Video: 1978 Anaheim Kingsmen Winter Guard
This is the performance that finally convinced me to join a drum corps, in this case, the Anaheim Kingsmen. I'd been interested in drum corps since 1975, but was content to march in my high school marching band and then the local competitive youth band, the Royal Cavaliers. By the end of summer 1977, I had graduated from high school to go to UCLA and quietly quit the Royal Cavaliers. At the end of the 1977 season, they asked everyone to turn in their uniforms. I returned mine and quietly never picked it up again.
The odd thing is that all throughout this time, I was a fan of the Velvet Knights, not the Anaheim Kingsmen. VK was a much friendlier corps, even if it wasn't as competitive as the Kingsmen, and marched in the same parades and field shows as the Royal Cavaliers. Kingsmen, on the other hand, were on another plane from the other local marching organizations and acted like it. They also had a director with an off-putting reputation. Just the same, it was their performers' professionalism, marching style, and technique that was emulated, not VK's.
I only considered joining Kingsmen after I heard that their old director had been pushed out in a staff coup in late 1977. Then I watched the performance above and decided to join. I also got a big break. Three people from the Royal Cavaliers and two from the UCLA Band decided to join the Kingsmen. I had rides from school and home. I joined and began my drum corps career.