DCI's Hardest Show Ever!

[@FTTPRO]

I will never forget the entire crowd's "Oh shit" moment when we realized the final drill was the openener's opening drill in reverse. It made us question the entire show. It was truly a remarkable.

[@louiegolden]

No matter how much time goes by, the amount of work that goes into DCI from every standpoint, is nothing less than amazing to me.

[@theTenorDrummer]

Truth!

[@marker848]

Thanks for the video! I aged out recently at cavaliers and it's really cool seeing old footage like this. That era of the corps and what yall accomplished really inspires alot of the guys today still!

[@samsignorelli]

"old footage" *cries in 1984*

[@marker848]

@@samsignorelli lol

[@samsignorelli]

@@marker848 True tho....you'll be there one day! Now get off my lawn! Your guys are killing it in percussion this year.

[@theTenorDrummer]

So great to see the recent success, if only I wasn't stranded in the PNW, I'd be around more

[@lolpizza42]

@marker848 ooooooolllllddddd

[@Cavalier92]

Hey brother! This is a great homage to an amazing year. I am a FMM ‘90-‘92, and I saw you guys as gods compared to what we did.

[@madpistol]

Spin Cycle was one of the most insane DCI shows ever made. Period. Full Stop.

[@theTenorDrummer]

I like this guy

[@PriesthoodNation2]

Can we please go back to demanding and complex drills like this!?!

[@renorailfanning5465]

" Stop Playing!" So true. So true. 😁

[@theTenorDrummer]

right?!

[@HueiYuanPan]

0:40 ”238 Sets?! What do you think I’m Rain Man or something?” 😂 Awesome video, J! Seaver texted it to me, gotta drop this in the alumni forum. Crazy to watch and realize it’s been 20 years 🎉

[@theTenorDrummer]

Haha! Good to see you here, Huei!

[@gatewaykj]

One of the many shows that made me want to be a Cavalier. So great seeing many familiar faces from my years (05-08) as New Guys/2nd year “friends” in this video. SPLOOIE!

[@theTenorDrummer]

SPLOOIE!

[@YINGexclamation]

Cavies, 2003 spin cycle is one of my all time favorites, and also my first real introduction into DCI. Not only one of the best shows, but also one of the hardest

[@NothingQuiteAsFly]

It was an incredible show that doesnt always get its due since it was shoehorned into that run of titles. Great video

[@Heavy-METAL-hellridE]

I was a Jr. in high school that year. Jim was the director of percussion at our school. I still have the spin cycle drum score to this day. I was on cloud 9 the day he gave me that. It is truly a banger of a show.

[@EricPeelMusic]

Some of us do watch. But we're unashamedly intimidated by your tenor godliness. Thanks for sharing such rare footage and insight into '03 Cavies!

[@smdftb8495]

We both marched with Hodges, and I was roommates with Candyman in college. Good peeps! Great show!

[@theTenorDrummer]

Nice, yeah Hodges is a beast. He was my seat partner '02 '03 too

[@TheMokeleMbembe]

On the rain: I remember that too. I used to go to Allentown every year, and 2003 was the first year I did. I remember on one of the nights the skies opened up in the middle of someone's show (Glassmen maybe? Magic?) and everyone went to their cars for like 2 hours, then reconvened and whichever corps that was got huge cheers when they restarted their show.

[@booker9816]

*THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MY DOT AND THE FORM. MY DOT IS THE FORM, AND THE FORM IS MY DOT*

[@PRFB]

Can you talk about how it felt to end the show facing backfield as the crowd's applause trickled in? That is super uncommon in the activity and very interesting! I'd also like to hear a bit about the snare wires under your bottom drums because that's a very cool element and mechanism (same with the wooden pieces mounted over the shell on the tenors and snares). I bet those things were the heaviest drums in DCI too with all that extra hardware!

[@drchuck9]

Southwind’s tenors also had snare wires on their bottom drum during 1999 and early ‘00s (when I marched). Turned them on or off throughout the show. Maybe other corps did it as well??? 🤷‍♂️

[@theTenorDrummer]

Yeah we used the snares during the ballads in '02 and '03 to give them a different flavor. The wood blocks were a cool touch in '03, gave us all sorts of stuff to hit but any timing inconsistencies were SUPER obvious, especially for 10-man snare line!

