Metallica chooses Malverne marching band as competition winners

The directors of the Malverne High School Pride of Malverne marching band frequently receive emails about competitions.

But this April, one email stood out in their inbox — the heavy metal band Metallica announcing “For Whom the Band Tolls!," a nationwide contest for marching bands that perform one of their songs.

"We chose to use 'Enter Sandman' from Metallica for our marching band show earlier this year," said Alyssa Sitler, assistant director. "We decided, 'Hey, we should throw our hat in the ring.' "

On Sunday, Malverne High School was announced on ESPN as a winner of the competition, tying with Boerne High School, Texas in the High School-Medium division. 

Both schools will receive $15,000 worth of music equipment.

More than 450 bands around the country competed, and final judging was done by the members of Metallica.

Sitler, supervisor of music and fine arts Michael Messina and band director Glen Johnson chose the marching show set in January.

The theme was titled "Bring Us To Dreams," with each song being dream-related: "Mr. Sandman," by The Chordettes; "Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics; and "Sleep" by Eric Whitacre. "Enter Sandman" was chosen as the set's "nightmare portion," Messina said. All songs were arranged by Jeff Chambers Music and Messina.

Senior Amelia Avvinti, who is in Malverne's color guard and plays trumpet, said when the song was introduced, a few students had known of Metallica's music, but many did not. The song "Master of Puppets" had recently regained popularity in 2022 when featured in Netflix's "Stranger Things."

The band of about 120 students started rehearsing for the show in late March and early April, from three to four times a week. Students also spent five days a week in band camp, where they went over the drills.

Malverne performed the set on Oct. 29 at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, where the band placed in the top five schools in the state championships. Malverne's performance of "Enter Sandman" was filmed and submitted to "For Whom the Band Tolls!."

Messina said that after entering the competition, they learned they were in the top five schools of their division.

"We were very excited just with that," he said. 

On Sunday, all band members watched the announcement on ESPN, during the 8 p.m. show, to learn the results of the contest. 

"The suspense kept building up," Avvinti said. "Me and my friends are calling each other. As it showed up on the screen, we were all screaming, we were all so excited."

Robert Trujillo, Metallica's bass player, announced the winners on the band's official Instagram account.

"It was an amazing opportunity to be a part of this competition, to see other bands, and just to put our name out there," said Avvinti. 

The directors said there was no better time to receive the music equipment, as they have seen an increase in participation.

"Post-COVID, we took a hit like everybody else and have finally built back to our numbers pre-COVID," said Sitler.

She added that with the district's large eighth grade class this year, the band could be "bigger than we ever have been" next year. They expect up to 140 students.

The music and fine arts are "well supported," she said, and are an "integral part of the Malverne community."

Messina, who has worked in the district since 1996, said nothing like this had ever quite happened. 

"We've won some marching band state championships, but this is ... [a] rock band and a totally different world. It was really cool to cross over into that," he said.

Metallica did not respond for comment.