The Peppas at the Final Four in Houston, Tex.
On the heels of an outpouring of national attention during the NCAA Tournament and a victory at The Battle of the Bands at the Final Four, The Peppas, VCU’s pep band, will release a CD in the coming weeks. It will be the band’s first album in about 10 years.
Band director Ryan Kopasci, has been overseeing the project. He believes that in recent years the band has really hit its stride, and that made this the perfect time for an album.
“We decided now because it’s been about three years since I took over the band 100 percent, and we’ve got a little different music, a little different talent level,” Kopasci said. “We had some recent success at The Battle of the Bands. We’ve got some kids that will be seniors this year who have been with this for a while, and we’ve got some alumni that play with the band that have put so much into this to get us moving in the right direction. We felt like this would be a legacy-leaver for those guys.”
VCU fans can expect many of their favorite tunes from basketball season, including, The Hey Song, War, Do What You Wanna, Crazy, It’s All Over and more. Although the album will carry a few VCU-specific tracks, Kopasci hopes non-Ram fans enjoy it as well.
The band laid down the majority of the album months ago at Mills Godwin High School. Recently, Kopasci and the band have been fine tuning the tracks, including overdubs and the rerecording of some parts, in the home studio of an alumni drummer.
Kopasci says the album will also include some narrations, which will provide insight into the band’s history, as well as give thanks.
“There are a lot of people that helped us get here, and we want to make sure we give proper credit where it’s due,” he said.
The band hopes to complete the album in time for the start of basketball season. The band can’t legally sell the album because none of the music is original work, so the methods of distribution have not been finalized.
“We’re just a big cover band,” Kopasci joked.
The details will be worked out in the coming weeks. The CDs might be gifted to donors. They might be made available to the public. Several options will be considered. No matter what is decided, it won’t bother Kopasci.
“I have not given one ounce of thought to how we’re going to do that,” Kopasci said. “If we just give them away, I’m fine with that.”
