Black Watch

The Black Watch drum & bugle corps was founded in the fall of 1971 under the direction of Dan Anderson, a former member of the Seattle Thunderbirds.

In 1972, Mr. Anderson brought in Jim Amador of the Santa Clara Vanguard to oversee the percussion and the music was written by Keith Markey of the Air Force Academy. In their inaugural season as members of the Northwest Drum Corps Association (NWDCA) championships, the Black Watch had moved up from the “Class C” division to “Class B” and took the title. The following year, Jesse Amador of the Santa Clara Vanguard joined the staff to oversee the marching program. The corps was an up and coming drum corps from the Pacific Northwest and followed the marching style of the Troopers. In 1973, the corps took its first tour when invited to join the Drum Along the Rockies tour of Cheyenne, Denver, and Steamboat Springs. Moving up to the NWDCA “Class A” championships, placing 4^th.

They continued to climb up ladder of competition by 1974, when they traveled across the U.S. for the first time in their new uniforms from the Scottish Highlander Military Regiment, representing the dress tartan of the famous Black Watch. They were a favorite in many of the contests they were in, because of the style of the corps, the uniform, to the marching and the music, blending into a real different mix. They were even often known as the “Black Watch Highlanders”.

The corps competed in several “Open Class” championship preliminaries including the DCI Midwest (14^th), the US Open (16^th), the American International Open (18^th) and the Key to the Sea Open (21^st), culminating their season with a 3^rd place finish at the Drum Corps West championships. In 1975, the corps got bigger and kept trying for that magic spot of making it into the “Top 25” of DCI. While bigger and better than they were in 1974, there were just too many new people in the corps to get their style worked out and found themselves in 33rd place at DCI Prelims in Philadelphia that year. Proud traditions were kept, and the Scottish music kept on coming. They opened with Blue Bells of Scotland and finished with Loch Lomond and Scotland the Brave. They closed out the season with a 3^rd place finish at the Drum Corps West championships.

The following season, they kept pushing the envelope, traveling extensively once again in what mounted to be their strongest and most successful corps in their history. Their 1976 tour led them to a finalist showing at the American International Open, placing 7^th, an invitation to perform at the prestigious CYO Nationals, where they finished in 12^th position and appearances at all other major “Open Class” championships including DCI North (12^th), Key to the Sea (17^th), DCI Midwest (22^nd) and the World Open “Class A” championships, missing out from the finals by one position, placing 11^th in the prelims.

Political pressures from back home prevented the corps from competing at the DCI championships and a shot at the “Top 25” membership. At the Drum Corps West competition, they finished in 4th place closing out a promising season. In the fall, many members of the corps were disappointed at the fact they didn’t compete at the DCI Nationals and left the organization. The 1977 season became a rebuilding year with many members from their feeder corps filling in the ranks. That year, the corps competed at the American Legion Nationals, placing 20^th in the prelims and appeared at the DCI “Class A” championships, placing 7^th in the finals. They completed the year with an 11th place finish at the Drum Corps West prelims.

The next year, the Highlanders went nearly undefeated in the Northwest and completed that run at DCI, becoming the 1978 DCI “Class A” champions. The brass line was excellent, under the guidance of Rick Grafton and played a difficult book that included Classical as well as Jazz favorites. This brought many old members back, and the corps was ambitious in 1979, moving up to “Open Class”, but only placed 33rd at the DCI World championships. This result was in part due to the fact that they didn't tour nationally that year and didn't get the advantage of exposure that always proved beneficial. Consequently, the corps went inactive in 1980.

For their last two seasons of competition, the corps remained out west, participating in Drum Corps West contests in 1981 and appearing at the 1982 VFW Nationals in Los Angeles, placing 2^nd. They disbanded in 1983.

The Black Watch Highlanders Regiment was remembered as one of the strongest competitors from the Northwest, who, from the beginning, showed their aspirations to rise up the competitive ladder, from a “Class C” unit to an “Open Class” rival in a short period of time.

Paul Legault (DCX)

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