Davids Drum Corps Blog

2011: Here we go again

2011-01-09T23:02:00.000Z

Well it took a little bit of thinking about after the 2010 season, but there were two reasons I decided I wanted to be a part of the Kidsgrove Scouts again this year a) I hadn't done a complete season (including the winter) and so that was a new set of challenges and there is always more to learn (remember my hands hadn't touched sticks for around 8 years until last April) and b) we are going back to DCA in 2012 and playing in front of those audiences and having that experience is something that I want again - its kind of like a drug I guess.

So here we go, I am a part of the 2011 Drumline (thanks to James and the boys for having me back!!!) and rehearsals have started back in November after the Banquet. I've offered to keep a blog of the entire season, right through the winter and into the summer for anyone who's interested in reading where I'll hopefully give a pretty honest account of what we (and me) are going through and hopefully some sneak peaks of the Corps as we go through the year...

One last Show.... Into Europe we go!!!!

2010-10-30T22:59:00.000+01:00

Well after a crazy few months, here it was. The last weekend of the 2010 Drum Corps season. The end of a season that start in April for me, after thinking I would never set foot on a drum corps field again. We were 6th Place in DCA, DCA - International World Champions, DCUK Champions and now for Europe!!!

I headed to Holland on Friday 24th September due to work commitments. This was a day later than the rest of the corps but at least I had the chance to travel on the Eurotunnel and take my 15 year car across the continent (and it made it in none piece)!!!!!

After meeting up with another 'Kidsgrove car; in Calais we headed to the town of Opoeteran in Belgium where we were housing for the European Championships. It was only around a 45 minute drive to the Kerkrade stadium in Holland. Everything was going well until we reached Opoeteran and then trying to find our housing site ( affectionately nicknamed Staalag 17 after a couple of days of being there). Robert and I attempted to communicate the fact that we were lost to an old guy in a clothing shop in the town but to be honest I think even our typical 'overseas English' wasn't working (you know the one, speaking really slowly, louder than normal and then upwardly inflecting the end of ever sentence whilst still speaking entirely in English - Can't understand why people in other countries can't understand us!!!). Anyway we eventually found it and then found our rehearsal site and off we went. Rehearsal was good and everyone was in good spirits. We had the floodlights of the football club and so we could rehearse later on the Friday evening which was fun, apart from the things that were biting (insects that is - not the Belgium people!). We added a new ending to the show, i.e. the Corps running off away from the scene of the Heist and did our final full rehearsal run of the year - quite sad really to be doing that. Then back to Staalag for some food (thanks to Chris, Wendy and all of the team again) and a little continental liquid refreshment (it would have been rude not to sample the local offering). I think the shopkeeper in the local 'Spar' shop was a bit overwhelmed with us clearing out his shelves of 'pop'. Anyway a warm around the camp fire we had built (I guess we are Scouts afterall :o) and then to bed. Show Tomorrow!!!

Saturday morning started early with breakfast and then a brief visual rehearsal at the rehearsal site and off to the Stadium for warm ups and semi finals. We arrived at the stadium in plenty of time and set about doing our warm ups. We were performing at around 3pm (I think - that's the weird thing I noticed most about this year, particularly on show days and in America - I really had absolutely no concept of time, particularly during show days. It was actually really refreshing to have that feeling!) Anyway, we performed our semi finals show to a packed stadium, it seemed like everyone in Europe wanted to see not only us as the UK champions, but also to see what all the fuss had been about in the USA. The show was good and to be fair, the crowd went 'ape shit' - that might be a stoke phrase so apologies if it is, but it means they really loved it. We won semi finals (not for the first time in Kidsgrove History) but this really was ours to lose now. In somewhat of a break from tradition, we stayed at the venue in the afternoon, had some lunch (Subway as usual) and then got ready for the evening performance. We commandeered an area of the industrial park near to the stadium and blocked it off with the buses and this became our warm up area.

The drumline had a smaller area just up the road for our warm ups. Our final warm up was good and it was wierd, and eerie, that when we started there were lots of lines and corps around us warming up and one by one they disappeared to perform their finals show until in the end it was just us left... I've never had that experience before and so that was cool. Around 8:30 (I think) we moved off to go to the stadium and perform (obviously to our them tune now Superstition by Stevie Wonder - Tune!!!). Our finals performance was bang on, in terms of the snare line anyway, the best show we had performed by far and I think everyone else did OK but to be honest I was just overwhelmed by the whole thing...

Onto results and retreat, firstly we were given the honour of playing all the other corps onto the field for retreat then onto the results. I can't actually remember the captions, all I can remember is we won and shit that felt good - Very good!!!! We did a full marching repeat performance which was watched by a lot of people in the audience who stayed behind. The DCE trophy is possibly the biggest trophy ever seen and we carried this back to Opoeteran where I think most people had a couple of drinks of shandy to celebrate the success!!!

I've no idea what time that all ended and we got to bed, but I think Matt Williams and Tez's singing were still going on at around 3am on Sunday morning.... Next morning was a strange feeling, that was it, season over! Mission accomplished and Heist successful - We'd taken the silverwear that we wanted from the UK, USA and Europe. Job done. Travel back to England - I think we left Belgium at around 11am and arrived back in Stafford at 8:30 Sunday evening. What next? Work on Monday for a start, trying to explain to my first class of the day why their lecturer was bleary eyed and mentally and physically worn out after 6 months of the most satisfying punishment known to man!

Bring on the end of season Banquet in November and then 2011 although I wasn't sure what I would be doing in 2011 and whether my body (and brain) could take another round of Drum Corps or whether on that note I should finally hang up the sticks and shoes....

Epilogue:
I thought about summing up the year in 3 words and I came up with Dream, Success and Subway!!!!

I can no longer eat Subway after 2010 when we lived off their fine sandwiches in the UK, the US and Holland. Someone was offering subway freebie vouchers the other day and when he thrust one in front of me I couldn't help myself but I ask him politely to f*** off!!! Sorry dude!!!!

an ode to our song from the US & A...

Onto DCUK Finals..

2010-10-30T22:48:00.000+01:00

We returned from DCA on Tuesday 7th September and had one rehearsal weekend before we went to defend the DCUK title in Mansfield on Saturday 18th September.

The rehearsal on the 12th was COLD!!!! thats the main thing I can remember. Rehsearsal went OK but I think everyone was still in the clouds a little bit from the US trip.

We moved to Mansfield on Friday 17th September. Everyone was due to arrive at Walseby Scout camp (our base for the weekend) at around teatime and we were to rehearse that evening. One problem, the truck broke down on the M1 on the way to Walesby!!!! Please don't let this be an omen for the weekend!!! The time passed and it was becoming more apparent that there was no way the truck was going to get there in time for any rehearsal (more worryingly how was it going to get to Holland next weekend?!?!). So in true tradition, (the adults amongst us) we discussed the finer points of the show over a couple of cold ones in the bar! I think there were a lot of mental run through's done that evening... That was after the drums had done some cleaning (or at least we paid some of the Irish guys who were visiting and staying with us to clean our drum for us - Thank you again by the way!)

