The 2026 Drum Corps International Summer Tour will see Rogues Hollow Regiment tear its walls to the ground.
Known in recent years for a high-octane identity built on hard-driving music and shredding electric guitars, the Doylestown, Ohio All-Age Class corps is leaning into that rock-and-roll DNA for its 2026 production, “Behind These Walls.”
Revealed April 25, the show draws inspiration from Pink Floyd’s 1979 album and 1982 film, “The Wall,” a theatrical rock opera exploring social isolation through the eyes of a jaded rock star.
“The general concept of it is taking these mental blocks, these walls we have that stifle our creativity, and taking those walls down,” Rogues Hollow Regiment design coordinator Wil Meyers said. “We went with the self-isolation theme of ‘The Wall’ and put it toward those creative barriers around us.”
According to Meyers, the corps’ design team has been pondering “The Wall” for some time, in terms of how to translate it to a drum corps production.
“We’re experimenting with conformity and doing more things the same at the beginning of the show, more homorhythmic things, less dense harmonies, a more ‘classic’ visual package,” Meyers said. “As the show goes on, you’ll start to see cracks in the wall, until finally, at the end, we’re all our true Rogues Hollow Regiment and can let our creativity flow.”
“Behind These Walls” is a story told in three movements. The opening movement intends to present a harsh, down-trodden tone.
“The opening uses a soundscape of oppressive sounds, marching sounds — the corps is coming onto the field in straight lines,” Meyers said. “Once that intro is over, the first movement is a lot of blocks, a lot of straight lines, everybody kind of needs to look the same.”
As the first movement wraps up, select performers will start to break from the mold, to show “more color, more creativity.” The second movement is set to Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb,” and will introduce soloists who serve to further push against the barriers of conformity.
“By the end of our ballad, we’ve broken down the walls,” Meyers said. “That pushes us into our last movement, where there’s more section features, more staging, more things to drive home the idea that the walls are gone, they’re down, and we’re here to do whatever we want.”
Tracks from “The Wall” will be featured prominently in the production, with “Another Brick In The Wall Pt. II” as a main theme throughout, and “Comfortably Numb” serving as the show’s aforementioned ballad movement. The introductory segment is a blend of original music by corps composers Ephraim Miller and John Max McFarland, and samples from Pink Floyd’s “Is Anyone Out There?”
Pink Floyd is no stranger to the drum corps field. In recent seasons, Mandarins utilized pieces from “The Wall” in the corps’ 2022 production, “The Otherside.” Colts pulled heavily from the band’s 1973 album, “Dark Side of the Moon,” in 2014 and Bluecoats’ use of “ Great Gig in the Sky” in 2016 helped lead the corps to its first World Championship title. In All-Age circles, Pink Floyd’s “Us and Them” appeared in Bushwackers’ 2019 program.
Rogues Hollow rounds out its repertoire list with a groovy, frenetic finale — Snarky Puppy’s “34 Klezma.”
“We play music that really resonates with our members and our staff and things that we really enjoy listening to, that we think would translate well onto the drum corps field,” Meyers said. “That’s kind of our vibe, is the rock. That’s what we like to do.”
Visually speaking, Meyers said the corps’ production will begin with a lack of color, and add more as the show progresses, symbolizing creative growth and individuality.
“The overarching visual themes that are going to happen are lots of blocks, lots of old school marching, lots of unison things,” he said. “As we break down the wall, there’s going to be a lot more, almost chaos breaking out, adding color, lots of different things near the end.”
The current offseason has been progressing well for Rogues Hollow, which holds two rehearsal camps per month from January through April before gearing up for rehearsals every weekend in May.
“We have our biggest percussion section to date, our horn line is about the same and our color guard is a bit bigger as well,” Meyers said. “So, we’re growing in all the right places that we need to.”
And as momentum builds toward Rogues Hollow Regiment’s June 27 debut in Alliance, Ohio, corps members have taken to their newly-announced show concept with enthusiasm, according to Meyers.
“I think that they really are digging it,” he said. “We pick the music that we think is going to be the personality of the people we have, and the response has been great. They’re excited; they’re playing the hell out of it.”
