Pianist/composer Chris Opperman grew up in New Jersey and attended Berklee. While at Berklee, Opperman took a chance and contacted Mike Keneally to see if Keneally would be willing to produce the album he was putting together with his band from school, Chris Opperman & the Random Factor. The answer was yes, and in April of 1998 they recorded Oppy Music, Vol. 1: Purple Crayon for Opperman's own Purple Cow label. The album featured a mixture of pop/rock stylings and some of Oppy's more challenging, thoroughly composed, and sometimes dazzling instrumentals.