I apologize for not writing anything this past season (mostly, I was just not motivated), but I am changing that this season. I will review select competitions throughout the season, and will interview directors.

Interview parameters:
- PM me if you want to be interviewed, there are no restrictions here.
- There are no deadlines. You can ask to be interviewed whenever you'd like and you can submit your answers whenever you'd like (but be reasonable).
- You don't have to answer every question.
- Any circuit is okay, I'm not narrowed into drumline anymore.

I haven't come up with the questions yet, so expect them some time early tomorrow (if you PM'ed me)

I want to interview as many of you as possible, so don't be shy and send me a message!

Can you believe it? We already have one interview response!

What is your real name (not username)?
Eric Han Lozaga. Han like Han Solo.. no relations

What season is this for you in FMA v2.0?
I've been here every season.. just finished #7. I was also the #7 person to join FMA v2. There are currently 1,088 members

If you played the first FMA, describe your experience there
I was probably the last, or one of the last members to join v1.. I think it was a day or two before finals. That was the only reason I knew about v2. I thought it was an interesting idea, but a little too much, as far as all the different types of practicing and amount of time you have to spend for each group. In v2 I can play once every 2-3 hours and spend about 30 seconds on it total.

How did your drum corps get its name?
I marched Blue Devils... so I wanted something related.. Blue Deviled Eggs was the best idea I had. The corps also only performs food related shows, so the name fits perfectly.

How did your marching band get its name?
Well.. marching bands march (or attempt to). The members in my group march, and that is all they do... and they do it well. So The Marching Marchers is who they are.

How did your colorguard get its name?
V represents the chalice. The bringer of life (think DaVinci Girl). Basically all of the guard members are girls, so their name fits. They are almost all lesbians as well, and the upside down V represents the girls with their legs... well.. you get the idea. so that fits as well.... umm... uh.. moving on.

How did your drumline get its name?
The drummers in the drumline are a special bunch. They like.... love to drum and they are all masters at their craft. It is what they do, it is all they know. However, beyond drumming they aren't very bright, not too smart, and are pretty dumb. Drumming Dummers is a perfect name for this group.

Talk about some of the traditions that your drum corps adheres to.
For each meal the members are required to eat deviled eggs that are dyed blue. Each member is also required to know the full history of the group before being initiated into the corps. This includes past scores, placement, show songs, staff, finals locations, and members for every year. During the last 4 days of each season the members all dye their hair blue and does not practice. Instead they are taken to a remote location where they are treated to egg facials, deviled egg baths, and get to participate in the ever popular football game (with eggs instead of a football). It is also our tradition for the drum corps to be the most relaxed and well treated corps out there. Each member gets a massage after each practice, and during each practice will be allowed several hours of resting in their portable chairs they carry.

Talk about some of the traditions that your marching band adheres to.
Unlike the drum corps, the marching band is not really liked. They are liked, and are great people, but they are full of woodwinds and other members aren't good enough to make the drum corps or V. The only traditions this group gets is 24/7 ass kicking and motivational "talks" (think boot camp). If anyone laughs or has fun during the season (no they don't get free time) they get publicly humiliated and beaten by the other members of the band. This is a tradition that is upheld by the members themselves. The staff doesn't really care, they are usually off doing something better.

Talk about some of the traditions that your colorguard adheres to.
The guard is full of tradition. It is something they learn when they first get recruited into the program between 5-8 years old. Some of the traditions that I am aware of include the following: The night before each show they hold some kind of ritual that requires fire, black robes and a pig.. lots of weird dancing and shouting... not sure exactly what it's for but it looks interesting. Another one they seem to enjoy is that they live, eat and breathe guard. If they are not at practice (12 hours mon-sun) or competing, they are researching guard related items, working out to get in better shape for guard, or practicing on their own. They even have guard related music and sounds that they listen to at night to dream guard. Each girl in the program (currently 208 between 5 and 21) also love the chance to not only improve their guard technique and abilities, but they love the fact that continuously improving will help them move up within the organization. Once each member reaches level 50 in all of their techniques, they will be allowed to audition for the Marching Marchers guard. If they are accepted into the marching band and then reach level 100 (and are still eligible) they are invited to audition for The Blue Deviled Eggs. Once they become a member of the drum corps and reach level 200 in their skills (and are still eligible) they are invited to audition for V. The guard only accepts a limited amount of new members each year (typically from 1-5) to join. Not everyone who passes the audition becomes a member of V. If there are no more spots available, that member will have the chance to be called up at a later date. There are several ways that a member can be called up, but the most usual is by an active V member dropping during a show (lose 100 skill points and automatic drop down to the marching band) or enough times during a practice (lose 20 skill points for each drop). If a members skill points drops below 200, they are disqualified from being a V member and will be moved down to the drum corps until they improve their skills.

