Matt Fields will be the next band director for Demopolis City Schools, and he is already preparing for the upcoming school year.

He has constructed a Web site, www.demopolisband.com, and is making plans for his first year behind the baton at Demopolis High School.

“I have been really impressed with everybody I have met so far,” he said. Everybody has been very friendly, very welcoming.

“When you’re moving off to a new town, that’s one of the things that you’re looking forward to the most.

“The first year will be about getting to know all of my students and getting to know the community,” he said. “I want to give them a program they can be proud of. The product that we put out on the field needs to be high-quality and needs to be something that they can identify with.”

Fields is aware of the fame that DHS bands have received in the past and is anxious to continue that tradition.

“I like my halftime shows to be about entertainment,” he said, “to be something that they’ll leave the game still humming the songs, that they’ll want to stay and watch the halftime show and not go get a hot dog.”

Fields said he thinks this year’s halftime show will deal with ’80s music, but he wasn’t ready to reveal any specifics yet.

Fields is getting ready to start band camp for the summer to kick off the band’s 2009-10 school year.

“We’re aiming for the last week in July (for band camp),” he said. “I’m not sure if Mr. (Phil) Bonds (the former band director) set any dates or anything before he left.

“Once we start camp, there’s not much time between the end of camp and the start of school, maybe a week, or two at the most.

“I find that the start of school is actually a bit of relief because you’ve worked so long and so hard through the summer at band camp,” he said. “Once we get into school and into the routine of it, and once you start having games, that’s when all the hard work starts paying off.”

A native of Woodstock and a University of Alabama graduate, Fields was the trumpet section leader for the famed Million Dollar Band. He also played in the UA wind ensemble.

He is currently working on his master’s degree through the University of Montevallo.

Fields started teaching at Parrish High School in the Walker County Schools system, and a year later, moved on to Holt High School for two years before attaining the Demopolis job.