FROM THE BOX: For The First Time

Seeing is Believing

Editor’s Note: Thank you for following along with us this year! This is the third of the 2022 Edition of FROM THE BOX, our Fall Wrap-Up articles, where our writers look back at the year that was and give you a little insight into their experiences over the course of the Marching Band season. If you missed the first article, There And Back Again by Hattie Bartlett, it’s available right HERE, and the second article, Expect the Unexpected by Aaron Blackley, is available HERE!

Hello all, and Happy Holidays! Welcome to my little season review. This season was quite different from every season that came before it for me personally, which comes down to one teeny tiny little difference: I’m not, y'know, on the field? Of course, I’ve snuck my way into the home side stands to watch bands before, just like any passionate yet irresponsible young band fan has (Mr. Wade, if you’re reading this, just ignore that), but getting to sit down and watch shows without the worry of performing later has some kind of magic to it. This was also the first time I could watch the bands I regularly competed with live. For those who don’t know, I went to Vista Murrieta High School. Aggressive alum bias aside, Vista Murrieta (CA) is a consistent top-two band in California and has been for the past six or so years. This places us at the very end of every event, meaning that if I had the time to watch bands, I’d only really get to see up to the end of 3A at best before my phone explodes with messages from the Drum Majors telling me to get back to the trailer. But this year was different. I am now above the authorities. I am the law. I am the alumni. And now, without further ado (and power-tripping), allow me to take you through what California has to offer, random rain, crazy results, anecdotes, and all.

Fun fact about southern California: It doesn’t rain here. Like at all. As an island kid from Japan, you can imagine how bizarre it was when I moved here. I went from walking home from school in a typhoon when I was 6 to bone-dry weather year-round. Also, I was always known as “The Sunshine Kid” growing up. Anything I wanted to do never was rained out or canceled. Of course, my entire marching arts career has been spotless (besides when the whole state went up in flames in 2018, canceling championships, and a global pandemic stripped me of a season). That said, I have never been rained on. The fates got dangerously close when I marched at Gold this past DCI season in Atlanta. We were walking to our warm-up zone and got caught under an overpass due to an hour-long flash flood, but with a ten-minute warm-up, we had one of our best shows of the season and a great memory to boot. You may wonder, “Dre, what does any of this have to do with this past season?” Well, I’m glad you asked my convenient little strawman. Let's talk about the RCC Big Orange Classic.

The Big Orange Classic is an iconic Western Band Association show. Held at the century-old Wheelock Stadium at Riverside City College, and known for its off-center box that makes adjudicating and performing a nightmare, it is a beloved (read: hated) venue. It also holds a lot of sentimental value for me, as I saw my first DCI show here and got my face absolutely melted by the glory of Santa Clara Vanguard performing Babylon.

While this venue is no longer a stop on the DCI tour, it remains a staple in WBA, where it is often one of the first head-to-head meetings for the big 3 SoCal competitors, Ayala(CA), Chino Hills (CA), and Vista Murrieta. This year, unfortunately, that was not in the cards, as Vista Murrieta was the only one who showed up. Luckily (read: tragically), in their place, the Gods of Weather came to wreak havoc on the event. Shortly after 2A concluded, there was a sudden downpour. As a proud owner of an afro, this rain did not affect me as my hair simply deflected it, but bands allegedly have these things called “electronics” and “woodwinds,” so the ten-minute break turned into an hour. This gave me the time to have a little Gold family reunion, and I got to talk with the Vista kids who wished they still had my patented Sunshine Kid luck. One of the best parts of the spectator experience I’ve found this year is the opportunity to reconnect with friends. We all know that the marching arts are a tiny world. If you’re reading this, you are likely 3 or fewer degrees of separation from literally anyone in this activity. When you go to a show, the likelihood of meeting up with an old friend or person you marched with is insanely high. Throughout the season, I met many new and old friends, and we were reunited through our shared love of Watching People Do Band Real Good. And isn’t that just the best?