Saturday morning the truck was here (arrived later on Friday night) and we had a brief rehearsal in the morning before taking lunch, changing and moving the Mansfield town stadium for warm ups and the show. The drumlin found a nice car park and warmed up before we went on for the show. Our afternoon, prelims show was good, very good! It seemed to get the audience straight away and they loved it. We won semi finals by over a point from the Company and were well placed for the evening.

We stayed at the stadium for a little while and watched the juniors compete, and then headed back to the Walesby. After some food and a shower we changed and headed back for our finals show. It is true to say that our finals show was flat and not anywhere near the standard we wanted or expected to achieve. Had we blown it???

As the scores were announced and the captions were announced I think everyone started to get anxious. I believed the Company had overtaken us and taken the title and then the announcer stated the score for 2nd and 1st place as 81.85... I thought I'd heard it correctly, was it a tie? I was standing next to Nigel Morgan and remember asking him if it was a tie and had I heard it correctly. Suddenly I was transported back 14 years when I remember being in the stadium in Orlando and hearing the first ever tie for a DCI title... how ironic I thought... Oh well... Then he announced in 2nd place was the Company and we had won the UK title by virtue of winning the Overall Effect caption. Bugger me, We'd won!!!!!!!! What a bizzare feeling. After years of standing on the field and hearing how low down we'd come, or how we were fifth, or we'd achieved the lowest score in history (see the earlier posts if you don't know what I mean) we were British Drum Corps Champions!!!!! I know I said earlier about it not being about the winning etc etc.. but it did feel bloody good to win I have to admit.

Well job done! We headed back to Walseby after doing our repeat performance abd celebrated with a couple of cold ones and some wicked curry, courtesy of Big Dave in the pit - thanks mate!!!!!!

A bit of a lie in on Sunday morning and then back to normality - for a few days anyway until we do it all again for the European Championships in Holland!!!!

The rest of DCA

2010-10-30T22:38:00.000+01:00

Well its been ages since I updated this blog as the last few days in the USA on our DCA tour went by in a flash and before we knew it we were back in London and heading home. But hear were some of the highlights for completeness...

On Thursday 4th September we were back rehearsing after a day of lazing by the pool or at the water park, the former in my case. As usual it was nice an cool for the rehearsal (Not!) and we rehearsed at a stadium type venue a few minutes down the road from the School. At least this was on astro turf and so a little easier on the legs and knees but still scorching. We took some tea (one bus to Burger King and one to McDonalds - I was on the BK bus - shiiit!) but then when we got back it started to rain a little bit. The temperature dropped slightly and the rain cam for about 5 minutes - this was met with cheers as everyone started to cool off. This turned to despair about 20 minutes later when the sun came out, the heat rose and the moisture turned into sever humidity - Arrrgggghhhh!!! Anyway we continued and that evening from 8:30 was an open rehearsal and lots of people came over to watch us - loads of thanks to all those who did as that was a first for all of us! We packed up rehearsal at around 10 and headed back to the hotel for showers and a little liquid refreshment in the bar.

Friday was hot (again!) and we rehearsed at the School in the morning and headed over to take part in a show and tell with the Empire Statesmen at lunchtime. We performed for each other at their rehearsal site and it was a great experience. Very friendly people and really really welcoming (which is something we come to expect from everyone at DCA). Loads of thanks to them for that experience. In the afternoon we headed back to the hotel for the Individuals / Ensembles competition which a lot of our corps were performing in. The drumline also did a performance with the Kilties and the Governaires drumlines on the bridge outside our hotel which was fun. Plus we all had a few drinks together.

Saturday was semi-finals day and was met with some intrepidation, excitement and probably nervousness from everyone associated with the corps!!! We did some rehearsing in the morning and then packed up and said goodbye to the School for the last time. Back to the hotel for showers (After the drumline had been to the venue to unload equipment and the fontline - as usual the hornline had a nice long break whilst we were working - I'm not bitter about that.... not at all!!!!) then off to warm ups and the show. Warm ups were fun, the drumline managed to steal a corner plot not far from the stadium and set about our business. I think this was the first warm up where it felt like the Snare line had become a 'snare line'... The atmosphere was buzzing as we moved to the stadium and performed our semis performance. We were on pretty early as we were seeded 10th based on our score from the last weekend... The show was pretty good and the crowd was big (probably to see these brits everyone was talking about) but once again the crowd were great and everyone from other corps we came across were really friendly. After the show we went back into the stadium and waited for scores. The corps who performed after us kept getting lower scores than us and it soo became apparent that we had climbed from 10th to 6th - woohoo!!! We were in a good spot for the Finals on Sunday... Saturday night was a time to relax a little and kick back as this was out last night in Rochester and we were right in the centre of all things drum corps. We made a lot of friends that night around the bar and hotel lobby...

Sunday - Finals Day!!!!! Not only finals days but the day we left Rochester. Everyone had to be packed up and ready to pack the buses as we were leaving straight after the results were announced and heading back to Newark airport for the flight home. On the positive side our room managed to keep the room all day (thanks to Barry for that one) and so Tez, Barry, Chris and I managed to have a little lie in on Sunday - Get In!!! With the buses packed, the drumline (AGAIN) went to the stadium to help unload the truck and then returned to get ready. The day just seemed to go really fast and before we knew it we were back outside the stadium ready for warm ups. Warm up was good and lots of people coming around to watch us warm up and play through and generally just say 'Hi'. As it started to get darker, the stadium lights came on and then we were lined up outside ready to go on for DCA finals performance. This was it, what we had travelled 3000+ miles for. The first UK corps to perform at DCA in 20 years!!! Can't remember much more detail about the day as it went like a blur!!!! We went on and performed to however may thousand people were in the stand and got the usual standing ovation! Thank you to everyone for their support again!!! It wasn't long before we were ready to go onto retreat and that is something else, very different than those in the UK and Europe and I have to say much more fun!!! We were announced in 6th place and we had a score of 90.413 As soon as the final results were announced (congratulations to the Buccaneers on their win - very cool show) we left the back of the field, said some goodbyes and boarded the buses for the 5-6 hour journey through the night to Newark airport.

The journey to the airport was 'fun'. Everyone was tired and hot. I think it was around 5am when I felt the bus get thrown to the side of the road and come to a grinding halt (thanks again to Fred for the driving!) and I heard his quiet and subtle tones on his Phone. Apparently one of the other buses had suffered a blow out on the roadside. Everyone was OK but we were still about 90 minutes from Newark and if there was no traffic we would just make it in time for the plane!!!! Shiiiiiit!!! Two of the buses got to the airport OK but the third bus didn't make it. Luckily Virgin had laid on an additional plane on that Monday (some problems the day before by all accounts) and so we were able to get everyone on that coach onto the next plane which was leaving only 90 minutes after our original plane. After much discussion between Rob Swindells, the ticket ladies and me acting as go between from us at the airport and Chris Boulton on the late bus we managed to get everything sorted.. I even managed to get a nice little upgrade for the flight home from the wonderful ticket lady - god bless you ticket lady!!!!

Everyone boarded and we left New York and the USA as our journey had come to an end. Satisfaction, pride, sadness, memories.... I think everyone felt all sorts of emotions on leaving the US after what had been something I and a few others who have been around this organisation for many years thought would only ever be a dream. But in the immortal words on Nicky Jones we had been 'LIVING THE DREAM!!!' We arrived back in London Safely and the coaches were waiting to take us back to Kidsgrove. We arrived back in Kidsgrove at around 1am and after picking up my car I arrived back in Stafford at around 3am on Tuesday 7th September 2010 - nearly exactly 2 weeks after it all started. Nothing much to say about this trip other than - F****** H*** that was amazing!!!!! When can we do it all again???????????

Exploring Rochester

2010-09-03T05:40:00.000+01:00

Wednesday 1st September

Most of the Corps took a day trip to Darian Lakes theme park today, but I decided to hang out in Rochester and do a little exploring. Plus as it was going to be hot again (90+ degree again) I thought I could grab some time by the pool and relax to try and re-charge the batteries. Wednesday was the last free day of the tour, Thursday and Friday are rehearsal days then Saturday and Sunday are the world championships!

Anyway I explored Rochester and found some really nice places - I like exploring new places :o)

I found my way down to the High Falls area of the city (a waterfall in the middle of the city on the Genesse river). I wandered into the visitors centre and met with Sally and explained that we were in town for the DCA World Championships etc. Learnt a lot about Rochester and the history of the pumping stations, Kodak etc which was great - some wonderful architecture in that part of the city too. I think KS now have a new fan (Hi Sally if you're reading this!) I left them looking at our facebook site and pics / videos from last weekends show :o)

Anyway wandered back to the hotel in the afternoon and hung out by the pool to recharge the batteries - very nice! Then (I'm ashamed to say) went to Dinosaurs again for some tea - I think I'm going to stop eating for the rest of this trip - I was supposed to be losing weight!!!

Rehearsal day tomorrow and people will be coming into Rochester as the DCA world championships kick into gear. Its going to be hot again apparently so another day of melting shoes!!!

Rehearsal Day

2010-09-03T05:29:00.000+01:00

Tuesday 31st August

Well it was hot - it was very very hot. We rehearsed at Webster high school around a 30 minute drive from the hotel. A good rehearsal day for us all and it was tough. We rehearsed on the car park of the school as the stadium was under renovation I think. The car park was / is the rehearsal venue for the Schools marching band but is also a car park - lines everywhere!!!! however we got used to it and it ended up being a really productive day. This was the first time on the field since the show on Saturday so everyone could come back down to earth. Temperature topped into the mid 90's at midday, the tarmac on the car park was melting under foot and you were sticking to it if you stood in one place too long - Nice!!! It was even starting to melt the souls of shoes. Anyway, it's topping up the tan nicely with all this good weather. The School have been really good to us, we eat in their canteen and the band have loaned us a couple of pieces of equipment from thier truck which is really appreciated.

It was weird being a real american high school - normally only see them on the movies so don't know what I was expecting, but essentially not much different to going into a school at home - although they do have a public address system which rings out occasionally calling people the school office!

Anyway at the end of the day we headed back to the hotel around 7pm and everybody invaded the swimming pool. Poor life guard :o) probably around 50-60 of us in the pool throwing balls around and generally being a little bit lairy, but good to cool off after the days events! Re-fueled in Legends and off to bed to rest the aching, burning(!) body... Free day tomorrow and most people going to Darian Lakes theme park but I'm planning on exploring Rochester a little more and seeing whats around...

Niagra Day

2010-09-03T05:07:00.000+01:00

Monday 30th August

Well we arrived in Rochester safely on Sunday evening after a 6.5 hour drive from New Jersey. The singing got worse as did the smell on bus 3 (I think eventually the air conditioning got fixed!). We checked into our rooms and heading down to Legends Bar and Grill to refuel. Fair play to Nancy and Renee behind the bar as the site of 150 brits hitting the place must have been scary :o) The Radisson is really swish (although coming from the Howard Johnson in New Jersey anything would be posh :o) We are right in the centre of things here - the drum corps block party on Friday in right outside our hotel and a couple more corps are due to be staying in the hotel so it could be really fun - plus we have a working pool which will get some use with the weather staying like it was last week! Pics below show us unloading and the view from our hotel room window!

Anyway Monday was a free day to help us get over the travel up the east cost. We all headed up to Niagra falls at around 10am. The bus journey was bad again (well at least for bus 3) as we still had no air conditioning and the temperature rose again well into the 90's. We travelled into the Canadian side of Niagra (apparently the nicer side according to everyone) and spent 4+ hours exploring and seeing the sites. A few of us started off in Applebees to refuel and then off to the falls. Nothing much to say apart from - WOW! that is a bloody big waterfall! I think everybody managed to go on the maid of the mist - getting soaked on that boat was the best part of the day as at least it cooled everyone down!

There were some shananigans with the buses (again) but we eventually left at around 6 (originally it was going to be 4pm leave). There were some of the usual Kidsgrove issues - someone had left a passport somewhere so was stuck in no mans land between Canada and the US until that got sorted - we came back with everyone we left with though so good times!! We got back to the hotel and re-fueled. I went to Dinosaurs BBQ house with Chris and Shumie, what a place. Essentially I got the biggest plate of meat known to man for around 15 dollars, oh and a apehanger ale to wash it down... This would not be the only visit the Dinosaurs this week I think :o)

Anyway a great day for KS in their tour. Tuesday in rehearsal day out at a high school in Webster... Everyone was watching the weather forecast for the week - HOT! - bugger!

Show Day!!!

2010-08-29T20:46:00.003+01:00

Saturday 28th August 2010

What a day!!! Would have never have believed all those years ago that I would have experienced anything like today with the Kidsgrove Scouts. - holy shit!!!

OK so the day was here for our first competitive outing in the USA. We started the day early with a light breakfast (not) in IHOP and then boarded the buses for a 2 hour journey up to Bridgeport, Connecticut.

We arrived at our rehearsal site late because of traffic on the way up and so didn’t arrive until around 1:30. On route we stopped at a Wal*Mart to get some lunch and drinks for the day. The site of 150 English descending onto this Walmart must have been squeaky bum time for the staff but never mind. We grabbed some food and a lot us made sandwiches sitting just outside the entrance to the shop which got some strange looks from the locals…

The rehearsal site was pretty good and right next to the beach -although we didn’t get the opportunity to go for a paddle - boo :o( Cabs had a rehearsal site just across from us and so when they finished a few of them wandered over to watch us for a little while. Always good to have an audience to make the performance levels go up a couple of notches. The breeze was nice and after a slow (and probably nervous) start by the entire corps, rehearsal kicked into gear and we were pulling out some cool chunks of the show. So good in fact we only had to run one of the chunks once as there was nothing to fix (that’s the first time this season that’s happened - and just happened to coincide with the arrival of some of our friends from cabs - perfect timing!) We had a few other people appear at the front of the field to watch which is good to have. Rehearsal went by pretty quick and before we knew it, it was 5pm and we had to move to the show venue for showers and pre-show warm ups. The Kidsgrove Scouts first ever performance on American soil was nearly here…

Now as we got into Bridgeport I think it became pretty obvious that we were entering a slightly rough area of the city. I’m not quite sure what particularly gave it away, maybe it was the crack addict who was talking to the telegraph pole and doing some funky dancing on the sidewalk, or perhaps it was the dog on the roof incident (seriously a dog on a roof) or perhaps it was the boarded houses or the gangs hanging out on the side of the road. Anyway after playing a game of spot the addict, spot the crack den or spot the hooker -good game - we arrived at the high school where the show was being held. Driving into the venue a lot of people were looking and wondering who the hell was in these 3 coaches so just to let them know, bus 3 gave a full rendition of the national anthem. What a beautiful chorus of voices we have - not!! As I’m typing this bus 3 is getting to grips with Bohemian Rhapsody, seriously Freddie is definitely turning in his grave I reckon!!!

Some (I.e. the hornline) managed to grab a shower, but the drumline and frontline were unloading the truck. Everyone changed into uniforum and then into pre-show warm ups at a different part of the school. This was where things differ from the UK shows we are used to. Normally we have to go miles away to warm up on our own, but here as the place is so big, the drumline went to warm up around the back of one of the school buildings, in between 3 horn lines - very cool. Lots of people coming to watch us warm up, lot of them wearing Kidsgrove shirts and other apparel… hhmmm - was something going on - maybe the crowd were excited to see us?

We walked back around to the back gate of the stadium and the corps who were on before us were wishing us good luck, shaking our hands as we walked past, throwing the high fives, welcoming us to America - it was very surreal but great at the same time. 8:20 we reported to the back gate and lined up ready to go on. 8:30pm - SHOW TIME.

Just remember the announcer coming on the PA system…”Ladies and Gentleman, they’ve travelled over 3000 miles to be with us tonight, it’s the first time they’ve performed in America and we’re very lucky to have them here tonight in Bridgeport. Celebrating 100 years, from Kidsgrove, Staffordshire in the United Kingdom please welcome the Kidsgrove Scouts!” Queue standing ovation number 1 and we hadn’t even got onto the field or played a note…

The show was good, maybe a little safe in places in terms of tempos but good and we connected with the crowd. Maybe the crowd didn’t know what to expect, but we had several standing ovations during the show and we took the roof off (even thought there wasn’t one on the stand). Loudest corps of the night was one comment I heard. The end of the show the crowd was on its feet before we finished which as a marching member is just something incredible to see that happen. The crowd didn’t sit down until we had left the back gate, so we got a 5 minute standing o at the end of the show! Unbelievable and something that never happens in the UK. As we were marching off, I heard the annoucner again coming on the PA system “… holy cow, I just need to get my breath back after that show from the Scouts!”

To say the crowd went mental for us would be an understatement. I think the DCA crowd fell in love with the Kidsgrove Scouts tonight. We had our Souvie stall set up at the entrance to the stand, selling t-shirts, hats, KS neckershifs and anything else that was KS related. I knew we must be doing well as I kept seeing people walking around in the I love KS shirts and random people in neckerchiefs… anyway it turns out we sold over $800 worth of souvenirs on the night. Our American cousins can’t get enough of KS memorabilia :o)

The Kidsgrove Scouts have arrived in the USA!!

Walking back into the stadium after the performance was a surreal experience. I had my KS jacket on and got stopped by random people a dozen times or more who just wanted to shake hands, or say hello and tell us how they loved the show. Everyone was so friendly and I think we must have made an impression. Talking to other members and staff in the stand and everyone had similar experiences so it wasn’t just me…

Best comment of the night for me was from a little old lady, probably around 70+, who I walked out of the stand with at the end of the night. She was behind me and saw my jacket then started by telling me how ‘awesome’ our show was and explaining that the crowd were booing the judges when our score was read out as it should have been higher. We chatted about how she had a friend in England in Sussex and how she made silk blankets for the church charity etc… however as I was leaving and thanked her and her friends for their kind comments and I was glad they enjoyed the show etc. she just came out with a line that was amazing and I’ll remember for a long time. In a very broad NY accent she just looked at me and said “… honey, these guys don’t know what they’re doing, you were f****** robbed’ - Classic!!!

Later on the night after we arrived back (around 1:30am) I got chance to look on the web and it seems we’ve started a bit of a debate on the DCA discussion forums (have a look here) some of the comments are cool..Some of the guys went for a final visit to TGI’s but being old and sensible (and totally knackered) I went to bed, that was until 3:30 this morning when 11 of the guys burst into my room and had a pile on (I believe Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones were the instigators! - they shall be repaid during the next week!!!) After they piled on they ran out of the room down the corridor singing the heist them tune - I think some people were awoken during there shenanigans!!!

I’ll stop writing about this now, things are getting hairy on the bus. It’s around lunchtime on Sunday and we’re driving to Rochester. The air conditioning on the bus has broken, its around 90 degress outside and to say the bus stinks is an understatement. We’re currently somewhere in Pennsylvania with the drumline trying to sing the lion king songs, les mis, the national anthem, various queen songs and some songs that I can’t put the lyrics on here too in case any kids are reading. Other songs include such classics as

Whoppa shops at Tesco, it’s where he buys his best clothes

Tez’s teeth are white as f***, he’s a colgate bear

Howard Johnsons half a star, it’s a scabby bear

More about our adventure in the US later and I’ll be adding some photos to these posts. But in the meantime I have to say hi to Tans mum and dad who are apparently reading this blog to see what we‘re up to so Hiya to Tans mum and dad from all bus 3 :o)

Rehearsal Days

2010-08-29T20:45:00.000+01:00

Thursday 26th - Friday 27th

After a day of travel and a day exploring NYC Thursday was to be our first rehearsal day. Luckily the weather changed from the wet damp day we had in the city to around about 85-90 degrees and sunny - bugger! Anyhow we made our way to the Paissic Technical Institute around a 30 minute drive from our hotel in Clifton (although the truck managed to get lost - Again - and so we didn’t start until around an hour after we left the hotel). Not quite sure where the place is apart from we drove through some interesting areas on the way, and through some real small time USA places which was interesting to see.

