Who we are
Rainbow City Drumline (RCD) has been the beating heart of Seattle parades for over twenty five years! We march and perform in festivals across western Washington, such as Seattle Pride, as well as play throughout all OL Reign home soccer matches from March to October. We're a tight knit group of drummers with a communal family atmosphere to lift us all up together to have an amazing time playing for the public.
Rainbow City Drumline is open to musicians at any skill level, provided they can read music and are age 18 or older. In Rainbow City Drumline, we have a long history of helping musicians gain their first drumline experience or explore drumline instruments they always wanted to try but haven’t yet. We have lots of opportunities to hone and improve your skills alongside the rest of us!
What we do
Rainbow City Drumline is the official drumline for ensembles like Rainbow City Marching Band and Reign City Riot and also performs alone for community performances.
Rainbow City Drumline features 4 snares, 2 quads, 4 bass drums, and 2 cymbals for full-band performances. Instruments, equipment, and uniforms are provided. Rainbow City Marching Band performs 10 songs each summer, and Reign City Riot performs up to 15 songs as a full band in pre/post/halftime shows. Separately, Rainbow City Drumline has its own book of 40+ custom patterns played during Reign games and 1-2 cadences for marching. Most music does not need to be memorized for performances.
Drumline members attend rehearsals for both the marching band and Riot, as well as several Drumline-only rehearsals throughout the season. Full-time members who can commit to a majority of performances and rehearsals are strongly preferred, but part-time players are accepted. We welcome varying levels of participation as long as we can ensure you're ready to perform. Opportunities abound for our performance and while we don't expect you to be able to attend everything, we encourage you to join us as much as you can to meet our community's demand for more drums!
Our history
Our drumline has been a part of the Seattle Pride Parade since the inception of our organization in 1998 to give the Seattle Pride Parade its first marching band. Tradition and growth has continued through all these years as we have rhythmically led our horn players and color guard through streets, festivals, charity events, and community gatherings.
Rainbow City Drumline gained a reputation for skill and power under the leadership of Deb Farrar for many years as we developed new prowess in playing challenging custom cadences and with the introduction of the Drum Solo to our parades including choreographed movement and dance of the entire drumline to the delight of audiences. Further, we increased our visibility in the community by adding performances of our own including many years leading the Seattle Dyke March through the streets of Capitol Hill.
Rainbow City Drumline was instrumental in the creation of our band to support the OL Reign (at the time, Reign FC) women's soccer club. Under the leadership of John Arrowsmith, the drums joined the fan section for the team to add to the power and excitement of the chants throughout the game. The fans and players alike loved the sound and excitement it added, so the tradition continued. There was such a demand for more, that it led to us forming a full band, first named Queen City Corps and later Reign City Riot to join our drums in playing music before and after the match. The tradition of how it started remains as our drumline makes a racket all throughout every home match which eventually moved to fill the cavernous Lumen Field.
