Wildcat Marching Band Going Retro With New Uniforms
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 4, 2015) — Same great big blue sound, all new (and old) style. When the University of Kentucky's Wildcat Marching Band takes the field at the UK football game this Saturday, Sept. 5, Big Blue Nation will see around 250 of the university's best musicians in new band uniforms.
With the interest surrounding UK's renovation of Commonwealth Stadium and the school's sesquicentennial celebration, Director of UK Athletics Bands Scott-Lee Atchison decided the 2015 season was an opportune time for a new look for Wildcat Marching Band.
"We thought it would be a good time to make the change. With all of the changes with UK Athletics and the new stadium, we thought it would be a good time to do a new uniform," Atchison said. "Also, being the 150th anniversary we thought it would be good to pay homage to our history in the design of the uniform."
The look of the uniform is described as a "West Point" style, or the "cadet" uniform (i.e. West Point Cadets). UK's band wore something fairly similar around 1930. Since most college bands (including UK) have military roots, Atchison and the band chose to pay tribute to that in their design with the intent to create a timeless look while celebrating the university's 150th anniversary. The new uniforms were created by DeMoulin, which was given the direction to create a uniform in blue and white with black pants. Along with the military look, the UK Color Guard will perform for one of the games with special flags that have the sesquicentennial logo on them in recognition of the anniversary.
In addition, to the new uniforms there will be several other changes fans will notice during the 2015 football season.
"This year we have made a number of changes and enhancements to pregame. The pregame will start off with a 'Stadium Salute,' where we will play short snippets of our fight songs ('Kentucky, Fight!' and 'On, On, U of K') to each corner of the stadium," Atchison said.
The band will also incorporate a popular old song into pregame. "We will be ending pregame with a great arrangement that was recently written for us of Bill Monroe's 'Blue Moon of Kentucky.' 'Blue Moon' has been a request by a number of fans, and we are excited to be able to incorporate it into our pregame."
In addition, the band will do a traditional ending to halftime shows where members will build the UK Logo on the field and then march it off the field.
Beyond performing UK's beloved school songs, the Wildcat Marching Band will stage performances of several pop culture favorites, including music from the Foo Fighters and the Backstreet Boys, as well as music from movie classics like "Back to the Future," currently celebrating its 30th anniversary, and the James Bond films (the newest movie will release this November) in their "Throwback Thursday" program for the UK vs Auburn University game on Oct. 15. The band will take their James Bond tribute to the Bands of America Grand National Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, the following month.
The band will also stage an alumni band show and patriotic show for this season's High School Band Day.
Wildcat Marching Band is part of the UK Bands program at the UK School of Music at the UK College of Fine Arts. The school has garnered a national reputation for high-caliber education in opera, choral and instrumental music performance, as well as music education, composition, and theory and music history.
MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu