The Sundown Roughneck Band or the ‘Pride of the Oil Patch’ continued their long history of performing at the state competition in San Antonio on Tuesday with their 29th state appearance.
Led by Sundown Band Director Justin Mauldin, the group’s show for this year is titled “Midnight Ride” and it features the song Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones and also includes a traditional lullaby called “All the Pretty Little Horses.”
Additionally, there is a concert piece that the arranger of the show had made and rearranged it for the marching band. That piece is called “Four Horseman of the Apocalypse.”
Mauldin explained that the horses are the overlaying theme of the show which includes backdrops that have horses and cowboys on them. Also, when the backdrops have different colors on them it signifies mood changes.
“The theme is pretty neat throughout the show,” said Mauldin. “The kids really bought into the music and have been performing it really well. You can tell they are excited.”
While the tradition has been in place to make a state appearance, Mauldin applauds his students for understanding what it takes to make it to the state competition and work for the opportunity.
“It is not something we take lightly, and we talked about that with the kids,” said Mauldin. “They started off the season with the goal to go to state.”
With their 29th appearance for the Sundown Band at state, that is a UIL record for any classification spanning 1A through 6A.
“No one has gone more than Sundown and that’s a lot of pressure on the kids. It is also a neat expectation for them to start out the season and have that as a goal,” explained Mauldin. “It makes things fun, and we have to kind of police it a little bit.”
Similar to coaching, Mauldin wants his group to take on one competition at a time. The band essentially begins their season with the Westerner Marching Festival that is held in Lubbock in the middle of October.
“If we win that festival that is great but if we lose that is fine as well,” said Mauldin. “What we focus on is taking the judge comments and we gear up for the region contest. That is the one that really matters in terms of us advancing.”
From the region contest, the band focuses on securing the First Division which is the key to advancing to the area contest where they would have to make a finals spot.
During last week’s area contest, the band understood it would take two solid performances to get their ticket punched for the state contest.
During their prelim’s performance, Mauldin and his group addressed some things that needed to be corrected before their finals performance and the band delivered.
“We came out of prelims ranked second and came out of the finals ranked first,” said Mauldin. “They had a knockout performance in the finals and the coolest thing about it was when the horns went down you could see the look of accomplishment, pride and almost amazement from the kids.”
Mauldin added that the feeling the kids felt from that final’s performance is what they strive for. While making state is the ultimate goal, those moments are what Mauldin feels is special.
With the bands overall success this season, the program was behind the eight-ball in terms of starting to learn their show for this season in the summer.
Mauldin explained that in years prior the band usually gets the music in the spring, but for this year they would not begin learning their show until summer band began in August.
“You are proud of the kids anyway, but it just kind of adds to it because they’ve done so much in less time than maybe they’ve had in other years,” explained Mauldin.
In his sixth years as the director for Sundown, Mauldin understands he is a part of something special.
“It’s really neat to be a part,” said Mauldin. “There’s really a combination of things that makes sundown a special place to be. There’s support everywhere you look from the administration, the community, the teachers in the building and everyone else.”
Mauldin highlighted the culture that has been created by everyone involved for the kids and added that it has been in place for decades before him.
Assisting Mauldin is Assistant Band Director Ashley Blount who has worked closely with Mauldin since coming to Sundown. Also helping the Roughneck Band is Mack Bibb who works part-time with the band and Tricia Nevarez, Amber Mauldin, Tristan Nock and John Rogers who spend Tuesday practices working with the students.
“With everyone coming to help the students get better, this staff is great at getting all the pieces together,” explained Mauldin. “There is no way Ashley and I could put all this together and I am extremely grateful to work with this team.”
As of writing this article Tuesday afternoon, Sundown ISD announced the ‘Pride of the Oil Patch’ performed during the prelim round and earned a final spot with a performance time of 9:45 p.m. Awards were to follow at 10:15 p.m.