In Matthew Brunner’s nearly two-decade career as director of Temple’s Diamond Marching Band, there have been few times he’s witnessed the band receive viral attention.
One of these occasions was just three weeks ago when TUDMB’s cover of Chappell Roan obtained more than 151,000 views on their YouTube channel.
“It’s fun because I want everyone to look at [the band] as successful and enjoy what they do,” Brunner said. “And I would tell them, ‘I don’t ever want anyone to think anything bad about you.’ So I will give you good music to play, so people look up to you and say, ‘Wow, that’s awesome.’”
Clad in cherry-red uniforms and adorned with various instruments, the TUDMB featured four of Chappell Roan’s top hits during halftime of Temple Football’s matchup against Utah State on Sept. 21. Their performance alluded to key lyrics in her music as they shuffled their bodies to display the letters of her name and formed the shape of a rabbit — a nod to the singer’s viral hit “Red Wine Supernova.”
After uploading a video of the performance to their TempleBands YouTube account, public support skyrocketed.
Brunner partially credits their rise to fame to their decision to feature Chappell Roan, but delivers the rest of his praises to TUDMB for their unwavering grit and tenacity. The band’s motivation does not rely on the low-ranked football team’s performance or audience turnout, but rather the devotion that unites them.
“I would put this band up against anybody because of their personality,” Brunner said. “And that’s what makes the biggest difference, I think, in how they play. Because somebody could play that music and just play it really, really straight and clean and everything, but it doesn’t have heart to it.”
Band member Madalyn Dingman, a senior film and media arts major, works on TUDMB’s social media and video creation team. Her passion for media production granted her a role in editing the viral YouTube video, a process that felt more like a fun activity for her than an obligation.
Dingman echoes Brunner’s sentiments that the band’s energy is paramount to their success.
“The music plays a big part in it, but it really is the band,” Dingman said. “We bring so much character to [our performances], and you can really tell from the music. It’s not just us standing there playing. There’s so much energy and so much love that goes into all of our shows.”
TUDMB regularly uploads band content to YouTube, including their performances and interviews, to encapsulate the years of talent performed by current and former marching band members. They’ve published 504 videos and accumulated nearly 16,000 subscribers since the channel was first established 13 years ago.
Along with the thousands of views and comments on their YouTube, TUDMB’s Instagram recruits prospective band members.
Olivia Gomez, a junior media studies and production major, joined the band their freshman year after learning about TUDMB during their junior year in high school through the band’s social media.
Four years later, Gomez is an active member of the band and their social media team and assisted with the video production by cultivating creative concepts, editing the footage and setting up GoPros on the instruments.
After TUDMB’s Panic! At the Disco performance during Temple’s 2016 football matchup against SMU accumulated nearly 3 million views, Gomez never could have imagined they would have a chance for their content to reach viral status again.
“We put so much into our shows,” Gomez said. “Being able to share all the songs I think we all know and love, and being able to put that in our medium is just so fun and so cool to bring it all to life and stuff, and even to get other people to notice it. I mean, the fact that it has over 100k views, just like it’s so unreal to think about that number.”
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