The event did get underway again, and we barely made it through 3A as the rain started on my highlight of the night, Temescal Canyon (CA). Question for all of you, have you ever seen a band perform a show that you have previously performed before? Personally, I have many times. While all of Vista Murrieta’s shows are designed specifically for them, they are often bought by other bands in the years after. But I have never had the uniquely wonderful experience of witnessing that live. I spent the performance (respectfully) freaking out with my roommate, another Vista alumni, and a good time was had by all. 

Some talented bands were there that don’t often do WBA, including Aliso Niguel (CA) and Valencia (CA), who are 4A staples in SCSBOA, and Los Alamitos (CA), who had an enjoyable show entitled “CarnEvil” which is about, well, an evil Carnival. The world-ending, cataclysmic event of a half inch of rain in Southern California did, however, tragically rob the world of a performance from Mission Hills (CA), my FAVORITE band of the year (more on them later). I would give this spectator experience a 4/10, the cancellation was unfortunate, but some great shows early on and a reunion with some great people made the night worth it. 

The next show, The Socal Tournament of Gold, is Vista Murrieta’s home show. A bit of lore surrounding this one is that Vista Murrieta has never won their home show. Ever. Even in 2016, the year Vista Murrieta won BOA SoCal and was .2 from finals at Grand Nationals, Ayala still won the Tournament of Gold despite not beating Vista Murrieta at another event the entire season. My generation came painfully close twice in 2018 and 2021, losing by .2 each time (Can you tell that .2 is a sore number in the program?) but never captured the elusive victory. This event was somehow also mind-blowingly plagued by rain. One Saturday in SoCal is abnormal. Two in a row is a freak event signaling the end of the world. Another fun fact, Vista Murrieta is situated in a valley, and the stadium gets VERY windy at night. So when 5A rolled around, we had a delightful experience with sideways rain that my afro was unfortunately not equipped to deal with, which caused a slight delay but not enough to prevent any bands from performing. That is unless you count Chino Hills, who pulled out of the competition early in the day due to the risk of rain. Outside of the strange experience, it was a wonderful experience with some awesome bands. 

San Marcos (CA) from San Marcos, CA (not to be confused with San Marcos (CA) from Santa Barbara, CA) was fantastic and perfectly fitting for the rainy night with their show “Atlantis.” Really felt like you were there, y’know? Awful jokes aside, San Marcos's colossal sound and great vibes were incredible. San Marcos was actually one of the few bands I’ve actually seen before because my mother and sister absolutely LOVED their performance in 2018. I was very excited about the opportunity to see them live, and they absolutely did not disappoint. Next is Mission Hills (CA). Their program “This Is Only A Test'' was just an absolute joy in every sense. It is full of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pop culture references, an entire section of the show where the whole band pulls out ShamWow’s and ends with “Goodbye” by Bo Burnham. It feels like watching the quintessential late Millennial to early Gen-Z childhood playing out on a football field, and I absolutely adore it. The whole thing is tied together by a group of incredibly energetic performers who are fully and completely dedicated to expressing whatever is going on. This would be my #1 show of the season if not for my extreme alumni bias. 

FROM THE BOX: Expect the Unexpected

Speaking of extreme alumni bias, Vista Murrieta! Spoiler alert, they won this show. Cue the happy tears and overjoyed screaming from everyone waiting for this moment for 10+ years. It was a genuinely beautiful moment for everyone involved. Except I wasn’t actually at the venue when scores were announced. My friends and I were holed up at a nearby Denny’s, refreshing the WBA website every 30 seconds. When we finally got scores and saw a win by 3 points and a caption sweep, we slightly regretted leaving before the celebration, but breakfast food and usable hands affirmed our decision. Oh, you wanted to know about Vista Murrieta’s show? In short, it makes me jealous that I didn’t get to march this show as my senior year show. Excellent show, and Good Lord, those kids can crank. That 45-person brassline doubled the volume of some hornlines three times the size that I saw this season. With intense alumni bias over, I would give this spectator experience a 6/10. The stands were absolutely freezing, and the strong wind made it worse but witnessing some awesome shows and history for my alma mater was a beautiful thing.

