Name, age, hometown: Kyle Matthew Trader, 18, Longmont, Colo. What corps are you in and what is your role this summer? This is my second year as a second soprano with The Troopers Give us your full drum corps/marching music background. In high school, I played trumpet in marching band until my senior year where I was the drum major. In my sophomore year of high school we were penalized at a competition for playing music too loud, and not being able to reproduce a symphonic band sound, it was awesome. As mentioned this is my second year in drum corps with The Troopers.

Kyle Trader
How did you decide to be a member of your corps? For a couple of years before I had gone to Denver to the Drums Along the Rockies show and had fallen in love with the sounds of a brass choir with intense drumming accompanying the sound. It was a perfect balance to me. My friend Dieter, lead baritone in Troopers, took me to one of the camps last year and I fell in love with the Troopers organization. What advice would you give to young people who want to march? Don't make anything hold you back. If you really want to march just show up to a camp to get a feel for the way a drum corps runs. Then after you get hooked, make sure you come back because you will remember this experience. You don't want to find yourself saying, "What if?" You should be saying, "Yeah, I did that and it was great!" Do you have any favorite road anecdotes? Last year our corps had gotten a newer bus that the drum line rode for the summer. Everyone that wasn't assigned to that bus was so jealous of them because we had a false thought that newer equals better quality. This was a wrong assumption. Their bus broke down several times throughout the summer. One of the worst breakdowns was when one of the bus tires exploded and it kept us at a truck stop for several hours. We were stuck so long that the visual staff had us run some marching just to stay loose, and it was one of the first times that everyone would have rather marched because of boredom. The last good book I read: "Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. I started to read "The Da Vinci Code" but required readings got in the way.    The last great film I saw: Well, I haven't seen any recent movies. But I guess it would have to be "Equilibrium." Where I go to school and what I'm studying: I attend Front Range Community College, hopefully next year at Fort Lewis in Durango, Colo., to study business, mainly the management aspect. Jobs I have/have had: I currently am employed at Nicolos Pizza, a small pizza franchise in Colorado. I cook and drive. Three albums I'd want on a deserted island:
1.) "Miss Machine" by The Dillinger Escape Plan,
2.) "White Pony" by Deftones
3.) "Make yourself" by Incubus.
My favorite TV show: Favorite TV show has to be Family Guy. I am very excited that Fox decided to bring it back. Favorite performers: My favorite performers have to be the band Tool. Every time I have seen them live I am blown away with how they perform. Some live acts don't sound the same as CD quality, in most cases sound worst, but Tool sounds just like their albums. How do you "blow off steam?" I usually play Halo 2 to blow off some steam. I know it sounds nerdy, but there is nothing greater then "meleeing" someone in the back with a shotgun. What has been your formative drum corps moment? The most formative drum corps moment I had was leaving at the beginning of all-days last summer to have surgery. In this time it was very unclear if I would be able to come back to the summer tour. In three weeks I drove 15 hours to Iowa to join back up with the Troopers and finish my summer with them. Even though most of the beginning memories were painful, it felt great because everyone supported me and I felt like I had an actual spot in this organization. It is the exact reason I am back this year. Best drum corps show ever: To be honest, it is a tie between 2002 Cavaliers and 2004 SCV. The best show that I've heard on audio is 1983 Troopers, no questions asked. Best thing about being in a drum corps: The best thing about drum corps is the number of friends you make over those three months. Some of my best friends are in the corps. Worst thing about being in a drum corps: Leaving after the summer. Sure you won't have to work your tail off every day after that, but you feel empty, like something has been taken out of your life. You will find yourself pacing around trying not to be bored. During tour, the best part of the day is: The best part of the drum corps day has got to be when we roll up to a show site and the excitement starts to grow. Excitement kills every single doubt about ones existence in drum corps. B>During tour, the worst part of the day is: The worst part of a drum corps day is when you are spared some down time after traveling 12 hours to the show city, and being forced to stretch and do PT. The rest of the day goes fine, but that initial starting to the day is very tough after fatigue sets in. Favorite drum corps personality and why: The best drum corps personalities are the people that shell out $15 and upwards a night to see a drum corps show. Drum corps would not exist without these loyal fans. What I want to be when I "grow up": Some sort of business executive of some technology company making a great living. Describe what you think a typical DCI show will look in 2015. A typical drum corps show in 2015 would involve G bugles overrunning the B-flat-dominated sport. This will be prompted after 2010 when all the corps starts to realize that G bugles are louder than B-flat horns. Feel free to add anything else you'd like. Something I would like to add is my thanks to all the participants in every corps. Without you, no one would know what kind of an impact that we have on the fans that go out of their way to show up. More importantly are the tour volunteers. You don't know how much of help it is that you have to the corps that you support.