The DCE Championships will not be held in Rotterdam this year. After three succesful championship events, DCE and Sparta were not able to come to an agreement for an additional year. DCE hopes to announce a new venue shortly. Talks with other stadiums are in a final stage.

The Black Knights Drum & Bugle Corps from Gravesend in Kent have become the first European Drum Corps to produce their own video podcast. The video podcast, the first instalment of which is available for download now via iTunes, will be regularly updated throughout 2008 to keep people up to date with the corps progress.

BYBA has withdrawn the Festival of Fun & Music for 2008. There are several major contributing factors that have led the Festival Committee to take the decision that it has now done.

***image1***New movie clips have been added to the Cinema section. You will find new clips of Jubal, The Cavaliers, Phantom Regiment, Jong-Holland, Blue Devils and Vintage Percussion.

Due to continuing illness of the staff member who is responsible for the sound of the 2007 Championships DVDs, the release date of the product is still unknown. Drum Corps Europe will however start sending pre-release DVDs soon to customers who ordered a copy of the 2007 DVDs or CD. The pre-release DVDs contain full video quality and features, but limited (mono) sound quality.

Drum Corps International has announced the release of a new promotional video. The spot is designed to inform prospective fans, sponsors and members of the media about the organisation and its activities.

Due to an unforseen high demand for tickets, Indoor Percussion Europe has decided to end the Online Ticket presale. Within five weeks the organisation sold 800 tickets. There are only 150 tickets left at the ticketbooth in Wevelgem on March 30th.

The Cadets are making available a vast selection of audio performances of competitive shows that date back as far as 1950. This is the first of a group of show performances to be released to Cadets fans this month.

During the contests in Goes (March 1st) and Drachten (March 15th), Color Guard Nederland offers percussion ensembles the opportunity to get to know their indoor percussion circuit. The esmebles can watch the contest and after that get into a discussion with jurors and members of participating ensembles.

The director and management of Black Knights Drum and Bugle Corps and The Thurrock Academy Performance Ensemble are delighted to announce that a new strategic partnership has been put in place from February 2008.

Pro-Mark Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer exclusively crafting drumsticks and Percussion Unlimited, Europe's only full time indoor percussion ensemble and this year's WGI European Champion, have decided to continue their partnership. Both organisations have come together in a deal which exceeded the expectations of Percussion Unlimited and will last for three years.

After nearly 36 years of operating in the Chicagoland area, the doors to Drum Corps International's current Addison - Illinois headquarters will be closing next week as the organisation prepares to open its new downtown Indianapolis offices on Monday, March 3rd.

The New York Skyliners have announced that they will not field a competitive DCA corps this summer. The New York Skyliners Mini-Corps will compete again in Rochester at the 2008 DCA Championships.

Following the success of last years 'Theme Tune', Perfect Day, for the massed brass lines of competing corps, DCUK are pleased to advised that Eoin O'Keefe has kindly agreed to return and direct the 2008 tune - Ave Maria.

Indoor Percussion Europe has increased the seating capacity for the IPE Championships (30th March), to be held in 'De Schelp' in Wevelgem - Belgium due to a great demand for tickets. There are now 1,000 tickets available.

Amplification will not be allowed at DCE certified shows for the 2008 season. Jubal Drum & Bugle Corps submitted a proposal to allow the use of electronic amplification for pit instruments. The majority of the corps who gave their opinion on the proposal do not support it.

The European Indoor Arts Alliance (EIAA) was officially formed in the fall of 2007 by Winter Guard United Kingdom, Drum Corps Germany, Unik Star (France), Xpression (France), Blue Lions (France) and Color Guard Nederland. The new organization will be a joint venture between the organizations to promote Indoor Percussion and Color Guard in Europe and to facilitate contests in these countries.

Color guard en indoor percussion units from The Netherlands and Germany have won the European Regional of Winter Guard International. The regional took place yesterday in Drachten - The Netherlands.

The Cascades will remain in the Northwest for the 2008 season, choosing not to embark on the broader national Drum Corps International summer tour as a member of the World Class. The corps has decided instead to field an exhibition unit, providing a regionally-focused drum corps experience for returning and new members rather than withdrawing from the entire season.

Two members of the Crossmen family recently had the opportunity to perform with artist LL Cool J. One of the lucky members, Mark Figueroa, submitted photos from the experience and offered the following commentary.

The second episode of the 2008 edition of Box Center is now available for podcast download. Drum Corps Planet News Managing Editor Kevin Gamin returns with more drum corps news.

***image1***New movie clips have been added to the Cinema section. You will find new clips of Juliana, Jubal, Blue Devils, and Jong Jubal.

