Popular music can't stand still, and neither can the bands at the heart of rock's unlikely new trend

By Ricardo Baca
Denver Post Pop Music Critic

Posted: 11/01/2009 01:00:00 AM MST

The most unexpected trend seen in rock clubs over the past few years? The emergence of the madcap marching band.

Yep, that high-school aesthetic of geeky uniforms, bulging horn sections, pep-rally spirit and booming drum collectives is on the scene in clubs and bars — not to mention parades and adult bookstores and festivals and art galleries and pizza shops and house parties.

The marching band is a jubilant outpouring of sound and emotion, and it's an unusual treat to run into a party-crashing band like Denver's own Boba Fett and the Americans at the First Friday art walk on Santa Fe Drive — or go to an actual rock show to see Portland, Ore.'s March Fourth or Chicago's Mucca Pazza.

In honor of March Fourth, which plays a show Wednesday at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom, and Boba Fett, which announces surprise musical attacks via its Twitter feed (twitter.com/allamericanband), here is a look at three of North America's hippest, most indie-spirited marching bands.

Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.co

 MARCH FOURTH MARCHING BAND.

March music. Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom, 2637 Welton St. Wednesday. 8 p.m. $10. cervantesmasterpiece.com

 March Fourth

(answers by bass player John Averill)

Hometown: Portland, Ore.

How many members: 25-35

Signature song: "Gospel" (an original song that contains "Rise Up" lyric that is title of our new album)

Marching style: We have no formation, unless you want to call it the "amoeba." Generally, we just try to walk without falling down (a technique involving putting one foot in front of the other, and then repeating until the destination is reached; sometimes we get the whole band to do it at the same time).

Most unique venue played: On the top deck of a ferry in Vancouver, B.C. We were late for a gig and decided to play on the ferry instead. It was a spontaneous moment, and we sold 40 CDs in less than an hour. Another unique venue was playing a cappella on a subway train in Hamburg, Germany. We also played at the dog track once (that was weird).

Band philosophy: "Eat first, drink second, sleep third and march fourth." We have other mottos, but none that are fit to print.

How do you travel together? Tour bus

What's more important, drums or horns? They are equally important. Why? Because we're a band, and the sound of the band is determined by the sum of its parts. Without horns, there is no melody; without drums, there is no rhythm. The electric bass is what glues them together. We also have dancers and stiltwalkers that add to the visual presentation. We are not a "traditional" marching band by any stretch of the imagination.

Why a marching band? We were created to play a Mardi Gras party. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Boba Fett and the Americans

(answers by Boba Fett)

How many members: The mandalore's got band galore — so many, in fact, that it's difficult to pin down a true count. Tuba Steve counts as at least three, and I'll rock it a cappella sometimes. So probably somewhere between one and 324.

Signature song: The "BFATA Theme Song" is our signature song because it's called "BFATA Theme Song."

Marching style: We rock your pants off with a good, old-fashioned American dance-off!

Most unique venue played: Famous Pizza? Kitty's? Vitamin Cottage? Sarlac Pit? The DMV? The venue of Colfax Avenue for one lonely and previously sleeping homeless woman?

Band philosophy: Enthusiasm Trumps Talent. Rock Pants Off. I do believe in Tuba Steve.

What's more important, drums or horns? Which is more important, the bounty hunter or the bounty hunted? Would one exist without the other?

Why a marching band? Well after Lucas kind of played me for a sucka in "Jedi" I decided to get out of acting. You know, really stretch my self creatively. Anyway, I decided to try my hand at music. I toured with the Max Rebo Band for a while, opening for them a cappella on the megaphone and selling merch, but it just wasn't going anywhere. Homeless and destitute, I stumbled upon a lonely trumpeteer (I know it's supposed to be trumpeter, but this cat is more of a trumpeteer, rhymes with funkateer, trust me) on the 16th Street Mall, and it just clicked. Together we recruited the best players we know in the boundless universe, and the rest is history.

Sometimes, a stage is just too small

Mucca Pazza

which is Italian for Crazy Cow/Mad Cow Disease (answers by guitarist Jeffrey Thomas)

Hometown: Chicago

How many members: Up to 30

Signature song: We have two that reflect our musical/ theatrical sensibilities. One is called "Peace Meal," written by our mandolin player, Gary Kalar. The "Meal" is comprised of many of our favorite dishes: Some gypsy melodies complemented with a little Egyptian tonality, cooked up by John Bonham drunk on 40s, served up by the Wu-Tang Clan. The other tune is called "Alarm." It is our first collaboration as a band. We wrote this one practicing at our favorite rehearsal space, a parking lot in a steel refinery here in Chicago. It was inspired by a sound we hear constantly in Chicago, the car alarm. It is basically our arrangement of the melodic fragments of different car alarm "alerts."

Marching style: It varies on the situation. We were asked to march in the Derby Days parade in Louisville, Ky. We marched past the news coverage booth doing a step in 9/8, a sort of square wheel on a wheelbarrow step, then broke off into the audience playing random "honking" noises like a swarm of bees. The TV anchor, assigned to anchor the parade, said something like "and here is Chicago's own Mucca Pa . . . um. . . I'm not sure I've seen anything like this."

Most unique venue played: Performing in canoes on the Chicago River. We worked out some formations with rowers, and floated down the river playing our music. Gorgeous!

How we travel: We've been renting vehicles, but this year we have saved our money and are planning on buying a bus. If we are doing local gigs, weather permitting, we strap our equipment on bike trailers, and bike our equipment around town. We are usually wearing our uniforms, so it looks like a funny bike trailer parade.

What's more important, drums or horns? We also have an electric guitar, an electric mandolin, an electric accordion and an electric violin . . . and cheerleaders.

Band philosophy/motto: There have been a lot of mottos that have entered our band's lexicon that no one outside would understand. Philosophically, the band is a reflection of many individual performers/personalities working as a musical community.

Why a marching band? Many of us had worked together in the music community and/or the theater community in Chicago. A marching band seemed like the perfect form to explore our musical and theatrical ideas. It was important for us to feel unrestricted to being just a stage band. Sometimes a song just sounds better when the horns are on the bar, the drums in the audience, the electric instruments (played through speakers mounted on hockey helmets) jammed into a microphone. Not sure that the typical indie rock band could accomplish that.