[@LJ-wo1wf]

(I didn't march Cavies) Regarding backfield endings - several of the shows I marched ended quietly and facing away from the audience. One ending had us horns and drums pair up, face each other, and put our hands on each other's shoulders; another one had us crouch down while the Phantom Of The Opera disappeared; yet another had us hide under parachutes as "Saigon" was evacuated (the show was Miss Saigon). It's an interesting design choice, as it helps focus the audience on a solo musician or a specific character in the guard.

[@jasonbates9906]

Love the 3rd movement drum feature from this show. Got to watch y'all run through it a bunch standstill one afternoon in Smyrna, TN. All the random visual stuff and different sounds are so cool.

[@theTenorDrummer]

Nice!

[@Sforzando_DCI]

Hey that’s me!! Oh…my bad 😬😬 Love your stuff! Keep it up!

[@theTenorDrummer]

Haha, thanks for the inspiration!

[@cheezedogg23]

Glad to come across your video. I aged out 2003. Spin cycle is probably my favorite show. And to be on your at many shows with you guys and see the progression was awesome. You guys even fed us after your home show. I was in Marion Glory Cadets. Good times.

[@TheRailwayDrone]

This is definitely one of my favorite Cavies' shows. They were a dominant force in the 2000s. I have so many shows from that decade that are my favorite. This one took the cake.

[@jeffgray7922]

I can't believe it's been 20 years already! I know it doesn't really matter in the end and nothing against the Blue Devils, but I still maintain to this day that this show should have won. Devils may have been a tiny bit cleaner, but this show was just so difficult that I believe it made up for what variance there may have been in drill cleanliness. One of the all-time great drills of DCI. I really wish drumcorps would go back to this style of drill and get away from so much staging/park and bark that we have today. March and play, baby.

[@MysterionSP]

Oh the memories, as soon as you pulled out those dvds. Haha. Yes I agree. Once of the most underrated shows and a true overall masterpiece. I loved everything about the 00s-05 cavies but this show was the one that took the cake for me. I still have the full corp score from when I toured with them!

[@elbear98]

Stud. My favorite Cavaliers show of all time. Including the years I marched. And IMHO, the hardest show ever.

[@alildrumhappy]

My high school bought the drums when y'all sold them. Those are still my favorite drums I've ever marched, mostly because of the snares that were in the basses and tenors.

[@EricPeelMusic]

Snares in the basses and tenors? Tell me more please!

[@alildrumhappy]

@@EricPeelMusic the tenors had a snare mechanism in drums 3 and 4, like the ones on the Remo Rhythm lids. They had a knob where you can flip the snares on and off. Basses were different, they had two snare beds inside the drum, in middle of the drum head. They had a knob that push the snares out to touch the heads.

[@theTenorDrummer]

I wanted to buy my drums but y'all beat me to it!

[@nilesabel7279]

Great video man! As a young 16yr old marching capital regiment watching y’all every chance I got, I was sooooo upset that you didn’t win. Would have and should have been the first 4 peat and really.. 5 peat!

[@jazzedupgaming]

Man I love that show! I marched Capital Regiment on mello that season. We were at a bunch of shows together. You guys were such goofballs at retreat and made us break every time 😂 My wife was an ‘03 Phantomette and likes to talk about how much you all would sweat when they walked by you in warmup etc.

[@theTenorDrummer]

Haha, yes, all is true!

[@ohwrighton]

saw this show at finals, without a doubt should’ve taken 1st

[@TakeTheFieldDesigns]

i transcribed a lot of drill during the pandemic, including most of this show. Also marched with a few people in this show. Can confirm - this is def in the running for hardest show ever. Id also put SCV from the same year in that category

[@judyrosati285]

All I can say is WOW !!!!!

[@namisloC]

RIP their knees.

[@tdubasdfg]

I think this was the peak of drill design. Modern drill does nothing for me...

[@KiranSundarkdog97]

1:11 about 8 years too early!

[@theTenorDrummer]

Unfortunately :)

[@MicahtheDrumCorpsPseudoboomer]

2003 was also the last fully unamplified Cavaliers front ensemble, which is something only I lament. While my friends long for the return of fully unamplified hornlines, the fully unamplified front ensemble seems comparatively unloved.

