Guardians

The Guardians drum and bugle corps was founded in the fall of 2012 by Johnathan Doerr, a 19-year-old student at Texas Tech University and Isaac Lee, former drum major of the Blue Devils with the idea of a community-based local touring drum corps in the Central Texas area.

A meeting was held in Seguin in December to gauge community support. With 25 people attending, a decision was made to go forward with developing the future performing unit with its base relocated to Seguin. When, in early 2013, DCI announced the introduction of two new activities for small competitive units, Drumline Battle and SoundSport, Doerr saw that he could use SoundSport as a means of helping to start the new corps.

The inaugural membership/rehearsal meeting of the Guardians was held in Seguin in March. Fifteen potential members were in attendance. Aid and assistance was soon forthcoming from established drum corps such as “Open Class” corps Genesis and Legends, Texas' “World Class” corps the Crossmen and all-age corps the Vigilantes, as well as music businesses, interested individuals, and DCI. The corps grew rapidly approaching the SoundSport maximum of 50, with members coming from throughout Texas.

In June 2013, the corps undertook a short, in-state tour, giving several performances, and concluding with a SoundSport exhibition at the DCI Southwestern Championship regional competition. In 2014, after a successful recruiting campaign, the Guardians fielded a corps of 112 members, entering two competitions, both in its home state of Texas, including a 2^nd place finish in the DCI Southwestern “Open Class”. In April 2015, the Guardians relocated to Houston. In discussing the move, corps director Doerr said, "Houston is, proudly, the largest city in Texas and has one of the largest hearts for the marching arts activity. 

The Guardians tree logo represents a 'breath of fresh air' that our organization brings, and we believe that our organization will certainly bring 'fresh air' to the Houston marching arts community. It hadn’t seen a DCI junior corps for many years and were excited to return a DCI competing unit to this great city. They went on to a 3^rd place finish in the DCI Southwestern “Open Class” contest. In 2016, the corps had a longer season, starting with a three-week-long spring training, which was as long as most “World Class” corps located on a college campus. Most “Open Class” units had spring training at a high school, and entry in 8 competitions, moving back to a 2^nd place finish in the DCI Southwestern, culminating as an 11^th place finalist in the DCI “Open Class” championships and 32^nd in the “World Class” preliminaries. The corps obtained a sponsorship from System Blue and received new instruments from them, making the Guardians the only “Open Class” corps other than the Blue Devils B and C corps to use instruments.

From 2017 to 2019, the Guardians won the DCI Southwestern “Open Class” title, finished 10^th (2017) & 7^th (2018, 2019) in the DCI “Open Class” finals and 33^rd (2017) & 29^th (2018, 2019) in the “World Class” prelims. In 2018, the Guardians performed in the National Youth Gathering for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  The 2020 season was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and returned to the field for the non-competitive 2021 season. In 2022, the Guardians relocated to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and over the next 3 years, they retained their DCI Southwestern “Open Class” titles and 5^th & 6^th positions in the DCI finals and 24^th & 27^th in the “World Class” prelims in 2023 & 2024. 

On February 21^st, 2025, the Guardians announced they would be taking a hiatus and did not field a corps for the 2025 season.

Independent Creative Arts Network; Drum Corps International; Paul Legault (DCX)

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