Ok, now listen up. I aint no damn historian, and Im gonna leave alot out, but this is a simplified account of who Peppertree is and were. Now Im not in the band, so I cant say for sure, but I believe the first incarnation of Peppertree was a grooup put together for a Homecoming Day sketch at South Tama High School in 1992. It was basically a live parody of the Nirvana Smells like Teen Spirit video. Ill be damned if I missed that one, so I cant say much more, though Im sure a videotape exists of it. Then those dudes formed a band. Not sure of the original lineup, but it came to consist of Paul Hala on guitar and vocals, Brian Cooper on Drums, Jeremiah Murphy on Bass , Clyde Purk on lead guitar, and the always present Jason Darter (who I think originally intended on playing trumpet, but came to be more of a "manager"). So Jason, Paul, and Brian were Sophmores and Clyde and Jeremiah were freshmen.

So skip ahead a bit. The next three years, they came out in the true alternative grunge style and played several shows consisting mostly of covers (bands like Pearl Jam, Hendrix, Nirvana, and even Radiohead). Not to make light of, however, their attempt at writing their own material which did make appearances at these shows. I cant speak for actual dates, but I believe they played three shows in South Tama's Little Theatre ( One at an AFS celebration concert, One with faculty members in the band ED at which Art teacher and Peppertree sponsor Terry Masters haulted the performance mid-show due to use of profanity hahahahahahahahahahaaha). Then there were other shows like one at the St Patrick's parish Center, One right before Christmas Break in the School Hallway in 1994(where they played mostly Christmas and original tunes).

Peppertree also recorded a couple demo tapes of their original songs. Several tracks were recorded on a borrowed High School Tascam 4 track machine in Paul's Basement and several in the Band room at the High School with the help of Paul's brother Doug. But the highest quality tracks were recorded to DAT at a recording studio somewhere in Iowa (dont ask me where...I told you I aint no damn historian). The resulting tracks are included on this site. The mp3s are taken from my analog tape of the recordings (but lets all get on those guys' case to get those DAT tapes onto cd. )

Eventually Peppertree began circling the central Iowa bar band circut playing their alterna-pop covers. They seemed to tire of the medium , however, as they began incorporating more blues and then funk into their set lists. This has, the past couple years, resulted in the addition of a 3 piece horn section, Paul playing keyboards, a rotaing staff of lead singers that has included Clyde and some girl and some other guy I dont know. Oh yeah, and this new incarnation (though the 4 original members are still there) is called Bohemian Soul Tribe - which has a web site of it's own.

This is an incomplete history, and it leaves essential details like Travis Mullen, Brian's Basement, and the drugs of choice, which I had nothing to do with.

I guess this website is dedicated to the continued hope of production of original tunes (B.S.T. does have some new funkish songs) by the members of the former Peppertree. The covers are great guys, but the original shit is where it's at.

- Jim Campbell, owner of ticket #1 to the first 3 Peppertree shows