1977 Drum Corps Recordings

In 1977 I played bass drum in the Guardsmen. My brother Jim brought his recording equipment to four drum corps shows that summer, including the annual Wheaton Pageant of Drums on July 3. (The Guardsmen weren't in that show)  The Blue Stars won the Wheaton show, and the Fox Valley Raiders placed 2nd. Many future Guardsmen members marched in the 1977 Fox Valley Raiders. I listened to this recording of the Fox Valley Raiders a lot in the winter of 1978, when the Guardsmen started playing Fox Valley's great concert number from 1977, Celebration Suite, music Tim Salzman brought with him when he came to the Guardsmen.

On the 4th of July, Jim recorded the Hoffman Estates show sponsored by the Guardsmen, where he recorded the Guardsmen and the Guardsmen Cadets. Several future Guardsmen members marched in the Guardsmen Cadets in 1977.

Later in July, Jim traveled to Madison, Wisconsin to record the Guardsmen, but a thunderstorm hit during the Blue Stars performance. You can hear crashes of thunder on the recording. The show was cancelled and the Guardsmen did not perform that day. At mid-season, the Guardsmen were beating the Blue Stars, and all but 6 or 7 corps. So we were unofficially the 7th or 8th best corps in DCI at that point.

In August, Jim traveled to Racine, Wisconsin and recorded the Guardsmen and four of the corps that would make DCI finals in Denver later that month. The Bridgemen won the Racine show in a close upset over the Phantom Regiment.
 
Also included on this page: The 1977 Guardsmen DCI prelims performance, where we officially ended up in 16th place, or 15th if you don't count the disqualified Bridgemen.*  Listen to our mistake-filled prelims show, and compare it to our earlier shows in 1977. Which performance sounds better?

* The Bridgemen were disqualified in 1977 for marching overage members. Just before DCI prelims in Boulder, Colorado, the Bridgemen obtained a court injunction, forcing DCI to let them compete in the prelims. DCI didn't want the Bridgemen injunction to be the reason another corps didn't make finals, they wanted 12 corps in the finals in addition to the Bridgemen. So the judges had two corps tie for 12th place, the Garfield Cadets and the Kilties. The 1977 finals remain the only 13 corps finals in DCI history. The Bridgemen were announced in 4th place in the finals, but DCI's official position was, "No 4th Place was awarded in 1977."  Officially, the Guardsmen didn't move up to 15th place, they stayed in 16th. But the Guardsmen were the third best non-finalist in 1977, behind the Kingsmen and the Oakland Crusaders. The Oakland Crusaders had the highest scoring drumline in the 1977 DCI prelims, but they didn't make finals, placing 15th. 

​​