MarchFourth Marching Band

MarchFourth Marching Band
Playing at the Festival International in Lafayette, Louisiana spring 2011
Background information
Also known as	M4
Origin	Portland, Oregon, United States
Genres	Rock, Funk, World
Years active	2003–present
Website	marchfourthmarchingband.com

MarchFourth Marching Band now known as MarchFourth! is an American musical and performance group based in Portland, Oregon. They perform mostly instrumental music, combined with a visual performance by stiltwalkers, acrobatics and hooping. They have toured Germany, The Netherlands, France, British Columbia, China and the United States. MarchFourth performs mostly original works and occasional cover songs. The name derives from the date of the band's creation, March 4, 2003, Fat Tuesday. Within two months of their first show, the local press had already coined a new nickname for the act: M4.

MarchFourth consists of a horn section (trombones, trumpets, saxophones), a percussion section, electric bass guitar, and electric guitar as well as stiltwalkers, acrobats and dancers. The band members' uniforms are mismatched, and are often redesigned traditional marching band uniforms. The percussion section's drum harnesses are made from recycled bicycle parts.

MarchFourth's music retains influences from rock, ska, jazz, klezmer, Hip Hop, and swing styles of music, among others.

MarchFourth Marching Band was voted "Best Local Band" in 2004 by readers of Willamette Week alternative weekly newspaper and the August 2007 issue of Travel + Leisure magazine featured MarchFourth Marching Band in an article about Portland. MarchFourth marched around the performed as the opening act for No Doubt, lead singer Gwen Stefani has featured a marching band in her solo albums.