[@gognaclump2075]

Eh, I say it's for the better of the activity. A lot less physical strain on the players from not having to beat the crap out of the instruments with ultrahard mallets to even be heard with a 110-120 dB hornline behind you from hookin' a mic or two underneath.

[@MicahtheDrumCorpsPseudoboomer]

@@gognaclump2075 Interestingly, Erik Johnson, the 1995-2005 and 2009-2010 Cavaliers front ensemble caption head (and co-head with Jim Casella in 2008), said he didn't change his approach to technique when amplification was adopted.

[@Johnnyrose1588]

The first dci show I fell in love with! I still believe they were better than Phenomenon of Cool but who am I to judge? Still one of my favorite shows to date if not my favorite

[@bugliosi54]

OMG that's me at 3:09

[@theTenorDrummer]

Hey!

[@jeffgray7922]

Hey, here again! This show made my latest video of "Awesome drill, vol. 1". Some of the coolest, most well executed drill I've ever seen.

[@theTenorDrummer]

Nice! I'll check it out. Thanks for letting me know!

[@nhuxtable4019]

My old director was in this show with you on the tenor line and he was the reason I ultimately joined the corps in 2015. Love some of the inside perspective. There's certainly a reason to this day that this show is still considered the creme de la creme of the early 2000s for the corps, even among the cmms. Thanks for a great retrospective

[@charredolive]

Were you at the Kennesaw audition camp that year?

[@theTenorDrummer]

There aren't too many options I can think of but who's your old director??

[@nhuxtable4019]

Seaver

[@carlng1941]

my band director marched this show!

[@Rich_Larr]

We might have you beat with 2007…👀 But yeah Spin Cycle might be my all time favorite to this day

[@ObscureMachines]

1:13 "wait whaaaat?" 😂

[@theTenorDrummer]

haha, this conversation never really took place except for in my head as we learned the 2nd half of the show

[@gaberobison680]

I miss this level of drill complexity. Much better than the dance and pose stuff that dominates today

[@dci_fan0345]

Ye tbh I wished drill writers would write more interesting drill. Carolina crown writes interesting drill for their closer most of the time.

[@Ralph981]

Except non-stop drill is boring af. It isn't visually appealing to anyone but old drum corps members.

[@isaireyes5129]

I think props should not be allowed.

[@jameschandler6449]

sholud've won that year!

[@drennendowning]

what are your thoughts on the 2023 Cavaliers?

[@theTenorDrummer]

So great seeing their success this year, just a few more shows to go!

[@boxingfred]

Should have been a 5-pete

[@scotashton766]

NO way in hell the Cavies did not win 2003! This is ------------beyond belief. CAVALIERS--Champions 2003-- phenom!!!

[@theTenorDrummer]

I like this guy

[@Drums-ve8on]

So nice to see touches of Brubaker/Gaines ish drill looks, unlike the visual gibberish prevalent in today’s corps.

[@thomaswharton4078]

It's goated

[@exodeus7959]

I honestly don’t care what those kids end up doing as a profession. If you can commit to a level of precision and excellence like this I would hire you.

[@theTenorDrummer]

What positions do you have open? :)

[@blipblopwafi]

never let em know your next move drill

[@mistapostman24]

SPINCYCLE was fuckin CRAZZZZZZZYYYYYYYYY❤❤❤❤❤

[@eddietucker7005]

I love watching rehearsals and run throughs. Corps porn is IT!!

[@keithdean007]

Hey,There's a snare in this line, from the 1998 Phantom Regiment...

[@theTenorDrummer]

Who's that? We had a couple Phantom snare vets from '01, maybe another one or two

[@keithdean007]

@@theTenorDrummer If I remember, Chavez!?

[@mickeygijzen5847]

Had the amount of rain be less present throughout the season, giving you more time to perfect the drill. Do you think you'd be able to topple BD that year?

[@theTenorDrummer]

It certainly would have helped, but after the 3-peat, there was definitely some Cavie fatigue in the activity. The crowd erupted in San Antonio when our winning streak ended :(

[@erroneous3493]

I like Mike's writing a lot. But I do wish they would give Bret Kuhn writing duties for like one movement next year.

