The Happy Dapples is an eclectic group of musicians from Fort Collins that play Gypsy Swing. This Saturday they celebrated their craft beer release of Hoppy Dopple with Equinox Brewing in Fort Collins.
The beer has been on tap at Equinox since November of 2016. Oskar Arevalo, singer and guitar player of the Dapples, had an interest in brewing the beer. He was a chef at Fish restaurant in Fort Collins where he constructed food-beer pairing dinners. He wanted to merge his culinary and musical talents. He initiated a music-beer pairing for his band. He selected the hops with the help from Equinox brewers and The Hoppy Dopple Lager was born. It was designed to be a low ABV, easy drinking beer, that you could enjoy more than one of.
The Happy Dapples bring an all-embracing mix of swing, jazz, and fusion. The music they perform is built for moving, tapping, and dancing. There are dueling guitars that vary in art form from classical finger style to a jazz swing that transforms the listener to a speakeasy in the 20’s with a distinctly modern flair.
The Happy Dapples are reinventing jazz in a modern way and have labeled it Gypsy Swing. Gypsy Swing has been alive for over eighty years. The birth of Jazz was almost ten years later. Gypsy Swing was popular in the 1930’s in France and the emersion of American Jazz took the genre in a new direction, Gypsy Jazz. This band impressively aims to revive the genre with the modern influences in play, they are birthing a new form of Gypsy Swing Jazz. They have strong music roots in old school jazz, Tom Waits, and metal. It is all derived in fun and the Dapples want you to enjoy listening to their music as music as they enjoy creating it.
Band members include Oskar Arevalo, Kimeon Young, Dillon Knowlton and Adam Nobody. The members of the Dapples have been playing music collectively over ten years, although the band is in their freshman stages. Oskar, Kimeon and Dillon performed with two guitars and a drum set then discovered the sound they were seeking needed a bassist. They added Adam and the sound they were seeking was born.
Although there are no formal plans for an album, the band is constantly creating new music. They rehearse at Higher Ground Rehearsal Studio in Fort Collins and have found management support there. Band member Oskar Arevalo is a guitar teacher at the Music District in Fort Collins.
To hear this live session:
