Tunes at the Tournament

Pep Band: Interview with Colin Wreath

When the KU Men’s Basketball team headed to the championship, it wasn’t just an accomplish for our community, but for the KU Pep Band as well. The Pep Band is the heart and soul of basketball excitement, and this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the musicians as well. We talked with Colin Wreath, who played trombone with the Pep Band and is now an engineer.

How long did you play with the pep band?

“I played in the men’s basketball band every year that I was a student at KU, which was fall of 2017 through spring of 2022.”

What’s an average day like in KU Pep Band for you?

“During the season, the men’s basketball band isn’t that much of a time commitment. Every Thursday night during the season we would meet in Murphy Hall for a two-hour rehearsal to learn new songs or clean things up on old favorites before the next game. Game days were always exciting, though. It wasn’t always easy coordinating schoolwork on game days, especially if there were exams coming up, but that never kept me from getting to the fieldhouse an hour before tipoff like we were supposed to.

We always start with the same song, “Sounds of Summer”, right when the clock counting down to tipoff hits 45:00. From there, we just tried to play loud and bring as much energy to Allen Fieldhouse as we could. I’ve always been a huge basketball fan so I would have been at the games even if I wasn’t in the pep band, but being a part of it just made everything way more special.”

What was an average day like in KU Pep Band during the tournament?

“Travelling with the team for March Madness was one of my favorite experiences I had as a student. We got to travel to cool cities and had plenty of free time to explore and do some sightseeing before we had to be anywhere. On a normal game day, the Alumni Association always holds pep rallies near the arena in whatever city we’re in, so we always got to be a part of those pep rallies and get our fans excited before the game.

I was lucky enough to have gone to both the final four this year and the final four in 2018 as a freshman. The trips for the final four were much busier, with way more pep rallies and events that the band needed to be at. It was always fun to see KU fans from all over the country, no matter how far we were from Lawrence.”

What was the most surprising part of the process?

“The biggest shock for me when I started travelling with the band my freshman year was just how close and personal the band got during the tournament. We flew to these cities on the same plane as the team, we were put up in hotels close to the arena, played at all these huge pep rallies, and were just a few feet from the action during the games.”

What’s something you and other musicians were able to take away from this experience?

“One of my biggest takeaways from all the travelling I have been able to do through the School of Music is just how many opportunities there are for young musicians if they just stick with it. I wasn’t even a music major and I was able to travel all over the world through the School of Music. I know so many people, who gave up their instrument after high school, that could have had the same opportunities I did. These are experiences I will never forget and would never have had if I had given up music.”

Advice you’d give to incoming students with the Pep Band?

“The best advice I could give to freshmen in KU athletic bands this year would be just to do as much as you can. I was always stressed out during tournament travel because of schoolwork, but it was worth it every single time. If you’re hesitant about joining basketball band or volleyball band, I would say just go for it. If it really does become more of a burden than you can take on, then at least you tried and it didn’t work out, but I think a lot more people regret not joining these pep bands than people who regret joining them.”