When Harry did arrive with the truck we had our briefing in the canteen (I.e. no smoking on site, t-shirts could only be taken off when on the rehearsal field etc) We unloaded the truck and started rehearsal on our 3 separate fields for a couple of hours in sectional time. It was starting to get hotter by the time we broke for lunch - lunch was delayed as I think we overloaded the local Subway with our order :o) apparently we run them dry of bread - sorry Paissic!! The rehearsal schedule for the two days was pretty much the same, sectional time in the morning, visual coordination after lunch and then full ensemble for the last few hours of the day in the main stadium.

We rehearsed on the Soccer field after lunch for a couple of hours as the American Football team had training on our main field. The soccer pitch is in a hollow and turns the field into what can only be described as an oven - shit it was hot on there but it was nice flat astro turf to march on which just heated up your feet nicely - seriously I think someone has stolen my feet and given me those of a geriatric after the last couple of days. Forgot to mention at this point we had been joined by Clay, Spoon and Corey (read the KS website if you want to know more about them) and so rehearsal was cool. On both days there was an old guy who lived across the road who sat in his car in the shade and watched us all day and another couple who sat in their garden watching and seemed to be enjoying themselves along with some of the kids from the School who would wander by or drive past and shout at the brits running around this field like a bunch of loons…

After a couple of hours on the ‘bottom field’ we moved up to the main rehearsal field which was the Institutes main football stadium. This is a great facility. It is comical when you compare our home rehearsal site in Fenton, Stoke on Trent with this one. A crappy old all weather pitch with tufts of grass at various places to create nice little trip hazards (as I found out on my first rehearsal back in May) and a small grass bank with astro turfed carpet, properly marked out, and full stadium seating. Anyway by the time we got up to the main field on both days it was getting a little cooler so that was a bonus and helped, although the cool weather didn’t help my back or feet :o(

Luckily (!?!?) the staff managed to find the PA system for the stadium and so we could hear instructions, where you went wrong etc booming out all around the campus - winner :o)

The run through on both nights were OK, but the Friday night was the better of the two. I think everyone could feel that rehearsal over the two days had improved and we had got better. On the Friday at the main stadium we started to get some audience watching which was nice to see. Particularly the few guys who came and watched the run through and were going a bit mental at a lot of the parts of the show - a sign of things to come maybe when we get in front of a big crowd at the Bridgeport show…

Anyway, we finished rehearsal both nights around 8pm, loaded the truck and headed by the wonderful Howard Johnson hotel in Clifton. Followed by a trip to TGI Fridays for some deep fried food (seriously is it possible to buy anything in a restaurant over here that is a) a normal portion side and b) not fried) followed by a couple of beers - just a couple mind ;o) Friday night was quite full in the bar but I met Eddie and his good lady were quick to teach me how to get the barman’s attention - think it went something like ‘… hey man what’s it take to get a f***** beer’ and hey presto the barman appeared. They were an colourful couple who also gave the advice of not just dumping a beer on anyone’s table as that could be misconstrued as an invasion of someone’s ‘turf’ apparently there are a few gangy type characters around Clifton - nice!

Time for bed - SHOW TOMORROW!!!!!

Trip into New York City!

2010-08-29T07:35:00.001+01:00

After arriving safely on Tuesday evening, Wednesday was a free day to explore New York City. Everyone was up fairly early on Wednesday and we ate breakfast at IHOP right next to the hotel. Pancakes, maple syrup and fried everything - we have definitely arrived in the USA. It also added to the entertainment that the waitress has a tick and so guessing where your food would land on the table became a game in its own right...

9:30 and we are ready to leave for NYC, Unfortunately it was raining all day which we weren't expecting :o( but that didn't dampen our spirits - New York Baby!!! Our 3 coaches dropped us off right outside the Empire State Building on 34th Street (we were looking for Santa and the miracle!) and we were met by Jim Mason (Corps Director of Madison Scouts, Star of Indiana, Blast etc) which was very cool - he just wanted to say hello and welcome to the US. We pretty much blocked 34th street as he gave us a little speech to say welcome which as you can imagine went down well with the locals :o) Anyway that done, we all went off to do some exploring in our own little groups and so begins the whistle stop tour of NYC!!!!

I won't bore with lots of details but from Empire State we went to Grand Central Station - now that is a building that has to be seen to be believed - unbelievable architecture! Caught the metro to Brooklyn Bridge and walked half way across. Whilst we were on there we encountered a march against violence (think it was gang related) anyway they were pushing 3 coffins / caskets across the bridge (didn;t want to ask if they were empty or full as some of the protestors looked pretty handy). So from the bridge headed down to Wall Street and the NYSE etc. Lots of people in fancy suits still continuing to rob us all blind no doubt but nice to slum it with them as we munched on a Wall St Subway sandwich :o)

From there we headed to Ground Zero (how big is that site!) and then onto Times Square then the Rockerfella Centre and up the tower to the observation deck at the top. There are some interesting characters around TS, including some guy with one leg who insisted on telling we were beautiful. There was a slight detour making our way to the Rockerfella as someone may have read the map wrong and sent us in the opposite direction - can't think who that would be though! Anyway the view from the observation deck was just outstanding and I think I took dozens of pictures, I love looking down on places from really high up and you can't get much higher in the city. The rain and mist made everything look at little spooky too which was quite cool.

Anyway 5:30 and made our way back to the Empire State Building for the buses to pick us up, then we find out that the 3 coach drivers had given everyone 3 different times (punks) oh and they were really late picking us up anyway so 150 us blocked the pavement outside the building for around an hour (double punks!). We arrived back at the hotel and went to the local friendly TGI Fridays for some (healthy and small portioned) food followed by a couple of drinks at the bar - I think the water may have been a little off that night as I had a little bit of a headache on Thursday morning....

So first full day in New York and the US and tomorrow and Friday are rehearsal days ready for the show in Bridgeport on Saturday!!!!!!

Travelling to NY, USA

2010-08-28T02:10:00.000+01:00

And so the day arrived. It was time for us to travel to New York to begin our two week tour of the US. Now, there might not be a huge amount of detail in this post due to the fact that I seemed to be suffering from narcolepsy on Tuesday and managed to sleep quite a considerable amount throughout the journey (just a note on that - thanks to Laura for videoing me doing the nodding dog impression on the plane!!!).