The Black Knights have announced that their cadet corps will enter the DCE Power Regional, to be held at the Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium on June 21st. The corps from Gravesend is the second cadet corps at the Regional.

Cadence are ready to hit the road again in 2008, joining BYBA and competing in the Junior Division. It has been three years since Cadence last competed.

All DCUK corps from 2007 plus all corps who have expressed an interest in taking part in the DCUK competition in 2008 have now been sent their Resources CD.

The DCE Championships for 2008 are operating under a seeding mechanism that utilizes scores achieved at any DCE Certified Show for the running order of the Preliminary Competition. This means that any Unit that has participated in a DCE Certified Show will have chalked up a score that will in effect enhance their chances of a favorable position in this seeding pool. Any Units that have not gained a Certification Score throughout the season will go on first.

The BYBA Festival of Fun & Music this year will make a welcome return to Hemsby in Norfolk. What at first seemed like a terrible blow, Pontins have sold Wall Park in Devon and can therefore not accommodate the BYBA festival this year, Hemsby the home of the Festival for many years have welcomed th event back and are very much looking forward to the return.

The IPE Championships are going to be a mega percussion event. 290 tickets have been sold already, and no less than 15 units from 6 countries will perform on Sunday March 30th in Wevelgem - Belgium. Rob Ferguson (Matrix, Glassmen) will run a clinic about amplification of front ensembles.

UK based percussion manufacturer Premier Music International is proud to announce that the coming seasons will see reigning DCUK champions Kidsgrove Scouts perform exclusively using Premier's new Revolution Series marching drums and Field Series frontline instruments.

Colchester will be holding its 16th contest this year on Sunday 22nd June in the Lower Castle Park, Colchester in Essex, UK. This gives bands taking part in DCE contest on Saturday 21st June a chance to do a double header and save money by taking part at Colchester only 50 minutes by road from London.

DCE are pleased to announce that tickets are now available for the first ever DCE UK Power Regional. The event will be ran in conjunction with BYBA and DCUK at Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium, London on Saturday 21st June 2008 and features a strong line up of drum corps and showbands from across Europe.

Hertfordshire Showband, formally known as the Marching Blues, became the 15th unit to enter the DCE Power Regional at Crystal Palace on June 21 2008, adding a new dimension to the show.

Black Knights are creating a comprehensive database of members and supporters from it's 15 years history. The website has been updated with a form for Black Knights past and present to fill in and register their details.

At the recent DCUK Directors College, details were announced of the show venues for the 2008 season. There will be 5 sanctioned shows which is an increase of two from 2007, one of which will be the DCE Power Regional on 21st June.

Proposals to allow the use of electronic instruments (for 2009 implementation) have been passionately discussed in recent years and have been presented and voted on multiple times. After failing closely last year in a 10-10 tie vote, this year tallied 11-7 in favour of passing the proposal.

Drum Corps International will soon have a new governance structure designed to facilitate more efficient business operations, following a 16-2 secret ballot vote of the DCI Board of Directors Friday evening at the DCI Annual Meeting in Orlando.

Another Dutch corps has agreed to take part in the DCE Power Regional at the Crystal Palace Stadium in London, next June. Federatieband have announced that they will enter the Open Class. 14 corps have now registered for the European drum corps event.

In conjunction with their 10th Anniversary season, Teal Sound is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with Jupiter Band Instruments, Inc. to perform on the new Quantum series of brass, drums and percussion instruments.

Delivery of the DVDs and CDs of the DCE Championships 2007 is suffering from an, as yet, unknown delay. Unfortunately, DCE is facing significant setbacks in the production process.

***image1***New movie clips have been added to the Cinema section. You will find new clips of Starriders, Wölper Löwen, Jubal, Juliana and Jong Avalance.

Inbhear Mór Marchers from Arklow, Co.Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland have taken a major step forward, thanks to none other than European Champions Senators.

6th Hove Scouts have registered for the first DCE Power Regional in June. This brings the number of competing corps up to 13 corps with more Dutch and English groups likely to confirm their participation soon.

Pro-Mark Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer exclusively crafting drumsticks, mallets, and percussion accessories, and the Blue Devils, 12-time and current World Champion, have come together in a new historic partnership. Both organizations have recently celebrated their 50th anniversaries and made a joint announcement about their partnership.

Indoor Percussion Europe (IPE) has changed the date and location of the 2008 IPE Championships. The organisation has decided that the new date will be Sunday, March 30th, 2008 in 'De Schelp' in Wevelgem - Belgium.

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28th-30th December 2007 saw 30 top marching bands from across Indonesia come together for the thirteenth annual Grand Prix Marching Band Competition in Jakarta, Indonesia.