The Matador Pep Band made its debut at the Matadome Saturday, pumping up fans attending the men’s basketball game against Long Beach State.
The newly reassembled pep band, which had been missing since CSUN’s football program was dismantled in 2001, was led by senior music industry studies major Brian Mellblom, who has been working since October to get the band off the ground. The band had its first rehearsal in January and Mellblom, who is both the manager and director of the band, recruited members mostly by word-of-mouth and through Facebook, he said.
Mellblom played guitar at Saturday’s game, along with 10 other members who played eight different instruments. He said his goal is to get at least 15 people to join the band and to flesh out the brass section further.
“I look forward to more people jumping on board, as some of my friends have already said they would,” Mellblom said. “Others simply weren’t there on Saturday due to prior commitments, but are available this coming week and beyond. I think more people will come as the season progresses.”
Mellblom said the band is open to anyone and members do not have to be a music major.
The best part of being in the pep band is “just starting fresh and being a part of something new, yet traditional,” Mellblom said. “We just want to have a good time and support our team.”
Lindsey Hench, a freshman music therapy major who plays trumpet in the band agrees that even non-music majors can be included in the band and should get involved.
“Hopefully there will be more people involved and more people will join it,” Hench said. “I think it’s good to get more students involved in the games.”
“It was actually really cool,” she said of the pep band’s premiere performance. “There was a lot of music we played that was pretty much all different.”
The pep band opened with “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones and went on to play songs including “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin, “Tequila” by the Champs, “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” by Steam. The band also accompanied various crowd cheers.
The band played before the game, during some breaks, at half time and with just under four minutes left in the game, they led the CSUN cheerleaders in “Rock and Roll Part II” by Gary Glitter, more commonly known as “The Hey Song.”
Kevin Ackerman, a freshman graphic design major, attended the game and enjoyed the pep band’s performance.
“It was sweet,” Ackerman said. “I liked the band a lot. I liked it when they played pump-up songs and the crowd sang along with them.”
Erin Kiser, assistant athletics director/marketing and promotions, helped bring the Matador Pep Band together and said the band did a good job.
“I thought they did phenomenal tonight,” Kiser said. “I thought they added an amazing element to the game and to the atmosphere of really putting on a phenomenal home event.”
“We’ve always gotten feedback that the pep band is a big part of what’s been missing from the Matadome and our home game,” Kiser said. “Being able to give this to them and really seeing how positively they’ve responded is very exciting.”
The pep band plans to play at all men’s and women’s basketball home games through the end of the season. The pep band has also been asked by men’s volleyball to play at their games.
Anyone interested in joining the pep band should contact Brian Mellblom at brian.mellblom.26@csun.edu or Thomas Gilbert at thomas.gilbert.82@csun.edu or join the official Facebook group “CSUN Pep Band.”
