Bring On The Heat
So the show at Minneapolis got cancelled for a massive thunder storm and the worst thing was that show was the best we had done all season. Donny Allen tired to find out the score but supposedly the judges ripped up the score sheets for the corps that performed so we didn’t get a true score, however Donny was talking to someone and he said we got a 74.1 for that show which is pretty good. But I have some doubts about that because the next show at Rockford, IL we scored a 70.4 and the performance wasn’t as good as the night before but not 3 points worse. Also John Kelly (the trumpet tech) left us today because Pioneer couldn’t afford to pay for his plane ticket out of San Antonio, so the trumpets are without a tech until Aug 02 Centerville.
After the Rockford show we then had a 480 mile drive to Kansas City which took about 12 hours, so we arrived at the show site about 12 noon and got straight off the buses and started rehearsal. Surprisingly practice didn’t go very well, people got angry at each other and we didn’t really get much done. And this reflected the score we got by only increasing by .5 of a point. We also got to see Blue Devils for the first time this season and OMG they’re good!!! It’s such a good clean show and it shows with a score of 90.6.
After the show we then travelled to the school and got a good amount of sleep so we would be prepared for a long hard day of rehearsal. However the amount of sleep didn’t prepare us for the strange weather we had. The heat got up to 35oC with 85% humidity, it was so freaking hot and they decided to do a lot of conditioning to us and I have never worked so hard in my life. Everything I was wearing had to be thrown away because they was so wet from the sweat. And this did not help with moral and things got a little tense between certain members of the corps and it took a while for things to calm down but we got everything sorted and carried on with practice. But about 10minutes before the end of the second block (1650) another massive thunder storm came and washed us out. But this wasn’t a normal thunder storm, this storm had a tornado warning with it. It was quite funny to hear massive sirens going off and weather wardens telling people to get inside because they might be a a tornado coming. The tornado didn’t come but we ended the day with a indoor sectional block which went really well.
Now we are of to Broken Arrow, OK to start the 4 shows in 4 days trip which will be covering 1585 miles. We have been told that these next few days will hopefully get us of the bottom of DCI and catch some of the other corps because we are actually competing against corps around us instead of corps like BD and The Cadets.
N.B I just wanna say well done to Concord Allstars for the show in Barnsely, and I hope the season carry ons going well for them x x x
A Quick Update
Well im in a gas station somewhere in WI on my way to Rockford IL. The show tonight at Minneapolis MN was a really good show apart from the show got cancelled about half way through for a massive thunder storm. We played really well, by far the best performance of the year. Its been a while since we have got a propa score so the staff are getting a little concerned but what can you do. Anyways i think we are going so ill keep you updated x x x
30 Days To Go . . .
So we had our final two competitions of the first tour this past week. The first one was in Naperville IL. Everyone had a really good feeling in the corps that we would get a good score, with the new uniforms and the big flag at the end. So we got to the show site warmed up and everything and it went really well, we had people from The Cavaliers sit and watch us warmup and they was surprised on how good we sounded (to be honest Donny and the rest of the staff was to). So we got suited up and then on the horizon a massive thunder storm was coming and the competition only got called off when we was halfway through our show. So we ended up doing a stand still exhibition show which was kinda cool. Then the next show was at Carmel IN and the next few days really sucked. To start things off when we got to the housing site at 0400 in the morning and we weren’t aloud into the school until 0700 so we had to stay outside and sleep on the curb which sucked. Then we had to practice in car park for 8 hours. The to top it off we judges gave us a really shit score of 68.4. And the worst thing is that our brass score was judge by the same judge as our first show and he scored us lower at Carmel than the first show!!!!
Sorry this is brief but ive got no battery and I am on my way Minnneapolis for the first regional show where everyone is attending so it will be the first really time we can see where we stand
x x x
Better Every Day
So Independent weekend went well, the parades went smoothly and the corps raised loads of money. The parades are what I expected; lots of mini US flags, big trucks pulling country bands on a float, loads of candy and lots of typical American stuff. We had good fun at them but playing the same 2 pieces over and over again got a bit annoying. However Roman told all the staff to take the weekend off so the section leaders and drum majors were in charge, which is good because it was more relaxed for example on the last parade Timmy Allen took warm-ups and we got everyone to play a little solo piece which could be part of the show or just some random music. So I decided to play God Save The Queen which both me and Glen enjoyed!
