See the horn, see the horn it shines / Don't get too close or it'll burn your eyes

September 16, 2012 7:44 PM

I'm looking for quite a few marching band/concert band covers of rock, especially punk rock bands.

These could be marching bands playing live, a brass band recording a cover album or a long for an album, a band playing live with a marching band, and so on. Ska bands and indie bands using horns would be in a desperate situation but aren't my intention.

Scattered instances all help but I'm hoping to stumble into a treasure trove of this stuff.

Video links are okay, but would prefer audio as I'll not be showing the video. I can always convert the video to audio.

Some examples:
USC - The Offspring's "Hit That" (great sound. This was on an album.)
USC again with The Offspring's "The Kids Aren't Alright"
Consolation prize: USC again with System of a Down's "Toxicity"

I saw The Nutley Brass in an old MeFi question. It's closer to what I want in the songs covered but not in the sound of the music.

posted by michaelh to Media & Arts (14 answers total)

Best answer: Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name Of
posted by iftheaccidentwill at 7:59 PM on September 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: In 2005, the Cal marching band did a whole Green Day halftime show.
posted by kendrak at 8:21 PM on September 16, 2012 [3 favorites]

I don't know how good you need the quality to be but there are an absolute shit ton of videos of UC Davis, Picnic Day: Battle of the Bands. Back in the day this regularly went on till 2 or 3am and they played everything. Like, every song in the world ever has probably been played at Battle of the Bands some time.

If the quality isn't good enough the links are pretty much a treasure trove.
posted by fshgrl at 8:24 PM on September 16, 2012

Best answer: Oops, I meant to link to Youtube, I thought they had their own page but maybe not.
posted by fshgrl at 8:26 PM on September 16, 2012

This also made me think of the Battle of the Bands at Picnic Day at UC Davis. Every year it is a competition between the UCD band and two other bands, and they have to play songs they have arranged themselves so they play a lot of crazy songs. I found a lot on YouTube in a fit of Picnic Day nostalgia last spring. Their official name is the Aggie Marching Band-Uh, so you'll find more if you use that as a search term.
posted by apricot at 8:43 PM on September 16, 2012

Best answer: Much as it pains me to say this, given my allegiance to Cal, you probably want to check out the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band's YouTube channel. To the best of my knowledge they actually covered Green Day before Cal's band got around to it, and their repertoire is pretty much what you're looking for.
posted by asterix at 9:00 PM on September 16, 2012

Best answer: Other than the Band-uh, the main bands that participate at Picnic Day are Cal and Stanford so they have a lot of songs too (although not as many as the Aggies!). Here's a few: Bosstones, Medley with Green Day and Ozzy, 70s soft rock medley, Guns n Roses, Squirrel Nut Zippers, , more Green Day (this one is awesome), Muse, more, more , more...

Man, this is taking me down Memory Lane. I even watched a video of the Dachshund races. Now if I could just stick my arm inside a cow and have my bike get stolen it would be truly like I was back in college.
posted by fshgrl at 9:06 PM on September 16, 2012 [2 favorites]

Not a marching band, but check out Edmund Welles, a quartet of bass clarinets. They specialize in heavy metal and other rock covers including Spinal Tap, Led Zepplin, Pixies... all classically trained and pretty amazing.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 9:16 PM on September 16, 2012

Fleetwood Mac - Tusk; USC - Tusk

Not exactly what you're looking for, but Mucca Pazza.
posted by hydrophonic at 10:49 PM on September 16, 2012

Best answer: Not sure if this counts as marching band, but you might like Hackney Colliery Band. Pretty much only play covers of rock/hiphop songs with a funky brass section.
posted by deathpanels at 10:53 PM on September 16, 2012

I'm going to jump in and recommend March Fourth. i'm terrible with rock music names, but they're an amazing marching band to listen to and see live (oh yes, see them live!).
posted by saffronwoman at 6:00 AM on September 17, 2012

Best answer: Titanium Sporkestra (recently disbanded) was a marching band that specialized in punk and metal covers. Look 'em up on Youtube.
posted by adamrice at 7:52 AM on September 17, 2012

George Mason University Green Machine band blowing the socks off Rage Against the Machine

And not really punk, but shared just for the sheer WTFness of the intersection between internet meme, autotune remixes, and HBCU marching band pop covers, we have the North Caroline A&T marching band rendition of The Bed Intruder Song
posted by drlith at 9:12 AM on September 17, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. I marked some of the ones that I liked especially for posterity but there's no bad recommendation here. Titanium Sporkestra was my favorite find -- their Raining Blood and California Uber Alles were great fun. Plus, they appear to set their instruments on fire.
posted by michaelh at 4:47 PM on September 23, 2012