Metallica Marching Band Competition Helps Generations Bond at Oologah High School

Students in Oologah, OK may have not been Metallica fans before, but after the marching band's heavy metal debut, they're fans for life.

They've read the music, they hit all the right notes, and now the Oologah High School marching band would wait to see if it all paid off.

"It's a little bit nerve-wracking, but it's really surreal to think about it," said senior Kimberlee Wilson. 

Wilson has played the drums since she was 5 years old, but now she got to show off her skills to some of metal's biggest names.

"Lars is going to watch me drum," she said. 

But getting to that point was no small task. The marching band landed a spot in the top 5 for small high schools in the Metallica marching band competition. After that, the members of Metallica would see which band did the best.

"It's cool," said co-band director Jon Matthews. "Make you nervous?" said co-band director Dave Smith, "it does make me nervous," Matthews responded. 

Smith and Matthews aren't only high school band directors, they're big Metallica fans too. 

"Mr. Smith and I both grew up on Metallica so it's just kind of cool like he said to get to share that with a new generation," Matthews said. 

The winner of each category wins $15,000 in musical equipment, and although everybody wants to win, they're just happy to have created a new bond among generations. 

"This has probably been one of the best years of my life playing this music," Wilson said, and, "I think that's the whole purpose of doing this, doing this band director thing is just to get kids loving music and I think we've hopefully done that this fall.," said Matthews. 

The people's choice vote is open until December 31st, 2023. A link to watch the submissions and vote for your favorite band can be found here.