Talk about some of the traditions that your drumline adheres to.
The drumline likes to drum. They don't know about tradition and I would be surprised if they can even say it correctly, let alone spell it.

Talk about your drum corps’ show this year.
It will definitely be a food related show, I think we are leaning towards something stirred.

What is your favorite show your corps has ever done in any season?
This is a tough one, but I would have to say season 2 "Fast". Our show was based on several fast food companies in the country, and we were sponsored by each one.. so every day of the season we were treated to various free fast food meals. 3 of our members died throughout the season due to heart failure or something, but we all agreed that not having to pay for any of our meals was definitely worth it.

Talk about your marching band’s show this year.
The marching band show will be like all of their shows, music about marching. What it will be exactly I'm not sure quite yet because I'm running out of ideas.. but it might be a show about different military marching styles.

What is your favorite show your band has ever done in any season?
I think my favorite was from Season 3 (Sleeping on the John) where we did music based on different marches by John Philip Sousa. It was just a fun show. We placed second that season too, I think the GE aspect helped (such as peeing all over the field and not being able to walk after sitting down because everyones legs fell asleep.

Talk about your colorguard’s show this year.
Every year the guard does a lesbian theme. This coming season is confidential, but will probably involve a lot of pink, triangles, scissors, and flags.

What is your favorite show your guard has ever done in any season?
This is a hard one to pick. It would have to be between Season 3 (Love for Lesbians) and Season 5 (Pussy). 3 because throughout the year we had girls come in to demonstrate to everyone exactly what love for lesbians meant. It was very educational and exciting. I mean enjoyable... umm just educational. Season 5 was also a favorite show of mine, with song repertoires including shorthair, longhair, and la perm... it was a perfect show to represent the many different types of various smooth, exotic, hairy (and sometimes hairless) tamed and wild cats that can be found around the world.

Talk about your drumline’s show this year.
This year the drumline is going to just go out and play whatever they want. After 7 seasons of trying to teach them a show, I have come to the realization that having the members remember where to march is way over their heads and is pretty much useless.

What is your favorite show your drumline has ever done in any season?
Probably our Season 3 show "Drumline: The Field Show" it was based on the music from Drumline: The Movie. Since we all know that the movie is a perfect representation of all drumlines and marching bands in the world, we just had to pay tribute to the film.

Any other things about your drum corps we should know about?
Do not stand behind them after they eat their blue deviled eggs.

Any other things about your marching band we should know about?
Do not stand in front of the marching band. They will march over you.

Any other things about your colorguard we should know about?
Hide your daughters, girlfriends and wives

Any other things about your drumline we should know about?
Don't ask them any questions, especially one that will make them think. We lost 3 members this past year do to strokes and other brain related deaths.

Talk about any of your real life exploits in music (did or do you march anywhere? Do you plan on marching somewhere? What instrument(s) do you play? Do you compose? etc).
I marched trombone in high school for 3 years, baritone at CSU Fresno 1 year, baritone at Blue Devils B for 2 years, euphonium at Blue Devils for 2 years, trombone in the Navy for a few years, baritone at SoCal Dream (DCA) for 2 years. I would have marched BD for 5 years, but I joined the Navy in 2000. I also taught marching at marching bands in Oahu Hawaii and in San Diego CA, and was on visual staff for 2 years at SoCal Dream. I started on piano then picked up trumpet for half a year then switched to trombone. I can play baritone, and mary had a little lamb and the batman theme on piano.

