MarchFourth Marching Band

MarchFourth Marching Band
Playing at the Festival International in Lafayette, Louisiana spring 2011
Background information
Origin	Portland, Oregon, United States
Genres	Marching band
Years active	2003–present
Website	www.marchfourthmarchingband.com

MarchFourth Marching Band is an American musical and performance group based in Portland, Oregon. They perform mostly instrumental brass band music in a marching band style, combined with a visual performance by stiltwalkers and fire- and flag-dancers. They have performed with Fleetwood Mac, No Doubt, KISS, Blink 182, Galactic, The Neville Brothers, Antibalas ^[1] and Pink Martini and have toured Germany, The Netherlands, France, British Columbia and the United States. MarchFourth performs both original works and cover songs. The name derives from the date of the band's creation, March 4, 2003, Fat Tuesday.

MarchFourth consists of a horn section (trombone, trumpet, saxophone), a percussion section, electric bass guitar, and electric guitar as well as stiltwalkers, acrobats and dancers. The band member's uniforms are mismatched, and are often redesigned traditional marching band uniforms. The percussion section's drum harnesses are made from bicycle parts.^[2]

The band in 2009 in Hillsboro, Oregon

MarchFourth's music retains influences from klezmer and swing styles of music, among others.

MarchFourth Marching Band was voted "Best Local Band" in 2004 by readers of Willamette Week alternative weekly newspaper^[3] and the August 2007 issue of Travel + Leisure magazine featured MarchFourth Marching Band in an article about Portland.^{[citation needed]} Since MarchFourth performed as the opening act for No Doubt, lead singer Gwen Stefani has featured a marching band in her solo albums.^[4]

MarchFourth was the marching band featured in an online advertisement for the short-lived Microsoft Kin smartphone.^[5][6]

MarchFourth Marching Band is booked by Skyline Music.

Discography

• MarchFourth Marching Band (self titled) - 2005
• Live - 2007
• Rise Up - 2009
• Magnificent Beast - 2011

References

1. ^ Pique Newsmagazine
2. ^ Hollywood Bowl Artist Details
3. ^ Willamette Week: Readers Poll 2004
4. ^ Glide Magazine article on MarchFourth
5. ^ OregonLive.com: Microsoft unveils touch-screen "Kin" phones
6. ^ Facebook: MarchFourth Marching Band

External links

• MarchFourth Marching Band (official website)