bad Hats. We have Vernon, Justin Vernon.

Nathan Stocker: We got Mike Kota.

Nadi McGill: Caroline Smith.

Jake Luppen: If Caroline Smith has not given birth at that point.

Jill Riley: If we know Caroline, she'll hold out.

Nathan Stocker: Exactly, bring the newborn on.

Jill Riley: Yeah, just onstage. Why not?

Jake Luppen: But it's pretty amazing to see everybody I reached out to, get back immediately, and we're so happy to do this. Everybody wants to help out in some way. And this event that TCUP is putting on is an amazing way to do that.

Jill Riley: Jake Luppen and Nathan Stocker of Hippo Campus, Nadi McGill from Twin Cities United Performers in The Current studio. So Nadi, the I.C.E. Out! show, again presented by TCUP. So the Twin Cities United Performers. Can you tell us a little more about the organization?

Nadi McGill: TCUP started in 2023 as a solidarity campaign for the First Avenue workers as they unionized. And through that organizing, we discovered a lot of the same issues that the workers were facing are also a lot of what musicians face, especially musicians early in their career. Finding it hard to find dignity in the workplace, low payout, disrespect, especially if you hold a marginalized background. So we created TCUP as a place to build power so we can actually be seen as laborers and not just hobbyists. And we've done that through throwing shows, a lot of advocacy work and power-building work. We were working on some pretty cool campaigns at the state level, but everything's kind of just on pause right now with — that's just not as important as the current moment. It's musicians from all different backgrounds. It's actually performers as well. We have some drag performers who are part of TCUP. It's under the Take Action Minnesota umbrella.

Jill Riley: Well, the upcoming I.C.E. Out! show this Sunday at First Avenue you mentioned, starts early, a matinee show. It sounds like you guys are doing an all-ages show. Was that really intentional to involve more people and to get families out?

Nadi McGill: Yeah, access is very important, and I think young people should be exposed to important moments, like going to shows, and especially shows that are so deeply enriched in community. And so it was important for me to want to include young people to have the opportunity to experience this and to be civically engaged, even if it's going to a rock show. And also, we found it better to do stuff during the day. More people are more likely to come out on a Sunday if they if they have to work tomorrow. And be home in bed by 10. 

Jill Riley: Well, the I.C.E. Out! show this Sunday at First Avenue. Jake and Nathan, you guys travel the world playing music. Something that we have really been listening to and absorbing is the amount of musicians and bands from the Twin Cities, from really all around the world that have been responding to the moment in Minnesota. How do you think what's been happening in Minnesota and Minneapolis will kind of inform your music? Do you feel like it will going forward?

Nathan Stocker: Yeah, naturally, that's kind of the number one job is to take it in and process and express, and it'd be impossible not to have that show itself in the music that comes out, whether it's as overt as talking about the “Streets of Minneapolis” or not. I think that, you know this moment in time will manifest itself in ways big and small, on an individual basis, as well as within a group. So the way that we do that as a band is by having constant conversations about it with each other and letting how the community bands together is exactly what the band is all about. And so having a show like this specifically, I think, will inform the music going forward in a really profound way. And yeah, it's kind of the gig, it's kind of the whole job.

Jill Riley: And you talked about how this Sunday, you're really going to serve as being a house band and having all these singers come in and perform protest songs. As you guys have been rehearsing for the show, has something kind of surprised you?

Jake Luppen: Listening to the songs, the song "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. 

Jill Riley: That's one of the first songs I started thinking about a couple weeks ago.

Jake Luppen: Listening to that, it's just so applicable to what's going on here. And these things have been happening for a long time. You know, they just are dressed in different clothes. But, yeah, problems have always been there, and it's important to call attention to them.

Nathan Stocker: Tracy Chapman, too, "Talkin’ Bout a Revolution." That's another one that'll go over well, I think. There's a whole slew of them, you know? I think all of them have their own moment. So it's exciting. It'll be fun to play covers, I guess. I don't know.

Jake Luppen: And the singers have all picked their own songs. It's just like, whatever you want to sing, we'll learn it. We'll figure it out.

Nadi McGill: I love how genre diverse it is, all over the place.

Jake Luppen: That was kind of the goal, get as many people from as many different genres together in the same room, making music. It'll be sick.

Jill Riley: Yeah? That sounds like it's gonna be great. And the list of guest performers for this Sunday pretty incredible. And it just sounds like people, again, are eager to get out onstage and be in community and come together this Sunday. It's the I.C.E. Out! show in the First Avenue Mainroom. Nathan, before I let you go, I have to ask you a question about another recent, current event. Mavis Staples won two Grammys this well — very recently, two Grammys, Best Americana Performance for "Godspeed," and Best American Roots performance for "Beautiful Strangers." Speaking of a long list of some really incredible musicians, I know that you played guitar on the latest Mavis Staples album. So does that mean that you are now a Grammy winner? How does that work?

Nathan Stocker: I don't know exactly how it works. I don't get a trophy or anything, but I guess I'm a participant in two Grammy-winning songs, both "Godspeed" and "Beautiful Strangers." Very strange circumstance, but very grateful to be a part of it. And I mean, Mavis Staples, absolute legend, and it's kind of an interesting emotional state. It's cool.

Jill Riley: How did you end up playing on the record?

Nathan Stocker: Yeah, I went to the Raleigh-Durham [North Carolina] area in 2024 to work on a record with Brad Cook. And during that session, we were talking, and he kind of just casually brought up these Mavis Staples sessions, and put a guitar in my hands and said, "What do you think?" And I just — that's his whole ethos as a producer, is to capture a reaction. That's kind of how, in his eyes, you get the most genuine musical expression out of anybody that you're working with. And that's put quite simply, you know, dumbing it down. But yeah, it was a really inspiring time, and I'm just grateful to Brad for the opportunity to play on such amazing tracks with a whole roster of incredible musicians, and for Mavis to sing those songs, "Godspeed" by Frank Ocean and "Beautiful Strangers" by Kevin Morby. It was an unreal experience, and two Grammys later, that's pretty cool, especially for Mavis, at her age and with such a storied career. It's pretty, pretty legendary, and I'm just grateful to be a part of it.

Jill Riley: Thank you for telling that story. As long as we have you here, I gotta ask about it. Nathan Stocker, Jake Luppen is here, both from Hippo Campus. Nadi McGill is here today representing Twin Cities United Performers, but also we know you as being in Gully Boys as well. The I.C.E. Out! show will be at First Avenue this Sunday. It's an all ages show. It's early, it starts in the afternoon. Hippo Campus, with a number of special guest singers, papa mbye, 26 BATS!, Durry, all on the bill, and the show is presented by Twin Cities United Performers. All the proceeds will go toward mutual aid. Nadi, Jake, Nathan, thank you so much for being on The Current's Morning Show.

Nadi McGill, Nathan Stocker: Our pleasure. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us.

Jill Riley: You are listening to The Current.

Credits

Guests – Nadi McGill, Jake Luppen, Nathan Stocker
Host – Jill Riley
Producer – Nilufer Arsala
Digital Producer - Natalia Toledo

External Link

I.C.E Out! at First Avenue – Event Details