Jen Winterfeldt, Director of Community Relations at Minnesota United FC, and Austin and Taryn Durry of the band Durry, stopped by The Current’s Morning Show to talk with host Jill Riley about the Minnesota United FC Kickoff Concert happening 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. It's almost time for the home opener for Minnesota United FC. The team will play Cincinnati at Allianz Field on Saturday, but not without a party first for the fourth year in a row — the Loons are hosting a kickoff concert. It'll be at First Avenue tonight with a pretty stacked lineup of some local favorites. Sophia Eris will be DJing and emceeing the show, Duluth grunge-rocker Sophie Hiroko will be there, Keep for Cheap — I love that they're described as prairie rock. I need more prairie rock in my life. And the whole thing will be headlined by the band Durry. Joining me to talk about it is Jen Winterfeldt, the Director of Community Relations for Minnesota United FC, and Austin and Taryn of Durry are here. Everybody, welcome to The Current’s Morning Show.

Guests: Hello, hello. Thanks for having us.

Jill Riley: All right. Well, happy kickoff to the season, by the way. Jen, let's start with you. Minnesota United FC has been throwing kickoff concerts for four years now. Why did the team start these celebrations?

Jen Winterfeldt: There's a very short season between when our season ends, and when the soccer season starts over, and yet, we sort of really want to build the momentum. We call it a "countdown to kickoff." So really, just build the hype and excitement around the team, have everyone get excited for the new season. And for four years now, we've been hosting these kickoff concerts. Really, it's an opportunity for us to bring together local talent, introduce new people to the Minnesota United community, and really just celebrate kind of what's going on in our community, and obviously this year's tenor is a little different, right? We've really been thinking about what does it mean to come together as community, to support one another? That's really the heart of what we're trying to do this year, especially, is have people together in a room, listen to awesome music and build a lot of hype for what's to come, for hopefully healing in our community, camaraderie, fun, fandom, cheering on the Loons, etc.

Jill Riley: And Jen, I'm glad that you use the word “community,” because even if somebody is listening right now and they don't know the first thing about soccer, what I will tell you about Minnesota United fans is it's a fun community, and it's a very enthusiastic community, so I love that you used that word. So as far as the lineup, I mean, I listed who is going to be playing. How did that lineup come together?

Jen Winterfeldt: We really have always focused on, for the kickoff concerts, to feature local talent. So our club is always really paying attention to sort of who's hot in the community, and who's aligned with some of the people who we might draw out to a venue like First Ave on a Tuesday night to listen to music, and so Durry was actually one of the featured artists a season or two ago at one of our Great Lawn events. They played out in the front of the stadium before a game. Partnering with them made perfect sense, and just sort of thinking about who's available, who's really, I think, committed to community at this time. This year is a benefit concert for us for the very first time. So we're giving all the funds away to a local organization just blocks away from the stadium, who's a large food shelf provider. So when we were really looking to reach out to bands, we wanted to make sure everybody was sort of mission aligned on that, not only just for a good time, that's first and foremost, but really showing up for community is sort of the added icing on the cake.

Jill Riley: Jen Winterfeldt is here, Director of Community Relations for Minnesota United FC, and also in the studio, Austin and Taryn of Durry. You guys, welcome back.

Austin Durry: Thank you. Yeah. I love when we're introduced as Austin and Taryn of Durry, because Durry is our last name, and it sounds like medieval, you know, like “of the house Durry.”

Jill Riley: “Of the Burnsville Durry.” I was looking back, and I think it was last spring, the last time the two of you were on The Current's Morning Show. I couldn't believe it, I went, "Has it really been that long?" And I guess it was, and you guys had a pretty big year. You dropped an album, This Movie Sucks. You have gone viral on different social media platforms. You spent a lot of time on the road. What does it mean for you guys to be headlining this show now that you're back home?

Austin Durry: Feels like we kind of spent the whole last, I mean, basically two years building up to this album drop and this huge tour, been on like a six-week tour all across the country, and all these music video drops and social media stuff and all kinds of it all kind of like finished up, basically, and now this is kind of the next thing now. So it's nice to be coming back with what kicked off, the entire —  “kicked off,” hey! — the season of the band was our big show at First Avenue, and so now it's great to be coming back and playing it again. We're doing the whole TV set. We have all these TVs we set up with graphics that align with each song, and it's gonna be awesome.

