Home Depot Center News

First round submissions now being accepted for the return of the Battle of the High School Marching Bands Drum-Off

CARSON, CA (Tuesday, April 17, 2012) – The first round of the selection process is now open for the 2012 Battle of the High School Marching Bands 'Drum Off.' After a one year hiatus, the national competition produced by the facility's charitable foundation, returns to AEG Facilities' The Home Depot Center on Sat., Oct. 27.

\"We are proud to bring back the Battle of the High School Marching Bands to our community at a time when funding for important educational programs like the music and the arts is more critical than ever,\" said Tamala Lewis, director of The Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation and Community Affairs. \"We are grateful for the support of our sponsors who made the 'comeback' of this entertaining and worthwhile event possible.\"

Open now through April 23, the first round calls for high school marching band drum lines to submit one video and audio 'Southern Show Style' performance to the selection committee, from which eight finalists will be chosen to compete at The Home Depot Center on Oct. 27. Details and official rules are available online.

For the first time ever, the event will exclusively feature high school drum lines in a 'Drum Off' at the 8,000-seat outdoor stadium in Carson, Calif. on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills. The finalists will be judged by a panel of celebrity and music industry executives, and will battle it out for $5,000 and prizes at the seventh Battle of the High School Marching Bands.

The 2012 event marks the seventh battle in nine years, which has attracted artists and students from all over the U.S. since 2005, plus several celebrity guests, presenters and performers, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Jr., Kanye West, Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire, Sheila E., Solange, Lalah Hathaway, Common, Chris Brown, George Duke, Afeni Shakur, Ernie Barnes, Macy Gray and the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band. Special guests and celebrities participating in this year's event will be announced this Fall.

All proceeds from the Battle of the High School Marching Bands benefit The Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation. Since 2005, the foundation has donated more than $120,000 in support of music and arts education to local and national high school marching band programs.

About The Home Depot Center

The Home Depot Center is southern California's home of world-class competition and training facilities for amateur, Olympic, collegiate and professional athletes. The $150 million, privately financed facility was developed and is owned by AEG and operated by AEG Facilities on a 125-acre site on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) in Carson, California. The Home Depot Center features an 8,000-seat tennis and boxing stadium, a 27,000-seat stadium for soccer, rugby and other athletic competitions and outdoor concerts, a 2,000-seat facility for track & field and a 2,450-seat indoor Velodrome for track cycling. The Home Depot Center is home to two Major League Soccer teams, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA. Named an Official U.S. Olympic Training Site, The Home Depot Center is also home of the United States Tennis Association's (USTA) High Performance Training Center, the national team training headquarters for the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and Athletes' Performance, an international training center for elite and professional athletes. For more information, please visit www.homedepotcenter.com.

Contact:

The Home Depot Center Communications
Alison Salcedo // (310) 630-2032