What is your favorite DCI show?
Blue Devils 1994 and 1995. 1995 is (to me) pure and raw in your face drum corps

Least favorite show?
Probably nothing more boring than SCV 96. It literally put me to sleep every time I saw it

What are your non-related musical interests?
I play volleyball http://bit.ly/i3fTKA and I'm into imports. I've had a 91 Honda CRX, 00 Integra Type R, 87 Toyota MR2, 86 Toyota Supra (turbo), 88 Supra, and now I have a 91 Supra (turbo). I'm a full time freelance website programmer

What is the meaning of life?
There is no meaning. You are born and then you die.

MazzusK:

What is your real name (not username)?
- TJ Woolfolk. Sounds just like it's spelled. Crazy how often some people get it wrong.

What season is this for you in FMA v2.0?
- This will be my 6th. Took a hiatus for a while, but I'm back now.

If you played the first FMA, describe your experience there
- FMA v1 was pretty interesting, I think. It was my first time experiencing something like it. So, getting to see such a mix of people coming together to play this game on the internet, that was centered around Drum Corps and the like, was pretty amazing.


How did your drum corps get its name?
- I actually took the Corps name from the Indoor Percussion name(which I'll explain later). I just wanted to keep the theme.

How did your colorguard get its name?
- Credit here has to go to a friend of mine. She and I were talking about Guards and she mentioned wanting to run her own Independent Guard. She came up with a name(I won't share that) but it made me think about the T.V. show 'Angel'. And then it hit me: Angelus Winter Guard.

How did your drumline get its name?
- Wolfs Percussion Theatre, like AWG, has a bit of a real life story behind it. During my high schools years, I decided I wanted to run an Indoor Ensemble. WPT seemed like a really cool name, partly because it somewhat derives itself from my last name and because it was the best I could come up with. Since it has become the moniker under which I write my Percussion Books, and a friend and I are working on a very unique project that also uses the WPT name.

Talk about some of the traditions that your drum corps adheres to.
- The Wolves are know for their Guard and Percussion. During our FMA days we would often place very well in those Captions. So, those two sections, especially the Guard, set the standard for the rest of the Corps. With this being the case, the Guard usually has priority in everything. The members were the ones who actually instituted this, which the staff always finds interesting.

Talk about some of the traditions that your colorguard adheres to.
- Before every performance, the Guard sings a song, which one of our veteran members made up, and they dance around a bit.

Talk about some of the traditions that your drumline adheres to.
- Typical Drumline stuff. Talk about how awesome they are, play dirt in the lot, somehow score well when they get in the arena. They horse around a lot.

Talk about your drum corps’ show this year.
- 'We Are' is a show about unity. It's about how a random group of people are drawn together, united by one common cause.

Talk about your colorguard’s show this year.
- This season, we're doing a show called 'Legacy'. It's basically about the restoration of a Legacy. We hope it will be like a bit of an auto-biography about the Guard getting back to their former glory.

Talk about any of your real life exploits in music (did or do you march anywhere? Do you plan on marching somewhere? What instrument(s) do you play? Do you compose? etc).
- Pitster 3 years of high school, Bass 2 my senior year. Been teching, and arranging, since graduating. Member of the Atlanta Falcons Drumline(quite possibly one of the sweetest gigs EVER). Hoping to march a year or two with CorpsVets in the near future, since I've aged out. Currently a Music Education Major.

What is your favorite DCI show?
- If your force me to choose, it has to be Frameworks (The Cavaliers, 2002). I'm a bit of a Cavies fanboy, so I love just about everything they put on the field. But that show was on a level like nothing I've ever seen or heard.
Close second goes to a Corps I'm not really a fan of: The Zone(Cadets 2005). Seriously, that ballad? Combined with the Drum Feature? Just. Wow.

What are your non-related musical interests?
I'm a writer. I'm working on a novel, and a play. I've written a ton of poetry. I'm a huge football(soccer) fan. Bayern Munich, Arsenal, and Philadelphia Union are my clubs. Really, I like most sports. Except basketball. Because I loath tall people(obviously, I'm not one). I'm a Gamer(Portal 2 comes out soon. Super psyched for that).

