When asked what defines Seattle, many would say grunge music, craft coffee, or Big Tech. But thousands of soccer fans arriving for the World Cup this summer will be greeted by another unique part of the host city: Seattle Sounders’ Sound Wave, the only official, club-sponsored pep band in all of Major League Soccer.
The 45-person brass and percussion band is made up of music educators and jazz performers who are paid employees of the Sounders. The spirited band will be prominently featured at several official FIFA World Cup events as an expression of Seattle’s distinctive soccer fandom.
“I'm hoping that Sound Wave can add a connection back to the local Seattle soccer scene,” said Skylar Johnson, co-director of Sound Wave. “I'm hoping that we can bring the Seattle Sounders into this celebration of soccer at a global scale.”
Heartbeat of the Sounders
In 2007, when comedian Drew Carey announced his minority investment in the Sounders, the Price is Right host and brass fan made it clear that his ownership was contingent on establishing a pep band for the team.
Sound Wave has performed at every Sounders home game since 2008, but initially, Carey’s idea was greeted with skepticism from fans.
Unlike American football and basketball, pep and marching bands are not a staple of soccer culture. Some soccer teams, like Arsenal FC, feature military bands that perform patriotic repertoire but it is decidedly rare to find a groovy brass and percussion band blaring Nirvana’s “Come as You Are” on the pitch.
“I know the intent was to stand out and do something truly different from other organizations around the U.S. and the world,” said Tyler Johnson, Seattle Sounders’ Manager of Game Presentation, in an email. “Sound Wave operated (and still does) as a unique expression of the Sounders brand, one that is fun, engaging, and fan-focused.”
Tyler Johnson and Skylar Johnson are unrelated.
Sound Wave has trumpets, mellophones, trombones, baritone horns, tubas, and a drum line. They perform in-house arrangements of rock, pop, funk, Latin and jazz tunes and emphasize songs written or performed by Seattle artists.
Sound Wave’s Skylar Johnson said highlighting Seattle’s rich musical history is important to the group, especially during this global event.
“If we're going to play a song, we will do it in the style of a cover by a local band, rather than the original,” Johnson said. “We play ‘Kick Out the Jams,’ which was an MC Five song originally, but we do it in the style of the Presidents of the United States of America's cover, since they're local legends.”
Bringing jazz to the pitch
Sound Wave also performs jazzier repertoire with flavor and authenticity. They are part of a legacy of jazz-informed pep bands in Seattle sports, and many of the band members are bonafide jazz performers and educators.
For a brief moment in the 1970s, the Seattle SuperSonics had a Dixieland-style pep band led by music educator Ken Noreen, and in the mid-'80s, a trumpet player named Roy Cummings led a 25-member jazz band that rallied for Seattle Seahawks games.
Sound Wave first trumpeter Brad Smith was in Cummings’ Seahawks band and has played with Sound Wave for the last 15 years. A band teacher and pipe fitter by trade, Smith also toured with R&B icon Ray Charles in the ‘90s.
"It's just a lot of fun, and you know, you get paid to go to soccer games too," Smith said.
Sound Wave is known for its dance choreography and marching during soccer matches. Like all American pep bands, Sound Wave is deeply influenced by New Orleans-style street bands, lively marching brass and drum groups that area major basis for jazz as well.
Sound Wave performs songs by Trombone Shorty and Rebirth Brass Band, modern artists in this pre-jazz tradition.
“Those songs are really great for us, because they let us showcase our soloists,” Skylar Johnson said. “We have some very talented improvisational soloists, including Dan Baker.”
Baker, a trombonist, is also the band instructor at Shorewood High School in Shoreline, Washington. He just returned from New York City, where he led the Shorewood High School Jazz Band as they competed in the prestigious Essentially Ellington High School Band Competition.
Baker is not the only jazz educator in Sound Wave. Ashley Swanson is a band director at Bethel High School in Spanaway, Washington, where she is developing a unique jazz curriculum for her students.
“I've developed a breakdown technique for high schoolers that just makes it really easy to work on soloing and digest it a little bit more quickly,” Swanson said.
The big gig
An avid Sounders fan since childhood, Swanson set her sights on joining Sound Wave after seeing them perform for the first time when she was 8-years-old. She never thought joining the band last year would lead her to a World Cup.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for sure,” Swanson said.
Sound Wave will bring their dynamic brass, forceful drumline, and hometown pride to the World Cup Kickoff parade in Tacoma on June 12, as well as three fan events at Pier 62 in Seattle on June 18, 20, and 25.
“I'm very excited for hyping up the crowd,” Swanson said. “One of my favorite parts about performing is ‘audience manipulation.’ That's like our whole job: getting to excite people through music.”
In a typical season, Sound Wave has a variety of game-day traditions to create that hype, including a pre-game performance on the northwest plaza outside of Seattle’s World Cup stadium (usually called Lumen Field). They also perform the “Sounders Theme” after every goal Seattle scores and usually perform at halftime.
This is not a standard Sounders season. Many of the band’s routines have been adapted or halted entirely this year as Lumen Field was transformed into a World Cup stadium. For instance, the band has been asked not to stand on the special grass FIFA had installed for the tournament.
“We used to play for the Sounders running out of the tunnel before every game, but now we can't go down because we’d have to stand on the grass,” said Smith.
But Sound Wave’s members are happy to change up their routine for the tournament, as they plan to make noise for the still-emerging U.S. soccer scene.
“Bringing the World Cup here is an amazing chance to showcase to everyone what soccer in the United States is, and what it continues to grow into, and what it can really be,” said Johnson. “And how it can hang with any other soccer culture in the world.”
