Avant Garde

In the fall of 1974, Jeff Perkins, director of the Bethesda Emerald Knights and Ron Ghetti, director of the Speigleaires met to discuss the possibility of merging the two organizations together. The two former members of the Interstatesmen agreed that it would be in the best interest of both units to merge and allow the members  to perform in a larger corps. This spawn the birth of the Avant Garde drum and bugle corps. The Corps' director was Jeff Perkins. Jerry Kaiser was the drum major from 1976 through 1981 when he aged out.

During its competitive life, Avant Garde wore three different uniforms. Black cadet jackets with green trim from 1975 to 1977; light green "SCV" style jackets with "Aussie" style hats and then shakos from 1978 to 1981; and bright yellow Seneca Optimist cadet jackets from 1982 through 1985. The Corps used a yin-yang as its symbol. Its colors being dark green and black. Avant Garde generally traveled with three buses affectionately known as the Jock bus, which also carried the staff, the non-smokers bus; and the Mutt bus.

The corps first official event was held at the Schenectady Thanksgiving parade. Their first season of competition brought great success to the corps, winning the World Open ‘Class B” and Northeastern championship titles and finishing 2^nd at the American Legion (AL) State championships. Avant Garde also competed at the DCI “Open Class” championships, astoundingly finishing 25^th and qualifying as a DCI “Associate” member in their inaugural season. The corps, however, turned down the membership that year as they found they were not quite fiscally ready for the financial and touring commitments at that time. 

The 1976 season brought a new staff headed by the famed Alfred “Corky” Fabrizio along with an Irish themed show. The corps finished 2^nd once again at the AL State championships, adding an 8^th place finish at the finals of the United Organization of Eastern Corps. They also participated at the World Open “Class A” championships (15^th - Prelims) and the VFW Nationals (16^th - Prelims) before returning to the DCI “Open Class” prelims, placing 39^th. The 1977 season started off with a very low turnout in the fall, almost folding in the process and forced the organization to restructure internally. They essentially transformed from a local group to a more regional concept, attracting a new membership base. Through this transition, they also introduced the concept of weekend camps.

That year they finished 3^rd at the AL State contest and expanded their national competitive presence with “Finals” appearances at the American International Open - AIO (3^rd), the North Tonawanda Open (4^th), the US Open (6^th) and returned to the World Open (11^th- Prelims). They opted not to participate at the 1977 DCI championships held in Denver as they were not yet financially stable for such an endeavor but the season was definitely considered  a strong “bounce back” year for the corps. In 1978, Larry Kerchner, DCI Hall of Famer, was hired as the brass arranger and the field drill was written by 18-year-old brass player Scott Reynolds. The drumline was also quite large, marching 10 snares. That summer, the corps finally broke through into the World Open finals, placing 7^th and finished in 16^th position at the DCI East championships.

Their tour towards the DCI championships proved quite eventful that year when one of their buses was impounded due to a dispute between the corps and a bus rental company. The rental company succeeded in getting a local judge to side with them and as payment, was awarded the impounding of one of their buses. The corps then approached a local lawyer who proceeded to help them, through public publicity, settle with the return of their bus, thus avoiding a court battle that the company wasn’t interested in pursuing. The corps finished in 26th place at the DCI preliminaries that year, missing out of the DCI “Associate” membership by a mere 4 ½ tenths.

Dennis DeLucia, DCI Hall of Famer, was hired as arranger for their 1979 repertoire and the corps once again made the finals at the World Open championships, placing 9^th. On their way to the DCI prelims that year, the corps got to perform on the Legion field in Birmingham prior to the championships. This was met with disbelief by the DCI management team as they couldn’t figure out how Avant Garde managed such a feat. The corps went on to place 20^th, their highest ranking to date, and made the “record cut” which was a great accomplishment at that time. The 1980 season was the first year that the corps toured extensively, participating in several regional championships, a trend that would continue throughout the rest of their history.

That season saw the corps compete at the finals of DCI Canada (5^th), the AIO (8^th) and the Drum Corps East (DCE) championships as well as the prelims at the DCI East (15^th) and DCI Midwest (17^th) The season culminated in a 23^rd place finish at the DCI championships. In 1981, the fall met with more changes including the hiring of the infamous Frank Dorritie as brass arranger, whose arrangements helped the corps achieve a finalist spot at the World Open (7^th), the DCE championships (8^th) and DCI East (12^th). The corps went on to a 23^rd place finish at the DCI Midwest and a 22^nd place finish at the DCI championships, retaining their Associate membership for a third straight year.

The following season proved to be another challenge for the corps from a membership perspective. So much so that the corps put a “Help Wanted” sign as they traveled that summer, recruiting new members on their way to performances at the DCE (8^th - Finals), World Open (8^th - Finals), DCI North (8^th - Finals), Key to the Sea (9^th -  Finals), DCI Canada (10^th - Finals), DCI East (14^th - Prelims) and DCI Midwest (22^nd - Prelims). Although the corps finished 27^th at the DCI championships that year, their progression over the course of that summer was commendable.

The 1983 season was best described as another “bounce back” year for the corps, struggling to maintain a strong membership and return to DCI “Associate” status. That year, they restructured their program with the formation of a regional recruiting concept with regional coordinators.

The staff would then travel to be mentored by these coordinators along with recruiting membership as far away as Florida and Tennessee. This was designed to help keep the corps with a full membership and remain competitive at a National level. They enjoyed a very successful year with appearances at the AIO (2^nd - Finals), Key to the Sea (6^th - Finals), US Open (6^th - Finals), DCE (10^th - Finals), DCI Canada (9^th - Prelims), DCI East (13^th - Prelims) and DCI South (16^th - Prelims). Prior to their DCI championship performance, two members of Avant Garde, Cynthia Brown and Charles Klangos, were married on the practice field in Miami. They had considered waiting until they returned home to New York, until discovering that Florida has no waiting period to get married. Corps director Jeff Perkins gave the bride away on their way to a 20^th place finish at the semifinals.

In 1984, the drumline, under the guidance of Bob Dubinsky, was particularly strong that year. The corps had produced what was to be undeniably the best ranking in their history as their competitive schedule included the AIO (3rd - Finals), Key to the Sea (7^th - Finals), DCE (7^th - Finals), DCI East (13^th - Prelims) and DCI Midwest (17^th - Prelims). The corps qualified once again at the DCI championship semifinals, placing 16^th as the percussion section finished 13^th. In what would be their final competitive season, the 1985 edition would yield another well planned musically evolving production and the addition of capes that led the corps to the DCE (5th – Finals, DCI South (11^th - Prelims), US Open (11^th - Prelims) and DCI East (18^th - Prelims). The corps finished the year with an 18^th place finish at the DCI semifinals.

In the fall of 1985, corps director Jeff Perkins stepped away from his position as corps director after eleven year tenure at the helm and was replaced by a triumvirate to manage the corps that unfortunately didn’t work out. Factors such as a stale marching band area, small budgets, local staff and the attempt to regional recruitment proved too much for the corps to withstand. It was finally decided that since the new management could not provide a “Top 25” quality corps to the membership, the decision was made to disband in 1986.

Avant Garde was the epidemy of a local corps, as so many others, that made its mark in the drum corps activity. They qualified as a DCI Associate member an amazing seven times out of ten appearances. In 2011, they founded an alumni drumline followed by the Avant Garde alumni corps in 2018 that performed until 2022.

 From drumcorpswiki.com; DCW, 8/31/02, p.3; DCW, 10/02, p.3; avantgardealumni.com; Paul Legault (DCX)

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