Joe S Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 I think it was before 1980... I dont remember seeing or hearing about them around then...? Earliest might have been 1979,I grew up with some of those guys. We had a common instructor (between Garfield and Royal brigade) that year and he bounced between both corps.That is why I'm pretty sure it was 1980. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 I think it was before 1980... I dont remember seeing or hearing about them around then...? I think Joe is correct....look at corpsreps...80 is the last year they appear...and it's the year they did the NBC theme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted July 26, 2007 Author Share Posted July 26, 2007 I think Joe is correct....look at corpsreps...80 is the last year they appear...and it's the year they did the NBC theme. I believe it was 1980, because I still had another year left in the Army. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 The Royal Brigade was on the field for the 1977 through 1980 seasons. The 1980 corps came out with the all black look (quite revolutionary at the time) complete with the peacock design on the jacket. They played the NBC Chimes Festival (Tommy Newsom) predating the Velvet Knights by four years. They didn't travel to Denver for '77 or '78, but the '79 and '80 versions of the Brigade cracked DCI top 25. They were pretty solid for all four years they were around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 The Royal Brigade was on the field for the 1977 through 1980 seasons. The 1980 corps came out with the all black look (quite revolutionary at the time) complete with the peacock design on the jacket. They played the NBC Chimes Festival (Tommy Newsom) predating the Velvet Knights by four years.They didn't travel to Denver for '77 or '78, but the '79 and '80 versions of the Brigade cracked DCI top 25. They were pretty solid for all four years they were around. Pretty amazing, connsidering that both the Secaucus Meadowlarks and CW Townsmen (Carlstadt-Woodridge) were not anywhere near that caliber themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 (edited) Yes, Mike, and especially considering the fact that there were quite a few mergers that season that didn't pan out nearly as well as Brigade did. At least they (Brigade) survived four seasons. Frontiersmen (NY) Crimson Buccaneers Canadian Northstars Black Diamond Regiment King's Regiment Maine Brigade Renaissance (MA) Crusading Militiamen etc, etc I wonder how many members they got from ouside the original Meadowlarks/Townsmen. Edited July 26, 2007 by Northern Thunder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 Yes, Mike, and especially considering the fact that there were quite a few mergers that season that didn't pan out nearly as well as Brigade did. At least they (Brigade) survived four seasons.Frontiersmen (NY) Crimson Buccaneers Canadian Northstars Black Diamond Regiment King's Regiment Maine Brigade Renaissance (MA) Crusading Militiamen etc, etc I wonder how many members they got from ouside the original Meadowlarks/Townsmen. Ah, a familiar name! I was the percussion arranger/instructor for trhe King's Regiment, a combo of the Wayne Monarchs and Greenwood Lake Lakers when the merger happened. I have a feeling that not a lot of members of the original two corps were there....esp the Townsmen who I reember as a pretty young bunch of kids. I bet a lot of Muchachos ended up with the Royal Brigade after the DQ. Garfield was just starting to come out of some very down times, and BS had folded a few years back. After the demise of the Muchachos the only real good Open class corps in North Jersey at the time was Bayonne, so it was a good time for the Royal Brigade to come on the scene. A year or two later there was the short-lived merger of the Valley Grenadiers and some others into Fantasia III. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumss Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 Yup Fantasia III.....it was the merger of the Valley Grenadiers, the Oradell Dynamics and the Midland Park Imperial Knights. I was on their staff for their 1st season in existence...... I don't know if any of them went on to the Royal Brigade or possibly Garfield after they disappeared... Getting back to the Royal Brigade however, I recall in 1979 when I was marching in Bridgemen, a number of my friends in Royal Brigade told us they were making an all-out effort to beat us at the AL show in Wildwood, NJ, since we would have a typically decimated corps by then in September (when most people were back at college). I seem to recall we had about half our corps, and Royal Brigade actually came within 4 or 5 points of us...but we still won the show....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 Getting back to the Royal Brigade however, I recall in 1979 when I was marching in Bridgemen, a number of my friends in Royal Brigade told us they were making an all-out effort to beat us at the AL show in Wildwood, NJ, since we would have a typically decimated corps by then in September (when most people were back at college). I seem to recall we had about half our corps, and Royal Brigade actually came within 4 or 5 points of us...but we still won the show....... Yes, the fall Wildwood show, and the Boonton Harmony show, always featured "swiss cheese" drills from many of the corps with a lot of college kids. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoSaints Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 If memory serves, the reason behind the peacock uniforms was that NBC was one of their sponsors ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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