Suncoast Sound

Suncoast Sound, founded in 1979, was a junior marching and maneuvering corps based in Clearwater, Florida. The corps grew out of an award-winning band program at Largo High School, home of the Band of Gold.

Suncoast had the distinction of presenting its very first show in England for the Royal Court. Largo's Band of Gold, under the direction of Robert Cotter Sr., had won the World Marching Band Championships in Europe the previous year, and Queen Elizabeth invited the group back the next year. A drum corps was formed, presumably to allow more people and band graduates to participate in the royal occasion. Because of this European trip, the corps was able to compete in only one show before entering the DCI World Championships that year, where it placed 40th. The following year, the corps took a giant step, moving up to 30th.

In 1981, Suncoast broke into DCI's top 25 with a 21st place finish. Suncoast captured fans' hearts in 1982 with a smooth flowing show and a brilliant brass sound on such charts as the Florida favorite “You are My Sunshine.” The corps was favored to elbow its way into the Finals at DCI World Championships that year, but fell just short, placing 13th. By 1983, however, the corps began beating many of drum corps’ powerhouses. They won the Drum Corps South Regional, and on championships night found themselves in sixth place. After just four years, Suncoast, with a complement of 128 marchers, had taken its place among DCI's elite top 12 drum corps, earning a reputation as one of the most rapidly growing and improving drum corps in DCI history. Suncoast would remain a top 12 corps for the remainder of its open class existence.

Suncoast Sound stunned audiences in 1984 with its tribute to the Vietnam era. Each member of the 1984 corps wore a memorial bracelet engraved with the name of a member of the armed forces who had perished during the Vietnam War. Although the corps dropped to seventh place, the show was one of the most thought-provoking and moving ever witnessed on the marching field.

The corps made history again in 1985 with an all-original program, written by Robert Smith, entitled "Florida Suite." It was the first time in DCI history that a drum corps fielded a show based entirely on music composed expressly for a drum corps. The innovative show allowed the corps to move back up to a sixth-place finish. 1986 saw Suncoast returning to their traditional jazz style, "Sunjazz," with a musically demanding piece titled "Adventures in Time," featuring charts by jazz great Stan Kenton. The artistic expression of brass, percussion, and color guard moved the corps into fifth place, the highest spot in the top 12 it would ever reach. The corps received corporate sponsorship from Circle K during these power years.

In 1987, Suncoast took their "Sunjazz" one step further by performing excerpts from another Stan Kenton book, an adaptation of the Broadway all-time favorite, "My Fair Lady." The field production, "My Fair Lady...Our Way!," was one of the year's real crowd pleasers and earned the corps a ninth-place finish at the DCI World Championships. Pushing the envelope again in 1988, Suncoast produced another original show entitled "Symphonic Dances for the Contemporary Child - written for Bugles, Percussion and Visual Ensemble," composed by Robert Smith. It was a concept show, depicting how children imitate adults and later, as adults, play children's games. The musically and visually challenging show placed the corps in tenth place at Finals. "Florida Suite," the original show from 1985, got a face lift and made a re-appearance in 1989. With several new selections, updated music, and a "jazz-modern barefoot" color guard, the corps took ninth place at Finals.

Suncoast Sound’s history as an Open Class drum corps ended with the 1989 season, due to financial and administrative difficulties. For a number of years, the group raised money by running a bingo hall in Pinellas Park, but it wasn't enough.

In 1990 and 1991, however, efforts to revive the corps began. Two organizations were formed under the Suncoast "umbrella" to ensure the Suncoast organization lived on: the Suncoast Sound Cadets and Suncoast Gold. Although these groups limited themselves to local performances, the kids who marched with the Suncoast Sound Cadets and age-outs who played with Suncoast Gold kept the name and spirit alive for two years and helped to raise funds to get Suncoast Sound back on the field in 1992.

In 1992, a core group of committed individuals, Dino Riccio, Scot Brownell, and Mike Long, revived Suncoast Sound and brought it back to a competitive level. Although smaller than in the 1980s, the corps did well, placing fifth in DCI Division III rankings. They placed seventh in 1993, then moved to Division II in 1994 and reached fifth place at Finals. In 1995, the staff and members of Suncoast fielded a corps of 42 dedicated individuals, but by July 6, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, five weeks before Finals, the staff realized there was no money left to continue with the tour. The members sadly voted to return home, though many marchers found homes with other corps already on the road.

Despite the fact that Suncoast made its final appearance in 1995, the staff and members of in the post-1989 Suncoast tried desperately to resurrect the organization that they had all cherished so dearly. A generation of kids marched, keeping the Suncoast name alive and in front of the fans with dignity, and they did it without the financial opportunities that had been available during the corps’ Open Class years. In 1997 several staff members from the post-1989 years attempted to field a Division III corps under the name Synergy Sound. That group’s only performance was to have been at the regional contest "Bugles on the Suncoast." The event was rained out, however, and the corps never resurfaced.

[RAMD, 6/30/97, 8/8/99, 2/26/98; http://www.suncoastsound.org/]

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