As alumni of Bushwackers — and several other marching music ensembles — Dan Piro and Ember Hesse are more than accustomed to performing on high-profile stages.
Each has an extensive drum corps and indoor percussion career that’s taken them to some of the United States’ biggest venues.
The inside of a dull, dimly-lit office was certainly a change of pace. And yet, it was inarguably the two performers’ most-watched performance of their esteemed young careers.
Piro, Hesse and several other marching performers affiliated with Bushwackers had the opportunity to perform as part of a staged marching ensemble that was featured in the second-season finale of the hit Apple TV+ program, Severance.
“It was just a very dynamic experience,” Piro said. “Very exciting, a lot of new things. I never thought I’d be part of something this cool through drum corps.”
In the Severance Season 2 finale, marching band performers appear in a surreal, high-stakes moment set inside the corporate offices of Lumon Industries, the show’s seminal setting. The scene functions as an over-the-top celebration orchestrated by management, featuring performers parading through a stark office space with polished, stylized precision.
The scene stood out among viewers not just for its choreography, but for how it amplified the show's central themes of control and identity. Unbeknownst to many drum corps fans, it featured an array of performers from drum corps and other corners of the marching music universe.
Thanks to a connection with one of the corps’ alumni, many of the performers came from Bushwackers’ circles. Piro has an extensive career with the New Jersey All-Age corps, and Hesse — a Bushwackers alum — recently returned to the corps’ staff after a pair of seasons in Bluecoats’ trumpet section.
“Our director opened the opportunity to all of us,” Hesse said. “I didn’t know anything about it. I hadn’t watched the show, didn’t know what I was getting into.”
“I found out about it at the rehearsal camp right after I got contracted,” Piro said. “They were looking for DCI people, college band people, show-band people.”
They knew they’d be stepping into something noteworthy, but even after their arrival on set, performers still weren’t aware as to the show in which they’d be partaking.
“It wasn’t until the actors came out,” he said. “We were like, ‘Oh, this is what show we’re doing.’”
“It’s like being thrown into show-biz,” Piro added. “You don’t really know what you’re getting into, and then you find out you’re doing this really cool and amazing thing.”
Tramell Tillman, one of the show’s main actors, playing the role of Seth Milchick, has an extensive background in marching music, having performed in Jackson State University’s world-renowned “Sonic Boom of the South” marching band.
Piro and Hesse both noted the joys of working alongside Tillman, and complimented him in regards to both his acting prowess and his professionalism.
“Tramell Tillman is astounding,” Hesse said. “That’s literally all I can say. He’s just phenomenal. Apparently he was a band sergeant at one point — you could tell he’d done it a few hundred times before.”
Due to the choreography of one of the scene’s key shots, Piro said he spent a significant amount of time in close proximity to Tillman.
“For me, I was pretty much right next to Tramell for a while,” he said. “There was a whole thing where he gets passed a baton, and we had to do that many times — it was all about the timing of it being thrown, how he caught it. He was literally two feet away from me doing that whole thing.”
Both members agreed — watching the final, edited scene was surreal.
“It felt like we were just a bunch of people running around a room,” Piro said of the filming process. “And they made it look so professional.”
Its subsequent internet popularity, he added, was all the more mind-blowing.
“One of the clips I’m in became an Instagram GIF,” Piro said. “If you see the Severance marching band GIF, I’m the snare drummer dancing to the left of (Tillman).”
These members’ appearance on Severance certainly wasn’t the first time drum corps has intersected with popular entertainment. Drum corps members have taken part in many high-profile live and recorded performances — including, but not limited to, Super Bowls, GRAMMY-award winning musicians’ concerts, and multi-million-view music videos.
According to Hesse, it was meaningful to be able to help bring the drum corps activity into a new form of global limelight.
“It was an honor to be part of this experience,” Hesse said. I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity if it wasn’t for my connection to the marching world.”