Then on the 6th we had our final competition of the first tour in Metamora IL. Again we didn’t have any staff for this (apart from 2 or 3) so every didn’t really think we would do that well but we managed to pull out a 68.4 which is 7 points off Pioneer’s quarter finals score last year. So we did really well and it put us in a group of corps which ranges from like 16th-23rd I think.
After the Metamora show we headed back to Milwaukee to start all day rehearsals again. On the first day back we had a 9 hour block and after that we went to a baseball game. It was the Brewers vs SF Giants, the Giants destoryed the Brewers 15-3 scoring 3 home runs in the first innings. Then on the 8th we had a shorter day of just 6 hours of practice. After practice the corps went to the local laundry place whilst the staff all went out on a boat cruise for the staff night out. Whilst we was at the laundry place Timmy gave me, Warren, Matt, Becca, Timmy B, Nathan, Chainsaw, Josh, Texas, Joey and Theo our I&E piece. We are playing a Chuck Mangione chart of ‘Feel So Good’ which Timmy arranged and it sounds really good! Then on the 9th we had a 12 hour rehearsal, but minus Donny Allen because we went missing :s. And finally today we had our last parade of the season which was along the Milwaukee waterside (Lake Michigan), after that we had our photos taken for DCI and then we had the Pioneer Alumni come to watch us rehearse which was kinda cool.
I think thats all for now, but I’ll try and keep you updated on what Im doing!!!!
Ohh finally we have new uniforms and we have a massive flag fly over us at the end of the show . . .
Independence Weekend
This weekend Pioneer have taken a brake from the busy schedule of DCI to do parades for Independence Day. Today we will be doing to parades, the first one at Hoffman IL and the second at Menomonee Falls WI. Between these parades Roman decided that we needed down time so he is planning to take us to Gurnee Mills Mall. Then tomorrow we will be doing 3 parades (Cedarburg WI, Cudahy WI & Hales Corners WI) & 1 exhibition (Cudahy United Seniors Bingo Hall). After the parades we will be going somewhere to watch some fireworks which will be pretty cool. I’ve got everything ready for tomorrow, a massive Great Britain Flag on my bus window and a British pillow case over my seat. It’s got a few laughs but I have been advised to take the British flag down tomorrow because some people might get a fended, but I aint bothered 
Then on monday we have the last show of the first tour which is at Wauwatosa WI.
The show last night wasn’t very good. However we got a score of 65.4 which is a drop in score but it’s better than the score I thought we was going to get. So we are finishing the first tour strongly and there is a really good vibe in the camp at the moment. But we still are missing a lead trumpet, a 2nd mellophone and a tuba player.
At the moment I am stuck on the bus in a load of traffic on the i90 I think. It’s about 30c outside at the moment so on the bus it feels about 40 because the A/C doesn’t work very well, so when we go down south it will be great fun!!!
July 01, 44 Days To Go !!!
So Pioneer have nearly finished our first tour, and we have had some really good shows. For example the show last night in Dubuque IA was a brilliant we gained 5 points from our previous show and it was the first realistic score we had. The judges have not been fair on Pioneer up until last night. The performances we have been putting in have been quite good and the crowd really like the show and doesn’t understand why the scores are so low (Have a look on DCP for the article). So hopefully we will be catching up on corps like Jersey Surf, Pacific Crest and Mandarins and beating them because the corps is sounding really good.
Im sorry I haven’t been updating and often but I’ve been really busy as you can guess, so I will give you a quick run down on what has happened. I started marching again at Normal IL and yes I do no that the score dropped at that show! One of the lead trumpet players have left us due to personal reasons and one of the tuba players has Mono. The corps is feeling really good and is looking forward to getting better every day!!!!
2 Shows Down . . .
I’m just traveling from the second show of the season.
