redpepper

Red Pepper formed in 1976 with Miles Hagstrom, Bill Scheel, and Miles’ father, Merril “Pops” Hagstrom. “Pops” had played saxophone with several Twin Cities bands in the 50s’ – 60s’. Inspired by his love of jazz and blues, Pops’ exposed us to a whole world of classic jazz standards. Our first regular gig was on the riverboat “Jubilee”, which docked in Stillwater. We soon realized that to snare more gigs, we would need to expand our songbook to include a wider variety of music (rock, country, and even a few polka tunes!). We also added a drummer, Marvin “Sonny” Henry. Red Pepper was truly a band for all seasons. As the years rolled by, we played everywhere from high society balls to the back of hay wagons out in the country, coffee shops, restaurants, weddings and even a couple funerals, Red Pepper provided a musical backdrop for just about any occasion. Other members were added over the years, including Diane Richardson, Bob Belton, Scott Schell, Anita McGough, Anthony (Tony the Tie) Zink, Lance Olson and Red Pepper’s long time bassist Charlie Orme.