Martha Greco
Editor-in-Chief
And the crowd goes wild. Ready to bring enthusiasm to the stands, energy to the court, and most importantly create a game-time feel, the pep band packs the bleachers. Known as the Legion of Demons, the band is led by R.J. Reynolds High School teacher Daniel Campbell and frequently attends basketball games.
“Pep band is pretty much a combination of all wind players and someone playing on the drum set,” Campbell said.
The pep band serves as the perfect blend for students with an interest in playing music and attending sporting games.
“I like the songs and also like watching the basketball games,” sophomore trumpet player Aterion Taylor said.
What makes the pep band different from the typical marching band is the season, sporting events attended, and movement during their performances.
“The difference is while we’re on the football field, we’re actively moving, on the field marching,” Campbell said. “While we’re in the stands in the basketball team, it’s a little more laid back. It’s not as pressured and centers more around having fun.”
While the pep band carries the idea of being less pressured and more fun, they still aim to energize the crowd and players.
“Typically [we] just try to go to any basketball games and we’ve done a volleyball game before where we just go in, you try to just like the name says, try to pep it up,” Campbell said.
Last year, the pep band attended the RJR Women’s Soccer game against Glenn, bringing support and enthusiasm that carried the demons to victory.
“They just really brought great energy to the field and motivated us and made us feel supported,” senior soccer player Payton Britt said.
However, with fast-paced games such as basketball comes the challenge of timing their songs to fit the game-time play.
“We try to condense our songs because, during the basketball season and the basketball games, their timeouts are pretty short, only 30 seconds or so,” Campbell said. “So we try to condense all of our songs and try to make it more feasible for us to play during it.”
While the pep band can usually be spotted performing at RJR sporting events, they also participate in competitions of their own.
“Last year, we went to a competition up in Virginia,” Campbell said. “We placed fifth or six, but there were a bunch of guys over there. We did another one last year; it was here in town, and we came back with first place.”
Although basketball season is coming to a close, you can always catch the demons humming the pep band’s catchy tunes around campus, even outside of Bryson Gym.