The first show was at Louisville, we played at the University of Louisville Stadium which is like a 40,000 seater stadium. For the show, me and the mexican kids stood at one of the end zones for the show. It was really annoying not playing and just standing there watching the corps perform. From where I was stood the show sounded alright, but I couldn’t really tell because where I was. We scored a 59.7 which was fair according to the staff. At Louisville there was a total of 7 corps performing. Teal Sound, Madison Scouts, Glassmen, Phantom Regiment, The Cavaliers and Bluecoats. I only saw The Cavaliers and Bluecoats and both of their shows were pretty good. Cavaliers went for a jazzy show which had a really good trumpet trio section, but Bluecoat’s show was very good. It’s a concept show about the future and they have some really cool visual effects in and the brass section sound mint. Our main rivals in this show was Teal sound, a corps from Florida, who was in Division II last year. Before this show they had already competed in 2 other shows which they scored around the 64.0 but at this show they only scored 62.8 I think.
The second show was at Bowling Green, OH which Glassmen organized. This performance was a lot better than the first show we played and that resulted in us getting a 2 point increase on the previous score with a 61.25 I think. From where I was stood (in the end zone again) it sounded really good and the staff was really happy with the show as well. The other corps that performed tonight was Teal Sound, Crossman, Phantom Regiment, Bluecoats and Glassmen. Teal didn’t get a very good score I think only like a 63.1 so hats good for us because they don’t seem to be improving.
At the moment we our on the i25 I think traveling to Normal, IL which is 350 miles away from Bowling Green, OH. So it’s going to be a long journey in a semi working a/c system.
Also a quick update on my injury. Today I managed to do some forward 8 in 8s so hopefully I will be marching at the Drums on Parade show In Madison on saturday.
Off We Go
Pioneer Drum Bugle Corps has just set off on their first tour of the DCI circuit. We are going to Louisville Kentucky which is 400 miles from Milwaukee. We have 54 brass marching, but we should be marching more but a couple of player got some virus or something and they’re out for like a month I think! However we are marching 20 trumpets, 14 mellophones, 8 tubas and 12 baritones. During rehearsal we sounded pretty good, not brilliant or clean but still good for this time of the season. We also have recruited 10 mexican kids who was brought over by Glen Carter (ex Blue Eagles) and they’re filling in the guard and the last cymbal spot.
So this season the staff really do believe we can get into Semi-Finals and from what I’ve been watching I believe we can do. Pioneer are taking a new approach by changing from the traditional Irish music and simple drill sets too complex marching and difficult music. When I get chance tomorrow I will upload the closer so you can watch it, but If you wanna watch the opener follow the link;
I’m still out injured so I wont be marching the first to shows which sucks, but I’m aiming to march the Drum Classic (Madison) which is on the 26th at the latest. So hopefully I wont be out to much longer!!!
Doctor, Doctor
Well as some of you might of already heard, but at the moment Im in crutches. What happened was that we were doing a full run of the show and one of the other lead trumpet players missed timed his set and stomped on my foot. Causing me to get a fracture and having my big toe nail removed. The doctor told me that I need to stay off it for at least a week and he cannot really give me a time frame on when I will be able to march again. This is quite unfortunate because we start the 1st tour next monday, so Donny wants me on Sunday to get through a full run of the show. But Im not sure if I will be able to but we shall see!!!
However this has given me the chance to practice my parts more and also to look at the show. The show looks and sounds like no other Pioneer show and is gunna shock alot of people in DCI. (I will upload a video of the show in the next couple of days!!!)
Also in the past couple of days we have had the main visual guy from Blue Devils come to help us with the basics and personal fitness of the corps. We learn’t alot from him and he told us that he has very shocked and impressed with the attitude and work ethic of the corps. He also thinks that we will get better scores than last year, which is good
Finally I’ve been asked to do something for I&E. Timmy has done an arrangement of ‘Feel So Good’ by Chuck Mangione. So me and a few others will be competing in Texas later on in the season.
Hips Dont Lie
I’ve got pictures and videos of the parade with the Americanos.
It’s not a brilliant video of the parade but i just wanna say that at the end warren hits a super G and its sounded proper good!!!!
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