We met at Kidsgrove Scout headquaters at 5:15 for the journey to Heathrow (check in was 11am), Probably the first time ever but we left bang on time at 5:30! I managed to fall asleep about 5 miles outside of Kidsgrove and stayed that way until we stopped at the services around Luton :o) Apparently we stopped a couple of times and picked up on the two coaches - well the seats had filled up anyway when I woke up!!

We arrived at Heathrow early at 10am - this was a good omen as generally we are quite poor at arriving anywhere on time. We met with all the people who had travelled direct to the airport and started to check in, which is no easy task with so many of us!!

After negotiating the electronic check in, breaking the scales trying to weigh Nick Jones bag (sorry whoever they belonged to by the way), wondering why Nick had the heaviest bag ever not to mention the whole issue of him having a purse :o) we were done and through customs.

Once through all of the security scans etc. the Kidsgrove Scouts pretty much took over the bar and restaurant in terminal 3 of Heathrow. We had around 2 hours to kill and so some food and beverages helped to pass the time. It seemed that most people were now having the realisation that this was going to happen and we were actually on our way to the US!

The couple of hours flew by and before we knew it we were boarding the plane to NY. Surprisingly easy to get all 150 of us on the plane, and no one got left behind. Some of the people managed to get posh seats on the plane whilst the rest of us slummed it in economy. Luckily I managed to get a seat next to a couple who were planning their upcoming wedding - they were really interesting and their conversations were stunningly pointless. At this point I fell asleep (again) until somewhere over the mid atlantic. The flight went pretty quick and after watching a few films and then the cabin crew announcing that no more alcoholic beverages could be served as they had run out we were on our approach to JFK and the USA!!!

We touched down at JFK on time. and after navigating the 1.5 hour queue to get through immigration we were in the USA. Just a side note the immigration officers at JFK are such fun and lively people it's wonderful to encounter them ;o) but I think after 150 people replying to the purpose of your visit question with 'Marching Band' they were just letting us in..

Our buses arrived a little delayed to JFK because of an accident but eventually 3 Magic Charter coaches pulled up outside the terminal and we loaded. Our bus driver 'Fred' is a fun guy, giving people who vut him up the bird and teaching us new words whilst driving around NYC. It took us about 1.5 hours to get to the hotel (after Fred got lost a couple of times!!!) and we checked in to our rooms at around 9pm. Travelling done and we are here in New Jersey! Just enough time to get down to the local TGI Fridays for some tea and liquid refreshment (for those over 21 :o) and then bed. Tomorrow we have a day in the City to explore and get over the long travel before we kick into rehearsals later in the week!!!!

The first half

2010-08-12T22:25:00.000+01:00

By the time the first show weekend came along, I'd been a member of the 2010 Kidsgrove Scouts snare line for around 7 weeks, had made it through 3 Sunday rehearsals and one weekend camp. Now the reality set in, that I had to put the uniform on, perform and remember all of that stuff we had done in those weeks - Doh!! The last rehearsal took place on Sunday 6th June and the two weeks to the 19th June flew by. The Saturday rehearsal went by quickly and it was just enough to remember everything.

Sunday morning began with an early start to get to Barnsley for a 9:30 start (around a 2 hour drive from Stafford). We arrived and started with stretches, run etc and then onto warm up. I'd be given my black Premier t-shirt (thanks Stu!) and so everything started to to feel a little bit more real now. Warm up's were good, obviously I had the usual feedback from Elliot :o) on where I was going wrong, fair play he has the patience of a saint!!! Rehearsal went fast and before I knew it we were changing for pre-show warm-ups. Enter problem 1. Now when I said I tried the uniform on, I did but it was after a hard days rehearsal etc etc. It was only now as I put the trousers on did I think, 'these are a little snug...' in fact they were very snug and I believe the saying 'mamel toe' was used (thanks for Boony for that one!!). Lets just say, it's a good job that my drum is in front at a certain height, otherwise police may have been called and my drum corps season could have come to an abrupt end!!! Anyway, push through and did the show which wasn't too bad for the first time out. We won and I managed to drive home in one piece...

We had a weekend off after that show but the following weekend 3/4 July was our home show at Northwood Stadium in Stoke on Trent. I knew this was going to be a little strange as Northwood was somewhere we used to play in the 1990's both in competition and often for rehearsal so it really was a blast from the past. Rehearsal on the Saturday was good and the Sunday morning was good (and loud) as Robert pointed out eloquently (out of the earshot of children) after we run the final chunk at the end of rehearsal :o) We went to watch the juniors play their show and this was the first time I'd seen the junior corps. The kids are brilliant, you can't believe how young some of these kids are and yet they still put the uniform on, perform and enjoy themselves. Kidsgrove Scouts junior corps are little heroes in my book! We performed a fairly solid show, but scrappy in places for the snare line. We were last to perform and so it was a quick turn around and straight back on for retreat. The street beat we played to bring other corps on was legendary, but when the results came out we had won the show and got the opportunity to do a standstill repeat. That was a lot of fun, and somehow managed to exorcise the ghosts of the 13.2 score that we achieved on that same field 17 years before...

After the show I saw a few old members who marched back in the 1990's and it was good to catch up with them and reminisce. In many respects I don't think they could believe what they were / had just seen which is actually a really big compliment to the hard work of the staff and members from every generation of the corps of the last 'x' years.

The following weekend we had a show in Upton. This was, without being disrespectful, a smaller show, but made me smile as it reminded me of the early 1990's BYBA shows where I first started performing at high schools on the sports fields. We (the corps) didn't do a particularly good show, but we won the day and off home to prepare for the following weekend where we had two shows in Barnsley (again) and then in Warrington.

We rehearsed at the same location in Barnsley as before, but it was much colder and very windy this time. Rehearsal went OK and we moved to the football stadium to get ready and perform. This was the first time we had performed a show on astroturf and so it was a good indicator for the US trip. We performed a great show to an enthusiastic audience who seemed to really like it. The stand is very close at he venue and that creates a good effect. We came second to The Company. A few years ago that would have bothered me a lot and I suppose in some respects the competitive side of me still doesn't like to lose at anything. However, the feeling of hearing a crowd appreciate what they've just seen is a better indicator. Some people might think that's a load of bull etc. and that's fine, however I think the first time I really learned that lesson was in 1999 with Kidsgrove Scouts and its something you don't forget. It was a long drive home and I eventually arrvived back (McDonalds in hand) at 9:30pm.

