by Karina Gutierrez 

From private events to the public eye, Ricky Casioce & The Co-Pilots bend the rules and combine genres in this up and coming exclusively instrumental band.

Before launching off, Ricky Casioce & The Co-Pilots formed in 2016 with each member coming from different cities in the same community. They knew that when the band began that it was going to be more than just a hobby.

The five member band is made up of Ricky Casioce (saxophone), Christian Muglia (guitar), Josh Dunn (drummer), Hugo Sanchez (bass) and Anthony Stigglers (piano).

The band is more likely to be seen at private affairs like weddings and even corporate parties. As it happens, they make an impression at these events because they play so many genres. Nonetheless, this great band is making even greater moves.

“We’re slowly approaching and want to start targeting jazz festivals that have big crowds,” said Casioce, the band’s frontman. “We want to reach anyone who’d enjoy our music anywhere we go to perform.”

The band is excited to take the jazz world by storm with their plans to continue to be an instrumental group throughout their entire musical journey, with the occasional singer. Although they do not plan to stay in one genre forever, the band is excited to share their melodies with the public.

“We have such a dynamic sound and want to bring it to everyone’s ears.” said Sanchez, the bass player.

Although the group has been tucked away from the limelight, wherever the group plays they draw in a lot of attention from the community for their charasma. They tend to emulate the sweet and smooth music of their favorite genres when they harmonize together.

“I believe that their ability to click as a an ensemble was so unique to me about this group,” said Anthony Tapia, a Riverside City College student and local.“ It’s not every day that you are surrounded by people who are so talented at their craft yet so humble.”

As for the future, the band has a positive outlook on their upcoming projects. Collectively, the band members want to continue to work on their original material, something that they had put off in the past but are now getting back into. They plan to release the original music with the hopes of presenting tunes that best represent them and their diverse eclectic sound.  

According to Casioce, the band plans to be very busy this coming year, with more festivals and shows on their schedule. If all goes well, the group will be releasing a video cover by the end of December.

With a blossoming music career their lives tend to get a hectic, even recently playing at a festival in Los Angeles unexpectedly garnering media coverage. Despite the surprises, the local musicians take it day by day and continue to focus on their desires to reach greater heights and ultimately just have fun constantly rehearsing.

The group’s rehearsals are a special event were they can come together at the end of the day and do what they love most with the people that they respect playing alongside them.

“It was the places I wanted and want to play at that drove me to pull together some of my best friends and greatest musicians I know,” Casioce said. “I wanted to form a band that had a good attitude and was great at their craft to bring along the journey with me.”

In 2019, although the group will start to play bigger venues they can still be hired for weddings.

Soon we will be seeing Ricky Casiose & The Co-Pilots spreading their infectious sound at bigger venues with bigger crowds but maybe they could be playing in your backyard next.