The 2017 season: questions, questions . . .

Question 8: Is this the dawn of the virtual pipe band?

Dowco Triumph Street‘s great experiment will be interesting. Perhaps weary of competing at the local level with cross-town Vancouver rivals Simon Fraser University, DTSPB made a radical move, recruiting former World Drum Corps Champion Gary Corkin as the band’s lead-drummer. With Corkin and most of the drum section based 4,500 miles away in the UK, the band has been practicing mostly separated and remotely, including a contingency of pipers also in the UK. In addition to return to the World’s after missing it in 2016, Dowco Triumph Street will return to Glasgow Green and also check in at the British Championship at Paisley, where they hope to crack the top six to chart a path to World’s success.

+ Corkin signs on as Triumph Street L-D

Question 9: Will SFU return?

And speaking of Simon Fraser University, the six-time World’s winners are looking to return to the prizes at Glasgow Green after dropping back to seventh in 2016. Sustaining a world-beating standard is a challenge for any band with only a local few competitions, but SFU has it down to a science. The band is in need of stronger drumming results, since two ninths, as SFU had last year in the Final, are almost guaranteed to keep a band from the list. They might not have the “Borg” status as the machine-like system quite like they have been, but it’s only a matter of time before something gives in one direction or another.