The next day was an early start to get to Warrington for 8:15am. I left Stafford at 7:00, picked up Kenno (Adam Kennerley (aka Faff) - Contra 2010, and has been a member of the corps and the scout group longer than me - and he has marched every year where I took a break - big respect!). We rehearsed all morning, circle drill, chunks of the show, visual only sections due to playing restrictions, and then we were changing into uniforms and off to pre-show warm ups. The one 'good' thing at Warrington is the distance you have to go for pre-show warm-ups. I'm sure it's not this far, but it feels like it's two miles away and carrying a drum - at my age :o) it feels like its 8 miles away!!!! Anyway, we warmed up, we did the show to a very enthusiastic crowd (I think they liked the big corps and big sound as it heralded back to the old days, Warrington was a hotbed of big loud drum corps in the 80's). Sorry I keep referring to loud, but I love volume :o) I digress but I think the most volume I've ever heard out of a drum corps was sitting 5 rows back in front of Phantom Regiments final winning repeat in 1996 in Orlando - incredible!!! Anyway, where were we.... oh yes Warrington.... so we did the show, for the first half not bad, still lots of work to do but we ended up in second place again to The Company. Oh well take the competitive positives we won the horn, drum and guard performance captions and thoughts now turn to the US. If you want to read a full report on the days performances from Warrington there is a good piece on the DCE web site Warington Report

After the show we had a complete corps photograph which was really cool to have. I remember us having one of these in 1993 and then one again in 1999 just before our finals performance so this was one to treasure.

Someone made a scary comment that the next time we put the superman suits on will be in Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport.... Typically we packed the truck in the good old rain and headed home. The competitive first half has come to a close. Not bad I suppose, 3 wins and 2 second places and a show that is well on the way to becoming going an incredible spectacle... For me it's been tough, painful, enjoyable and rewarding. I can still do it although the body and the brain take a little longer to learn and digest things but we're getting there and the recovery time is getting less after every rehearsal (although I do confess to having to close my office door, put the 'do not disturb' sign up and take a little nap on a Monday during the last few weeks...)

So the next post I will make will be during / after our pre USA camp and I hope to have some pics and maybe video(?) from the camp. This will be the first Kidsgrove Scouts camp I have been on since 2004 so its going to be lots of fun. For anyone who is reading this and doesn't remember the 'olden' days, I remember the first time that Kidsgrove Scouts went on a 'rehearsal camp' - was it 1993 or 1994(?) someone remind me.... anyhow I also remember us camping in a range of various dubious venues that we shared with rats, tramps and various other unsavoury things :o) sounds horrible, but a lot of fun!!! I confess to getting a little excited now :o) Anyway until then below are a couple of videos that relate to our upcoming tour...

See you next time....

and below is our US tour promo...

Getting back into rehearsals

2010-08-09T15:34:00.003+01:00

Well if you've read part one of this blog you know how I came to be a member of the 2010 Kidsgrove Scouts snare line. If you haven't read my first post, then stop being lazy and go and read it!!!

On the Sunday I agreed to take a spot on the snare line and by the following Wednesday the e-mails were flying with pdf's of the music and mp3 files of the entire show. I dusted the old sticks off, put the practice pad back onto the stand and away we went. Problem one, someone appeared to have stolen the hands / wrists / chops I remember having in 2000 and replaced them with the hands of a small child. Much work needed to be done to get to the point where I could play a 13 minute show let alone rehearse for 10 hours without having to ice my wrists down every 10 minutes! I spent pretty much every evening after that drumming simple stuff and learning segments of the various pieces of music sent to me. It was all starting to come back, slowly :o)

The drumline had a separate music rehearsal on Saturday 24th April to learn the new music for part 5 of the show. I went along actually pretty nervous about playing in a line again, particularly with 5 other players who'd been working the show all winter. However I pitched up, set my drum up on its stand (never had stands in my day - these kids..... :o) and started to play the warm up book. When we had a little break I managed to find out a little bit more about the guys on the line who I didn't know. It was depressing. Grant who is next to me (by the way not sure if anyone knows he has a bent arm?? ;o) was born in 1992 and Rory on the other end of the line was born in 1993 (the year I went to University). I knew Lee and Stu ( I remember teaching Stu samba rolls when he was about 10 and a soprano player!!! 'Little' Stu is no so little now and a twenty(ish) very talented drummer who spent the summer playing in the Madison Scouts snare line in 2007) and just had to meet Dan who wasn't able to make that rehearsal but had played in the line for the last couple of years... So having established that I was an old fart, and feeling rather depressed about this we moved onto learning some new music. We drummed until around 8pm that night and then I went home, took some paracetamol for my spinning head, some ibuprofen for my aching wrists, put plasters on my fingers that had blistered and went to bed. Tomorrow would be the first day on a drum corps field for 10 years.... oh dear!

The first day on the field was painful. Trying to get the brain back into drum corps 'gear' after a long absence is difficult. I did trip on my first day on the field, much to the delight of many of the hornline (oh well at least it broke the ice!) and by the end of the day I could no longer feel my shoulders, back, legs or arms...oh and my brain was jelly!!! I left with mixed feelings of knowing that I had made it though a full day rehearsal without the need for paramedic intervention but that I needed to drum a lot more to remember music. Home, hot bath, lots of radox and if I remember correctly a bottle of some kind of alcohol mixed with coke. Suddenly the pain seemed to dissipate into thin air..... as a wise man once said, "...alcohol..... the cause of and solution to all lifes problems!" (legal note: it isn't kids, alcohol is very bad for you and everyone should always enjoy a drink responsibly)

We had a weekend off before the next rehearsal (needed to recuperate the legs etc) and then rehearsed another Sunday. Problem 1, I'd spent most of the last two weeks working through parts 1, 2 and 3 of the music (yes I know that's logical in my mind too, but then I'm a geek and also have OCD :o) and then when I got to rehearsal we were learning the drill sets to parts 4 and 5 - Bugger!! Oh well, pushed through and managed to remember even more things than the time before. Another weekend off and then full weekend camp - Oh god it was hot. I'd forgotten until this point just how painful it can be rehearsing in the baking sun (thoughts turn to the US tour - Doh!). Lots more done during this weekend and I was now starting to remember where I should be (roughly!), when and what I should be playing. It got to about 3pm on the Saturday afternoon when Lee (gently!) tapped me on the shoulder and said he thought I should really put a t-shirt on. At first I was offended, I know I'm not in great shape but to ask me to cover up was a little harsh!!! However, with the pain in my legs, my brain had omitted the burning pain that was emanating from my shoulders - RED is not he word. I went home that night and showered in very cold water and returned the next day, covered in sun cream and managed another complete day on the rehearsal field.

Another weekend off, then the Kidsgrove Scouts Darts Night on Saturday 4th June. That was fun and I think I left a little worse for wear, clearly there was something wrong with the water in Kidsgrove on that evening! Another rehearsal complete on the Sunday and I finally got a KS uniform to wear. It felt good to have one again, but also a pretty good laxative when I suddenly realised that there were no more rehearsals and the next I would be putting it on in 2 weeks time to perform our first show in Barnsley...

Next instalment: Shows from the first half of the season...

First Post

2010-08-06T23:03:00.018+01:00

OK so here is the first post on my blog.