What is the meaning of life?
Whatever you want it to be. Every person has their own set of cards they're dealt. What you do with those cards, is entirely up to you. What you get out of life is entirely up to you.

mceuph:

What is your real name (not username)?
Jerry McLarty

What season is this for you in FMA v2.0?
This is my sixth season in v2.0

If you played the first FMA, describe your experience there
I thought the first FMA was great compared to the older FMB. By the end of v1.0 my ensembles were consistently making finals every season in their respective divisions. At that time, I was only running a drum corps and a marching band.

If you played FMB (before FMA v1.0), describe how that went for you.
Not very well. I remember I started playing back when there was a focus system (high focus, medium focus, no focus, etc..) and I remember I got dead last. I checked back sometime later and I saw the system had improved. It required a lot of strategy because you got to choose how many minutes your show was, and you had to learn all of it before you could start rehearsing. Also, the order of your rehearsal actions mattered. It was a lot of fun, but my ensembles didn't do very well in there either.

How did your drum corps get its name?
My drum corps started as a marching band in FMB called the "Skyline Marching Band." I created it as the same name of my high school. I thought that was bland so I called it "Falcon Regiment" since my school's mascot was a Falcon. They remained my marching band up until FMA v2.0 when they became the drum corps due to me accidentally clicking drum corps when I set them up. It's okay though, I just intertwined it into my fantasy storyline of my organization. [see below]

How did your marching band get its name?
My marching band began as a drum corps in FMA v1.0. They were originally named Centennial Drum & Bugle Corps. The centennial comes from being based out of Colorado, the Centennial state. The drum corps was eventually renamed Centennial Regiment for a very short time. When the organization fell into financial difficulty, Centennial Regiment was forced to fold and Falcon Regiment was reorganized as a drum corps. Eventually the organization became stable again, and Centennial Regiment returned as a marching band.

How did your colorguard get its name?
CentennialGUARD is simply an extension of Centennial Regiment.

How did your drumline get its name?
FalconLINE is simply an extension of Falcon Regiment.

What is your favorite show your corps has ever done in any season?
The favorite show my corps has done would have to be The Great Train Robbery. The pieces in that show were:

• Ecstasy of Gold - Ennio Morricone
• Ghost Train Triptych - Eric Whitacre
• The Great Locomotive Chase - Robert W. Smith

I feel that this show had the most potential to come to life, and it did by securing my drum corps first ever gold medal.

What is your favorite show your band has ever done in any season?

The favorite show of my band would have to be Of Sailors and Whales featuring music from the concert band piece of the same name. I think that entire piece is great and could translate really well to the field. I don't know why no groups have ever done it before.

What is your favorite show your guard has ever done in any season?

I think my guard's favorite show is this season's show STARscape. The music includes:

• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - Jane Taylor
• Main Theme (from Star Wars) - John Williams
• Enterprising Young Men (from Star Trek) - Michael Giacchino

I think the idea of the show is pretty obvious.

What is your favorite show your drumline has ever done in any season?

By far the favorite show of any show I have designed would have to be my drumline's show 'EYE FOR AN EYE' the music includes:

• Twisted Nerve - Bernard Herrmann
• Wanted: Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
• Ironside - Quincy Jones
• Revenge - Danny Elfman

That show was a story of revenge, and if I ever had the chance to design it for a real ensemble I could really make it come to life.

Talk about any of your real life exploits in music (did or do you march anywhere? Do you plan on marching somewhere? What instrument(s) do you play? Do you compose? etc).

My corps experience is Troopers 2007, 2009, and 2010. I can play the Euphonium and Trombone. I arrange in my spare time, but it's not very good.

What is your favorite DCI show?

Blue Knights - '09, '10
Bluecoats - '07, '08, '09, '10
Blue Stars - '05, '09
Bridgemen - '77
Cadets - '96, '00, '05, '07, '09, '10
Carolina Crown - '04, '07, '09
Cavaliers - '02, '04, '06, '10
Colts - '06, '07, '09
Madison Scouts - '97, '99, '07, '10
Phantom Regiment - '89, '96, '03, '06, '07, '08
Santa Clara Vanguard - '89, '99, '07, '08
Star of Indiana - '91, '93, '10
Troopers - '79, '83, '85, '07, '08, '09, '10

Least favorite show?
SCV '09
I just don't see what the big deal was all about.
I don't mean to offend anyone.

What are your non-related musical interests?
Video games (Portal, Starcraft 2)

What is the meaning of life?
42.