If you have ever been to the Contented Cow in downtown Northfield, there is a good chance that you have heard the work of Group Project MN, a group of St. Olaf student DJs who formed with the goal of bringing house music to the Hill.
It all started last year when group member Tyler Gunderson ’25 decided to bring his deck setup into his pod. With his podmates Eric Campbell ’25 and Peter Wilson ’25, they decided to learn how to DJ just for fun, not taking it very seriously at first. The group began to DJ pretty consistently for the next few months, pulling in members Henrik “Buzz” Lange ’26 and Dylan Arnold ’25, both teammates with Tyler on the St. Olaf Track and Field team. By the end of last year, other track team members — Will Lapinski ’27, Jesse Olson ’27, and Ben Seaton ’27 — had joined Group Project, finalizing the current lineup.
While every member has their own special style, Group Project focuses on taking sounds that they enjoy and reframing them for a crowd of liberal arts students. Their objective has always been true to the music they play. They want to bring a fresh take to the community, using the beats and grooves from music they listen to in their dorms to make something for everyone to sing along with.
“There is so much music that is not being played right now,” Gunderson said. “When I played my first gig, I only played radio tracks, because that is all I could get away with, but now Group Project has more credibility and so people might not know what song I am playing, but they know it’s going to be good.”
The goal of building credibility has been driving the Group Project brand since the beginning. They hope that they can play not only what is popular, but also share the songs that they enjoy, and that people will walk away loving it as much as they do.
After playing at house parties, around campus, businesses downtown, and at their home base, the Cow, the group has started to see their audience grow.
“It’s been pretty cool, since it started mostly with just friends coming along,” Olson said. “The popularity has grown to a group of Oles, Carls, and some Northfield residents.”
Starting from just a few friends to a crowd of people they don’t always recognize, Group Project finds it fun to see a bunch of communities coming together to watch and support them. This support means a lot to the group, as they have been struggling with trying to be taken seriously by some businesses.
Gunderson said that the group “[wants] to be looked at less like a group of college kids, and more like a group of DJs that are very serious about what they are doing.”
In a few months, Gunderson, Campbell, Wilson, and Arnold will be graduating from St. Olaf, but they will leave the group in the capable hands of the other members. Even though some of them plan on continuing to DJ after they leave, the group wants to stay focused over the next few months and continue to grow the brand and prepare it for this big transition.
What started as something fun for friends has turned into a strong group of DJs who are all passionate about what they do, supporting each other as they continue to grow.
“It is ultimately about the group,” Gunderson said. “Nothing will top the experiences they have as a group, forming personal connections in the group and across the campus.”
To stay up to date with Group Project MN and upcoming gigs they will have, you can find them on Instagram @groupproject.mn. Stay tuned for Cowchella, a three-day event in April, where Group Project will show off the work of a bunch of DJs and have a lot of fun!
