My alarm gives me a rude awakening as my head pounds after another night of excessive drinking at beer band (the pep band that goes around to certain IC bars on Friday nights before home football games to get patrons pumped). I only got four hours of sleep last night, I reek like stale beer, and I need to get over to Kinnick Stadium for our 7 a.m. rehearsal.

This is the life of a Marching Band rock star.

My good friend and fellow bandmate Joey once said that being in the Marching Band is the closest that he will ever experience to being a famous rocker, and despite the less-than-flattering stereotypes that get pushed on us, he’s right.

After all, that we play in front of 70,000 screaming (and likely inebriated) fans is more than what a lot of small time bands can say.

I play the sousaphone (or that huge shiny brass instrument that wraps completely around the body), which is awesome. The sousies are the most testosterone and booze-fueled section in the Marching Band, and we pride ourselves on our wild ways.

We’re not alcoholics by any means, but the sousies and the rest of the band certainly know how to party like rock stars (though unlike serious rockers, I always perform sober — not to discredit rock musicians, but it takes a lot of coordination to both march the formations and blow into a 40-pound hunk of metal).

The partying, however, is only a small part of the Marching Band “rock star experience.” It’s also about proving the stereotypes wrong. The American public has this preconceived notion that the Marching Band is made up of socially and sexually awkward nerds (as portrayed in the American Pie series) or as a bunch of all-work-no-play tight asses (like in Drumline). For real Marching Band members, these films are as laughable as a public-service announcement against underage drinking.

But ultimately, it’s the feeling of unity among the ensemble members that really makes the Marching Band experience great, and no movie can portray that. Even though we are 250 strong, 90 percent of us go by the nicknames given to us as freshmen during Hell Week (the intense preparation for Marching Band season that takes place the week before classes start), and many of us are as close as the Beatles before Yoko Ono came along.

While Marching Band members will never make millions or sleep with countless groupies (although there are more than enough random hook-ups in the band to go around), at least we are guaranteed that our band will never burn out. As long as there is a football program at Iowa, there will always be a need for the Marching Band.

Even though the majority of movies portray the Marching Band culture in an incorrect light, there is one film that is an expectation — Mr. Holland’s Opus. This movie truly captures the passion that student musicians have for their crafts, which is really what it’s all about for a Marching Band rock star … that and the partying.