Jump to content

Inside the Star (of Indiana): an Interview w/ Clark Gardner


Recommended Posts

Hello fellow drum corps fans! I have an opportunity to interview Clark Gardner (Percussion Section Leader from Star of Indiana 1993) and considering the mystique that followed Star that season I'm sure many of you have questions you would like to have answered regarding the season itself and of course Star's departure from DCI!

You can submit your questions 3-ways:

1. Post it in this thread (I'll include your username along with the question, if you would prefer to to use your actual name simply add it in the post).

2. Send a message to @rudimentality on Twitter with your question (same deal here, your twitter username will be included with the question unless otherwise specified)

3. Email your question and contact name you would like used in the interview to: rudimentality@gmail.com

Final deadline for questions will be 12:01 a.m. CST on Monday July 5th... ASK AWAY!

Eric Palmer

Co-Editor of Rudimentality.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, here are some substantive questions. (Well, I hope they're substantive, anyway. Also, I'm a brass guy, so take these with the requisite grain of salt.)

- IIRC, the bass line was doing crazy hard stuff throughout the show - the drill would split the line up, putting bass 1 on side 1 and leaving the rest of the line some yards away on side 2, and the whole time they would be doing ridic runs. Was that planned going in, or did this just evolve mid-season? Just seems to me that, as much attention as the snare line gets for being so spotlessly clean, that the basses were and are kind of the unsung heroes of the '93 battery.

- For "Medea", four members of the pit joined the battery on-field playing (I think) toms. Again, was this a mid-season thing? It was a very subtle thing - maybe there was something intentional they were trying to accomplish with this move?

- Bill Cook has said the letter of intent to do Brass Theater (or some sort of partnership - maybe the name hadn't yet been coined) with the Canadian Brass was signed in June. How much did the corps members know during the season about Star's plans to leave DCI?

- What was the vibe among the corps members about Medea? Did they realize how legendary/game-changing that show would become? And did they sense how controversial the show was among the activity during the season?

- Did Clark play on the Premier drums before the switch to Pearl in '93? If so, how did he like the change?

- One last question: with such aggressive playing, how many drum heads did they go through during the season? :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, here are some substantive questions. (Well, I hope they're substantive, anyway. Also, I'm a brass guy, so take these with the requisite grain of salt.)

- IIRC, the bass line was doing crazy hard stuff throughout the show - the drill would split the line up, putting bass 1 on side 1 and leaving the rest of the line some yards away on side 2, and the whole time they would be doing ridic runs. Was that planned going in, or did this just evolve mid-season? Just seems to me that, as much attention as the snare line gets for being so spotlessly clean, that the basses were and are kind of the unsung heroes of the '93 battery.

- For "Medea", four members of the pit joined the battery on-field playing (I think) toms. Again, was this a mid-season thing? It was a very subtle thing - maybe there was something intentional they were trying to accomplish with this move?

- Bill Cook has said the letter of intent to do Brass Theater (or some sort of partnership - maybe the name hadn't yet been coined) with the Canadian Brass was signed in June. How much did the corps members know during the season about Star's plans to leave DCI?

- What was the vibe among the corps members about Medea? Did they realize how legendary/game-changing that show would become? And did they sense how controversial the show was among the activity during the season?

- Did Clark play on the Premier drums before the switch to Pearl in '93? If so, how did he like the change?

- One last question: with such aggressive playing, how many drum heads did they go through during the season? :)

Great questions Rusty! Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was going to post some questions to ask, but I think they're all covered now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why did Star always have such a tiny snare line? They surely had enough money to buy a couple more drums! :thumbup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...