Purple Thunder drum line performs during halftime. Photo by Purple Thunder Media Team
Western Carolina’s winter drumline, Purple Thunder, will travel to Charlotte, N.C. this weekend to perform in one of the variety acts as part of NBA All-Star weekend.
What began as a fun performance act for talented drummers at Western Carolina has soon grown into one of the most anticipated performance groups of the winter season, says Matt Henley.
Henley is the assistant director of athletic bands at WCU and the creator of the Purple Thunder drumline. When he started Purple Thunder in 2009, he promoted it as an opportunity for dedicated drummers to take part in a fun performance group during the off season of marching band.
“I just started it to be a fun performance group for percussionists around here that’s kind of low time commitment… my goal is for it to still just be a ton of fun to perform,” says Henley.
Purple Thunder consists of 25 drummers who are all also members of WCU’s Pride of the Mountains marching band. In addition to the drummers, the dance and cheer team at WCU joined the group around five years ago according to Henley.
“Eventually, I approached dance and cheer and [asked] whether they’d like to be part of the performance package,” he said.
The idea for creating Purple Thunder, as Henly explained, came from other performance drumlines that are becoming more and more popular in the NFL and the NBA.
“It’s more about the performance than it is about the technical facility of what they’re doing. Whereas marching band is very much about the facility. This is more about the crazy performance,” says Henley about the style of drumming.
Though Purple Thunder may not be as structured as marching band, preparing for the winter season is not easy. Henley explains that before the Purple Thunder season begins, he writes the show, makes music cuts, writes percussion music, and factors in the placement of the cheer and dance team. Once he has met with the cheer and dance coaches and they have choreographed their parts, the whole group puts it together in just one day.
“We get together every year on [Martin Luther King Jr. Day], and that morning and we put it together in the Ramsey Center. From there on its performing,” says Henley.
After the start of the second semester, Purple Thunder performs for five or six basketball games during the months of January and February.
However, when the regular season ends, Purple Thunder still rolls with a performance at the Southern Conference basketball tournament.
“The Southern Conference… gives every school three minutes at half-time to perform. Usually it’s their dance team that goes out there and does something,” says Henley.
However, one year, Henley asked if Purple Thunder could perform and now their performance has grown into a fan favorite.
“People come there to see [Purple Thunder] that aren’t even from our school,” says Henley.
Purple Thunder and Pride of the Mountains’ reputation as a fan favorite with crowds has allowed the group to perform in many different shows in its lifetime. The drumline has performed at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. for the Carolina Panthers as well as with country music star, Keith Urban. Pride of the Mountains also performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2014 and will return to perform again this year.
As for their upcoming performance at the NBA All-Star game, Henley says the opportunity came, “out of the blue.”
Henley received a call from a production company called Bleacher Report asking if Purple Thunder was available to come perform in one of the shows leading up to the game.
“It turns out that they knew the reputation of the marching band and the production company started digging around and discovered a video, an older video, of Purple Thunder,” he says.
With less than two weeks until the event, Henley quickly sent out a message to everyone involved in the group.
Junior snare drummer Noah Williams remembers Henley’s message.
“He said, ‘we’ve got some good news, but we have to make sure everybody can do it,’” said Williams.
Williams says Henley put out a poll on Facebook and shortly after it was confirmed they were going to the game.
Purple Thunder will perform in a club called The Underground at the Fillmore Charlotte, which usually hosts indie band performances.
After performing a “stripped-down” version of their regular performance at The Underground, Purple Thunder will then perform for the All-Star Celebrity Game, which is an event where different celebrities play challenges before the actual game begins, says Henley.
Henley says the group is “super stoked” for this opportunity.
Freshman Anthony Gaetano was practicing when he discovered the group would be performing at the game. He is in his first year as a member of Purple Thunder and he says he has enjoyed the experience so far.
“I’m loving my first semester with Purple Thunder and I can’t wait for next year,” says Gaetano.
Williams is excited for the opportunity for the school to perform for a wider audience.
“I am beyond excited to go and perform… I’m ready to basically show the rest of the world and Charlotte what Western Carolina is all about,” he said.
Additionally, Williams believes its an honor to be able to perform at the game.
“I think it’s a pretty big deal for us to get the honor and the privilege to go and play for all those people,” he said.
Henley agrees with Williams and says he couldn’t be prouder of his students for this opportunity.
“They’re the ones who really make the magic happen and I encourage everybody to see a performance before the show is over,” says Henley.
Purple Thunder has just a few performances left before the end of this season with a performance this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and a performance on Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets to these games can be found here.