Taryn Durry: Yeah, and I feel like we don't get to play at too many local shows, unfortunately; I wish we could do more. So every time we get to play locally, it's just super exciting. And we love playing at First Ave, their team is great. Every time we play a local show, people show up, and it's always a great time.

Jill Riley: Well, it sounds like a lot of fun. It's almost the home opener for Minnesota United FC. That is Saturday, Allianz Field, where Minnesota United will be playing Cincinnati. And then tonight, there is the kickoff concert at First Avenue. Jen, you have this kickoff concert kicking off the season for Minnesota United. And again, the lineup, let's go through it again: Sophia Eris is going to be there, DJing and emceeing. Sophie Hiroko, Keep for Cheap, also Durry. What else can people look forward to from the team this season?

Jen Winterfeldt: Oh, it's an exciting season. It's our 10th season at MLS. There's a lot to celebrate on the field, off the field. One thing I often hear about was like,"I don't know soccer. Do I follow along? What if I don't have a favorite player?" One of the things that I have loved about this team is that once you kind of experience the atmosphere at Allianz Field, it's really a little different than other professional sports, because there is sort of the supporter community feel. And so even if you don't really know maybe what's exactly happening on the field, I feel like you will feel a sense of community and a reason to cheer, and the atmosphere is just really fun. If you've never been to a game, I actually highly recommend it. Go to mnufc.com, find those details, and you can just have the opportunity to come to the game. Experience the atmosphere. Be in community with all of us, cheer on our guys and be part of our 10th season in MLS. 

Jill Riley: Well, hey, it's The Current's Morning Show, and Jen Winterfeldt the Director of Community Relations for Minnesota United FC is here. Austin and Taryn Durry are here. Austin and Taryn, before you leave, we have been playing your new single on The Current, "Told You So." So I want you guys, if you would, to talk about that song a little bit more, because I just feel like the list of music and new songs and art that is being created to, of course, meet the moment in Minnesota, that list has been just growing and growing. But I understand that the song "Told You So," it's been in the works for a while.

Austin Durry: I mean, we've all been dealing with the current situation for a while. You know, it's been—

Taryn Durry: It's been a long year.

Austin Durry: Yeah, it's been a long year, but it's always been a long, like, 10 years or whatever. But yeah, this one, it started just based on the conversation with a MAGA supporter relative of mine. And it was when this new administration was coming in, and it was just about, "Have you really considered what this is going to look like if he really does everything he's going to do?" And their response was like, "It's not going to be that bad. Don't worry about it, it's going to be fine." And that's when I started writing "Told You So." I kind of started writing it and put it away. Like, OK, whatever. This was an idea. We'll see what happens.

Jill Riley: Like, we'll actually see what happens.

Austin Durry: And then we saw what happened, and we had militarized federal forces marching down our streets. So then all the details of the verses all kind of came together with that, and with the chorus that I already had. And here it is. It's been wild. It's a kind of a unique situation with the song, because we didn't distribute it traditionally at all. It's really a demo that we just kind of mixed as well as we could. And so, it's only on Bandcamp and on The Current.

Taryn Durry: I kind of love that, though.

Austin Durry: Yeah, it's kind of cool. It's a little secret. And on Bandcamp you can donate what you want, or just take it for free. That's fine, too. And we donate all the proceeds to places that need it. It's been awesome. We've raised over $6,000 now, donated and, and it's still coming in. And, yeah, it's been great.

Jill Riley: All right. Well, we've been talking about, I think, just community this morning on The Current's Morning Show. Whether it be the soccer community, the music community, seeing these two things merge for an event tonight at First Avenue. Minnesota United, they are hosting a kickoff concert First Avenue tonight, and that home opener is this Saturday, versus Cincinnati at Allianz Field. So Jen, Austin, Taryn, thank you guys for coming into The Current and appreciate you talking about the event tonight. I hope it's a ball of fun.

Austin Durry: It's gonna be a ball of fun. A soccer ball of fun.

Taryn Durry: Just to make that clear.

Jill Riley: Beach balls in the crowd tonight, although I feel like that might kind of hurt. All right. Well, thanks you guys for joining us on The Current's Morning Show. As long as we were just talking about the song, and sounds like it's kind of an exclusive listen here on The Current, let's hear "Told You So," from Durry on The Current.

Credits

Guests – Jen Winterfeldt, Austin Durry, Taryn Durry
Host – Jill Riley
Producer – Derrick Stevens
Digital Producer - Natalia Toledo

External Link

Minnesota United FC Kickoff Concert at First Avenue – Event Details