Now to the main event of my short spectating season, the WBA Championships. If you read my preview, you’ll know that it is divided into 1A-3A and 4A-5A. I went to 4A-5A. And what a show it was. This was Round 2 at RCC, although blissfully without rain this time. The event was originally supposed to be held at a different venue in Los Angeles, but the venue pulled out in early November, leading us back to lopsided ol’ Wheelock Stadium for the most stacked competition that California has seen since 2015. I was easily the most excited about this show of all the events that I planned to go to. James Logan (CA), Ayala, Vista Murrieta, and Chino Hills had not all been together at the same event since 2015, and the landscape had changed drastically since then. 

But that's getting ahead of ourselves. The first band to impress me wasn’t even from California. While WBA is overwhelmingly dominated by California bands both in terms of results and sheer numbers, bands from Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Washington can all still perform in WBA competitions. Damonte Ranch (NV) was the sole band carrying the out-of-state flag, and they carried it well. Their show was entitled “Haunted Manor,” and it lived up to the name. Great commitment to character from all performers, especially the guard soloists, made for an unforgettable show. Mira Costa (CA) had another one of my favorite shows of the day entitled “Let Them Eat Cake”, a French Revolution show based on the famous quote by Marie Antoinette, and they literally guillotine a cake. Enough said. Another showing of my beloved Mission Hills rounded out the first half of the evening. 

Let’s take a brief intermission to talk about my least favorite part of the spectator experience: the other spectators. Not because I had any experience with rude people but because people do not cheer nearly enough. As a performer, I love a good audience reaction. The performances I remember the most aren’t usually the cleanest runs but the ones where we got the best crowd reaction. The shows I went to were… pretty dead. This makes sense because the crowd was mostly parents who have no investment in the marching arts outside of their children. And when their children are out there, trust me, you’ll know. But outside of that, it's just endless golf clapping which makes it awkward for people like me who actually want to give these kids the praise they deserve for their talents. I’ll holler and cheer for the kids anyways, but I think the environment would be more fun for spectators and performers alike if we all did. All of this to say, cheer loudly, even if they aren’t your kids. You might make a lifetime memory. 

Let's get one thing out of the way. The entire top 5 was phenomenal. Homestead (CA) had one of my favorite shows of the night, a Wizard of Oz show with one of the strongest brass performances of the night. My ears are still ringing from those trombones in the opener. Ayala looks as fantastic as ever. Seriously, these kids move so sharply that it's incredible. This was my first time watching James Logan in person, and they did not disappoint at all. I’m offended that I haven’t seen them live before, and I expect many viewings after this to make up for that. I’ve already talked about Vista Murrieta, but for finals, they added narration to the show, which added a ton of clarity to the concept. And, of course, our winner was Chino Hills for the third consecutive year (2019 was less competitive than normal due to the absence of Vista Murrieta and Ayala due to national trips, but a win is a win!). Their percussion was phenomenal, as always, and they were as clean as heck. Lovely show and a deserved win! 

FROM THE BOX: There and Back Again

Personally, I would give this show experience a 10/10, hands down. Went with some great friends, had a standing-room-only crowd (although I still wish they were more active in cheering), and the performances were phenomenal from the start of the day to the very end. I’ll definitely attend again next year, provided they don’t put it back in NorCal (which would be a 7-hour drive minimum, for those of you unfamiliar with how absurdly large California is)

So that's it. My first year as a full-time spectator is complete, and what a year it was. Huge surprises in terms of scores, bands beginning to return to pre-COVID form, and of course, amazing shows. You may notice that I barely touched on scores in this article. That was not intentional but rather because I could not care less about scores if I tried. I’m a competitive person when I’m marching, but as a spectator, I’m just there to watch People Do Band Real Good (this is also something I’d love to see the community as a whole adopt as a mentality). Cheer for your favorites, accept what happens, and show love to all. Behind every show you didn’t personally connect with is a team of talented young people trying their best to put out an entertaining production. The second preachy moment of the article aside, I adore watching and talking about band so thank you so much for following along with us this year! Remember to cheer loud, show love, and always keep that band nerd heart alive.

Dre Barlow is making their writing debut with GEM. As a California native with a strong passion for the marching arts, they are highly knowledgeable about California bands. Their marching experience includes four years at Vista Murrieta High school as well as Gold Drum and Bugle Corps in 2022.

Graphics by Matthew Carstensen