I'll be using this as I travel with Kidsgrove Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps on our epic adventure to perform at the DCA World Championships in Rochester, New York at the end of August. Though it might be good to set the scene first though.....

I first joined the Corps in 1988/9 and marched snare / quads every year until I aged out in 2000. I was a member of the Kidsgrove Scouts organisation from 1983 (I was 8 years old as a 'cub scout' - see picture on left) although as my mum and dad always tell me I first went to the Scout HQ in my carrycot at 3 months old (1975!) - the whole family was involved in the organisation - mum, dad and brother, although I was the only one bitten by the drum corps bug!

There were some memorable drum corps times during that period. I can remember lots of them but some of the highlights include:

Being taught how to play 'paradiddles' by Nigel Morgan (Scouts front line 2010!!!!) in the ICL factory social club whilst the rest of the corps rehearsed
My first show (obviously) - performing at a football field at a school in Leek, Staffordshire. I think this was a Scout Band show. From memory the first BYBA show was in Nottingham (a bird poo'ed on my harness just as we were about to go for inspection - how embarassing!!!). My first drum corps show was at the Stafford County Showground (our home show). Ironically, I now live a 1 minute drive from that location and I have to drive past the stadium every day going to and from work :o)
Performing in Cwmbran, South Wales what seemed like 10 times in two years in 1990 and 1991. I just remember that because the bus journey took hours and hours and hours (plus we also rehearsed - just drill - on a field behind a service station somewhere on the M5 motorway, I'm sure somewhere I still have a video of one of those rehearsals, If I can find it I'll upload it onto here :o)
The first time we wore the 'white' uniforms leaving behind the traditional scout uniform in 1992
Trying to understand drill sets and learning my first drill show on the car park of the Scout HQ in Kidsgrove (one side of the 50 was grass, and the other side was gravel car park)
Doing something completely different in 1993 - like learning to properly read music :o) and us scoring a whopping 13.2 (yes thirteen point two) at the first show that year, which was our home show at Northwood Stadium in Stoke on Trent. I think we subsequently came last at every show during that season.... (incidently, the last time I played with the corps at Northwood Stadium was in June 2010 where we won and achieved the highest score in Europe to that point in the season. It was strange to be performing the repeat, looking at some faces in the corps and the crowd who were there in 1993 and thinking about how things have changed in 17 years)
Being one of 2 snare players in 1993 (Rob Swindells was the other) and the two of us bunking off college for a couple of days to rehearse our show in torrential rain (remember that Rob???)
The very first 'end of season do' at the end of the 1993 season. Held at Talk Social Club (for several years after that). The end of season do was the predecessor to the end of year banquet etc.
Winning the 'member of the year' award in ???? - anyone who can remember the year please let me know as I can't remember, I think its my age or it could be the onset of alzheimer's kicking in!! (Edit - Apparently it was 1993 - Thanks to Vicki Wag for filling in that blank)
Moving away to University at the end of 1993 but travelling home most weekends in 1994 (and 1995 for that matter) for rehearsals (thanks to mum and dad for footing the train fare bills for that one!!!!)
1995 - Sweet Georgia Brown and Lady is a tramp - not a wonderful year musically but fun as usual.
Rehearsing music around a camp fire in the winter of 1994/5 at Kibblestone when we were on winter camp. It was sooo cold the drumline built a fire and drummed around that. There was ice on the ground all day and it never got any warmer.
Rehearsing at Bathpool park next to the sewer overflow for several years. Some fun times there, including being shot at by gypsies with air rifles :o)
1996!!!! a defining year in many many ways. It was my first year of working in a 'real job' (OK it was a year placement from University, but it was 9 till 5:30 every day and everyone wore a suit!!!). I turned 21 - good age. It was the first time I had been in a plane. It was the first time I went to the USA. It was the first time I went to watch DCI finals... I can still remember someone (Robert!!) saying to me in the Rifleman ".... we've got to go Dids, its in Florida and Scouts are playing Malaguena" and to top it off it was the first year that Kidsgrove Scouts made DCUK finals, beating local rivals Staffordshire Knights to the coveted 8th spot at Sixfields Stadium in Northampton
1997 - moving screens - nightmare idea but thanks to the 'screen pusher line'. 1998 - the new tenor harnesses, can't explain in words but if you want to know more ask me (or Jockey Whip aka Steve Liversidge) in person...
Travelling back from Ireland in 1999 where I was living and working at the time to perform with the Corps. I remember travelling overnight to Manchester to get back for the first show of the year in Tottenham (I believe the cooks at that weekend burned the corps evening meal on the Saturday - you know who you are....)
Prelims and Finals 1999 - electric shows - Caravan - nothing else to say apart from a quote I remember from a judging tape "... now we're cooking on gas!" quality line Mr. Carter!!
Ageing out in 2000. I played snare with Rick, Alex and Pubes - that was a fun year!
I have lots of photo's and maybe even some videos from a lot of these memories and so I will try and dig them out and post them to this log as soon as I could. Sorry if any of this was boring and please indulge me as I travel down 'memory lane' but thought it would be good to give a snapshot from someone who experienced the past :o) before I blog on the present!!!

So from 2000 to 2004 I taught and during that time worked alongside some of the most talented people in UK percussion: Phil Brown, Mark Tarrant, Gav Morgan, James Moore... By then I was married and had started to 'settle down' and so after this point I somewhat drifted away from Drum Corps. Sure I managed to get to some rehearsals and watch and attend a few shows but nothing serious, although whenever I watched, there was always something wanting a little bit more...

Anyway, onto 2010!!! I remember having a (semi) drunk discussion with Robert in the bar in Harrods around new year 2005/6 where he said he wanted to take the Corps to the USA in the next few years... little did I know, although I should have guessed he would do it!!! I went to a couple of rehearsals during the winter of the 2010 season and took my little 2 year old girl along. She loves the "Band" and loves the drums - good genes I think :o)

When I found out the Corps was definitely going to the US I decided I would go along as a supporter / alumni just to see the corps achieve something that we dreamed about all those years ago. Then in April / May I went to Stoneleigh on the Sunday of a camp... The conversation went something like... "There's a spot on the snare line as Tom has moved to top bass... don't suppose you're interested?" It was kind of asked in a joking manner, as it's been a bit of a standing joke with some of the lads on the line I've known for years who always ask when I'm going to march again and my answer was always been next year I think. So after a few seconds I thought it's 'Shit or Bust' lets have a go, I asked if I could have a copy of the music e-mailed to me, I did, I went to the next music rehearsal, I tagged onto the end of the snare line and hey presto I'm now a marching member again.

Its been 10 years since I learnt and marched a complete show...the brains a little older, the back is a little weaker and I may have gained a pound or two!?!? and be a tiny bit unfit :o) but it's amazing to be a part of this 100 year Corps. So let the fun begin!!!!!!

Next: The season so far.....