The story has already become lore on the Bridgewater College campus. Last fall, Prof. Barry Flowe, Instructor of Music and director of BC’s Screamin’ Eagles Marching Band, told the band that if they placed in one of the top three spots in an upcoming competition then he would get a tattoo.
Sponsored by the heavy metal band Metallica, the For Whom The Band Tolls competition required competing colleges to perform songs from Metallica’s catalog. The Screamin’ Eagles submitted a video of their 2025 field show, placed second in their division and won $20,000 worth of marching band equipment.
And Flowe, at the age of 58, got his very first tattoo: a Metallica logo over a screaming eagle with the words “Bridgewater Screamin’ Eagles 2025.” Flowe’s tattoo and the story of why he got it then went viral after Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo shared it on social media.
“It was less a bet and more a promise to do something crazy to commemorate the moment if we had success in the competition,” Flowe told the rock magazine “Loudwire” in an interview in March, not long after the competition results were announced. “I told my students that designing, teaching and watching them perform our Metallica music halftime show was such an incredible experience that getting a tattoo to commemorate it felt like an easy decision.”
The Screamin’ Eagles’s participation in the For Whom The Band Tolls competition almost didn’t happen. Flowe, who has led the band since it was established in 2021, said a student had mentioned the competition a year or two earlier, but he initially dismissed the idea. He didn’t listen to heavy metal music, even when he was a teenager in the 1980s and Metallica first hit the charts. But on a long bus ride back from a particularly exhausting, rainy parade performance, Flowe said he began to reconsider.
“I put in my earbuds and started listening to a few Metallica songs.” The more he listened, the more it grew on him and eventually he came around. “I realized that I didn’t want to place limits on what the band could play.”
A second-place finish in a national competition for a marching band that had only existed for four years was quite an accomplishment. But Flowe has always had big plans and a lot of passion when it comes to music. He credits much of that to his parents.
Flowe grew up the youngest of three boys in a middle-class family in Virginia Beach, Va. His parents worked as a nurse and an accountant but loved music and wanted their children to do the same. When Flowe was eight, his parents got each of their children a guitar. The following year, Flowe got a drum set. Then, when he was 11 years old, Flowe took up the French horn and joined his junior high school band—an experience that he described as transformative.
“From the time I took that French horn out of the case, I knew that music would be my life,” he recalled.
A year later, in the fall of 1979, Flowe sent a letter to the Boston Pops—a world-renowned professional orchestra—asking for an audition. The conductor wrote back, telling the 12-year-old to reach out again in another decade or so.
“I still think they made a mistake,” Flowe said with a laugh.
Flowe never tried out for the Boston Pops, instead redirecting his musical interest to classical and jazz guitar as he entered high school. As he played in more ensembles, he discovered that he really loved what he described as “the magic” that happens when a group comes together to create and rehearse a musical piece. After a brief stint studying oceanography at a local community college, Flowe earned a bachelor of music from Old Dominion University in 1991 and a master’s in curriculum and instruction from Virgina Tech in 1994.
“There came a point when I had to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up,” Flowe said of his switch from music performance to music education. “Music has always been important. It has always been that place of joy. But I discovered that my passion was teaching.”
His first job after graduate school was as Director of Bands for Patrick Henry High School in Ashland, Va. He then directed a middle school band in Mechanicsville, Va., and was Pep Band Director for Randolph-Macon College. He also served for nine years as the Performing Arts Specialist for Hanover County (Va.) Public Schools, overseeing music and theatre curriculum and instruction and earning the district recognition as a “Best Community for Music Education.” In 2017, the Richmond Symphony honored Flowe for his “Extraordinary Commitment to Music Education.”
When Flowe first came to BC in 2021, he said he wanted to create an atmosphere of excitement for the players and showcase the band on a larger stage. In a recent interview, Flowe said he has tried to do that by finding unique experiences and interesting places for the band to perform. In addition to the Metallica competition, the Screamin’ Eagles marched in the London New Year’s Day Parade in 2023 and the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2024. Next Flowe and the band are headed to Italy to march in the Rome New Year’s Day Parade over the upcoming winter break.
“My goal is to have a band trip to Europe every four years. We want the students to always have something to look forward to,” he said.
This season the Screamin’ Eagles are presenting “American Divas,” a tribute to female legends of music including Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift. Their field show can be seen at every home BC football game where, if the weather is warm enough to wear shorts, you may also get a glimpse of Flowe’s new tattoo.
– Heather Cole
Published: September 23, 2026