[@ianjones6w]

60 charts in 2.5 minutes is bonkers.

[@popeyesailor9571]

As an alumni and father who hosted members of the 2014 BD show I think 2003 Cav's show is real drum corps. unison everywhere. I love this show. I also think Spartacus was the better show.

[@popeyesailor9571]

ps I joined BD in 1970 after seeing their drum and bugle corps do exhibition and was told I was too young so I forced them to start a group for us under 10 years old kids and it is still competing to this day.

[@theTenorDrummer]

That's amazing!

[@trap4dafu2k0fit]

The mandates are the mark of the beast.

[@brandonlocke1676]

Cadets 1999 has a solid claim for one of the hardest shows ever.

[@mattbailey2050]

Fantastic video! This was the ahow that changed me from a blue devils die hard to bleed green. I was a going into my junior year of high school and remember going to the San Antonio show to see drum corps live for the first time that summer and yall did a clinic and run through right afterwards during the day in white FJM T-Shirts. I'll never forget sitting on the field in the center of the hornline circle when they played the park and blow section from the 3rd movement. It was so freaking loud that I can replay that memory so perfectly and vividly 20 years later. Then watching the run through and seeing the drill just blew me away with what was capeable in a drum corps. It was that moment I decided I had to be apart of that. Cut to 2006 I not only achieved that goal of marching with the cavaliers and being apart of one of the best cavaliers shows ever, but I had that same opportunity to impact many others lives the same way mine was that day in San Antonio. 03 Spin Cycle is my favorite show ever and I respect the hell out of you guys before me paving the way fro me to follow in the footsteps of giants!

[@theTenorDrummer]

Amazing story, thanks for sharing! '06 was an incredible show!

[@Inspadave]

Wish tenor lines had not gotten away from mallets.

[@davidwarner3326]

No mention of the last 30-ish seconds being the first 30-ish seconds on rewind?

[@theTenorDrummer]

Yeah, I glossed over a few things for sure. They go through it in detail in that podcast though

[@bobbarksofficial4335]

HAHAHA love it 💚💚🥁🥁💚💚🥁🥁

[@theTenorDrummer]

Thanks!

[@spadetrotter7400]

This show is so visually appealing. Horn and drum lines are better than ever, but visual design has really devolved.

[@boldtenor]

@thetenordrummer, which drumheads did you guys use on tenor in 03?

[@theTenorDrummer]

We switched from Renaissance to Suede that year but they were still called "Experimental"

[@Davis.smith.weightlifting]

O3 cavaliers and 2013 blue devils are probably the two hardest shows ever.

[@the1aj39]

12 Crown?

[@Davis.smith.weightlifting]

@@the1aj39 close third

[@jeffgray7922]

@@Davis.smith.weightlifting HAH! No.

[@patrickburden5416]

What makes this show so hard?

[@andrestretchnikov4591]

To be honest I still think 2012 carolina crown is sitll the hardest show ever

[@Surelockohms]

Just because it was hard for them doesn't mean it was the hardest. 😂

[@andrestretchnikov4591]

@@Surelockohms I mean the music is harder and the drill is at least as hard so yeah I’d say it was a harder show 🅱️

[@Surelockohms]

@@andrestretchnikov4591 nah. 🤣

[@iainoam2565]

@@andrestretchnikov4591I personally believe the drill in spin cycle is harder than Crown '12, but you do have to give the musical demand to Crown.

[@YINGexclamation]

Its definitely close imo, I think overall Cavies 2003 was harder given just how intense the drill was in every single way, but I will give it to the crown that the drill was still super difficult with definitely harder music.

[@MicahtheDrumCorpsPseudoboomer]

Unpopular (as far as I'm aware) Opinion: The Tenor Drummer>EMCproductions

[@Apollostowel]

Why can't we have both?

[@theTenorDrummer]

Oooo, them's fighting words, haha. I would love to meet Eric some day

[@andrewpacker4243]

I’m really tired…

[@theTenorDrummer]

Packer!

[@martins2043]

Incredible and unforgettable drill; boring and forgettable music.

[@bennourie3377]

Crown 2012 was way harder 🥱 🥱

[@packatac10]

🙄