Jake Luppen of the Twin Cities indie-rock band Hippo Campus has announced publicly that he has a brain tumor. The news came with details of his upcoming medical treatment and a final Hippo Campus show before he’s “on my ass for a few months.”

In a detailed Substack post, Luppen shared on Wednesday that a routine scan over the summer showed growth in a lesion on his brain that was originally discovered about seven years ago. Luppen’s craniotomy procedure at Mayo Clinic in Rochester to remove the lesion is scheduled for Nov. 6.

“My neurologist and neurosurgeon at Mayo determined that the best route to recovery would require a craniotomy to remove the lesion, as its critical location renders the option for a biopsy to be too dangerous,” he writes. “This kind of open brain surgery lasts for about six hours and requires that I’m awake so that they can safely access what they believe is a stage two glioma (slow growing, low grade brain tumor). They’ll remove as much of the lesion as possible and then send it off for testing. Once we know what it is, we’ll know how to treat it.”

He acknowledges that it “might be a second” before he’s back in performing shape, but the band has scheduled one more show to take place at Turf Club in St. Paul on Monday, Oct. 19.

On Thursday, another member of Hippo Campus followed up on Substack in a post titled “Jake has a brain tumor,” and subtitled “No its not in his hippocampus.” It reflects on his bandmates’ learning of the news in July and processing what it means for their friend and collaborator.

Earlier this year, Hippo Campus helped organize and lead a star-studded benefit show called I.C.E. Out! at First Avenue to raise mutual aid for families impacted by ICE operations in the Twin Cities over the winter. Hosted by Twin Cities United Performers, the concert included appearances by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, Craig Finn, Amelia Meath of Sylvan Esso, and many others. In the fall of 2025, Luppen married fellow local musician Raffaella.

In the second Hippo Campus Substack post, the writer speaks of the incredibly loving people who are surrounding Luppen at this time, and reflects on his recent creative work.

“When I listen to the new music, I can’t help but cry,” it reads near the end of the post. “It’s not particularly sad, or fatalistic. It’s resolved. I hear you looking at your situation and taking it in stride. I hear reverence and humor, and you make it look easy to go through something like this. I’m proud of what we’ve made; I’m impossibly satisfied with it. But more so I’m proud of you. Proud and scared.”