Poppin’ with POPPLE
Who says that Twitter is just a bunch of self-absorbed celebrities talking about what they had for breakfast? After being introduced to Popple through the Twitter Universe, we got to meet Dan and Kyle at the recent Religious Education Congress. They’re two really great guys, doing amazing things for the Kingdom of God. (Except they have this weird thing for Chocolate milk…) Here’s how a recent conversation with them went. Enjoy!
How did you come up with the name Popple?
We actually started out by making fun of the name Popple. While doing college ministry we went camping with some friends on an island in the middle of Lake Michigan. On the far side of that island is a camp site named “Popple.” It took us a number of hours to hike out to Popple and when we arrived we found a place in which there was no potable water, the water that was there was full of leaches and the camp site was entirely engulfed in a forest of waist high Poison Ivy. The plagues that afflicted the Popple campsite were almost Old Testament-bad. We ended up making fun of the name Popple so much that it stuck and when we were voting on a band name some months later, Popple kept rearing it’s ugly head and ultimately, we became “Popple.”
Haha, I love the phrase “The plagues that afflicted the Popple campsite.”
I am looking forward to April 23rd next year…Why chocolate milk?
Chocolate Milk has been overlooked for decades. We feel like it needs more respect. Sure, YooHoo and Nestle tried to raise Chocolate Milk’s profile a bit, but we still don’t see Chocolate Milk being served at official dinners for heads of state when they visit our country, we don’t have any well defined Chocolate Milk growing regions or appellations like you see with California or Washington State wines. We dream of a day when Chocolate Milk is considered an integral part of fine dining. We also own several dairy farms and we import cocoa beans on the side (shhh, conflict of interest).
I agree completely. Serve it hot, serve it cold…it’s sweet nectar from the heavens.
What/who are your inspirations for your music?
We have pretty varied musical tastes. Kyle likes a lot of more rock and I tend towards more acoustically driven songwriters. I’m a big fan of Richie Havens, Tom Petty, The Smiths, Warren Zevon, Fleet Foxes and lately Bossa Nova/Samba music. Kyle likes bands more along the lines of Muse, Famly Force 5, Foo Fighters and some 90s standbys like Alice in Chains. Beyond that we both have grown a real appreciation for some of the Christian music that is coming out lately, Gungor, Matt Maher, Brandon Heath and Tenth Avenue North.
How long have you been writing / playing music, individually and together?
We’ve each been playing guitar and writing for about 13 years and we both started playing ukulele about five years ago. We started Popple about six years ago and Popple has been full time for about three and a half years.
How does Popple represent peace and love?
Popple’s mission is to spread the Catholic faith and that faith is built upon a foundation of loving one another and in turn, living peacefully with one another. There is a lot of comedy in life, and there is a lot of comedy in our faith, Popple’s mission is to get people laughing and to realize that life, faith, peace and love are joyful things.
What is your favorite PAL Campaign t-shirt design?
Kyle’s favorite seems to be the “Pray together, Stay together” shirt (I think because this week his first child was born!) my favorite is the “Dona Nobis Pachem” shirt because I love the language of the Mass, the language of our faith and the plea/prayer for God to grant us peace.
What a beautiful explanation 
Given that the NBA playoffs are well underway, do you have a rooting interest in any particular team?
We’re glad you asked. We’re actually both avid WNBA fans and have officially decided to ignore and even bite our thumbs (Shakespearian style) at the NBA. So yes, we’re particularly excited to see what Tammy Sutton-Brown has in store for the Indianapolis Fever this season. In a related note, we both rebuke the Minneapolis Mystics.
Maybe the Clippers would have a lot more success if they changed their name to the Los Angeles Mystics.
What has been your most memorable moment since entering this ministry?
It might be the moment the people at World Youth Day Australia asked to use one of our songs for a Promo DVD which would go out to all of the English speaking attendants of WYD2008. We were honored! However, we soon found out that the song they wanted from us had nothing whatsoever to do with our faith, it was an acoustic Hip-Hop song kyle wrote so we could cleverly incorporate the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” rap into our set – they seemed to just really like the beat.
POPPLE is an amazing group of faith and we’re glad to have finished this interview. You can see POPPLE in action on their website www.popple.us
