Three sisters, brothers, and cousins, ages 6 to 15, make up the traveling troupe DWA, Drummers With Attitude.
The 6-year-old is Fireball ...
"You have to see him perform," says mom/manager Latasha Anderson.
The 7-year-old is Little Drummer Girl. The 9-year-old boy is Lil' Neon. Eazy D is 9. Lil D is 10. The 15-year-old girl is Captain Tee Tee the Beast ...
"She goes into beast mode on the drums," Anderson laughs.
Bass King ... he's 13. The 12-year-old girl is Z-Rock. Big Shy is 12. A-1, 8, and Breezy B, 15, hoist the black banner emblazoned with DWA.
The band that started in Anderson's living room in Inglewood a year ago, beats used drum sets cobbled together from yard sales and second-hand stores. They make their own mallets with sticks, yarn and tape. Their uniforms are homemade. The ties and suspenders are cut from safety vests purchased from the local 99 Cents store.
They used to practice at the Forum parking lot. But they got kicked out, "too much noise," Anderson says. They moved to practicing outside the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, but it's being torn down.
Now they practice three days a week on 132nd Street and Broadway between industrial buildings.
They've been practicing hard for upcoming back-to-back gigs in two Martin Luther King Jr. parades, one in Long Beach on Saturday and another in Las Vegas on Monday, MLK Day.
"I'm just looking forward to playing with my squad, being in front of a lot people and sounding good," says fifth grader Derrick "'Lil D" Davis, 10. "I want to play drums when I get into college."
It's a band that not only plays together but teaches order and discipline. They get their blood going before each practice -- running, doing pushups, situps and stretches as a way to teach discipline. They're all A and B students, Anderson says. They have to maintain C averages in school in order to play.
Their style is "funky, groovy, hip hop, the best," Derrick says. They do all the latest songs like "Whip/Nae Nae," they do the "Mannequin Challenge," and they do a routine they call "Mad Dog."
Anderson's fiance, Aleric Chapple, 45, is the director. He'll oversee the trip to Vegas, loading up the Chrysler van with 15 people, drums strapped on top.
"We're a party crew," he says. "But they practice hard. They call them Drummers With Attitude because that's what they got, attitude. It's not a bad attitude, it's a good attitude. You would think they were doing this for 10 years."
