Under the spotlight: Kingdom Brass

Kingdom Brass on stage at Perth Concert Hall.

WITH days to go, Kingdom Brass is making final tweaks to its performance ahead of the 2016 Scottish Open.

The Fife band is conducted by Paul Drury and will be looking to claim the title for the first time when it takes to the stage in Perth Concert Hall on November 26.

Principal players

History

Kingdom Brass was formed in August 1999 after the amalgamation of the Cowdenbeath and the Kelty & Blairadam Bands. What seemed like a sudden decision by many was actually the end process of 18 months of careful planning and negotiation, which started in the spring of 1998. Individuals in both camps saw the potential to form one band with the cream of players in Fife which would be capable of challenging for the top honours.

A meeting between the two band committees was organised, and this took place in the Warout Stadium in Glenrothes in the summer of 1999. The proposals were discussed and the majority voted for the amalgamation. Both bands were then advised of the decision, which was positively welcomed by the majority of players.

The final competition between the two bands was the Scottish Miners Gala, which saw the rivalry of past years put aside with players from both bands guesting with the other in an almost party atmosphere. Cowdenbeath won the event, Kelty were runners up, and with that the new band was born.

Kingdom competed for the first time at the Fife Championships of 1999, and easily swept the board at that event. In the years since then the band has went on to win countless trophy after trophy, and is now firmly established as one of Scotland's top bands. Kingdom has been awarded the title of Scottish Band of the year 2000 and 2001, and won the Forth Valley competition in 2001 after being runners up in that event in 1999 and 2000.

A highlight for the band was competing at the National Finals in the Royal Albert Hall in 2000. The band won the Carnegie Invitation Contest in 2005, retaining the title in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 (after being absent in 2006 due to the band's tour of Germany, and in 2009 to concentrate on the Spring Festival). Kingdom also won the Land O'Burns contest in 2011. In 2008 Kingdom finally broke into the top three at the Scottish Championships, the best result by a Fife band in 30 years. That result was repeated in 2012, continuing Kingdom's consistent run of Scottish Championship results.

Kingdom has also found success at a national Level, winning the 2006 Senior Trophy competition and gaining third place at the 2009 Senior Cup. In 2014 Kingdom was runner up at the Senior Cup, gaining promotion to the Grand Shield for 2015.

The band can boast some of the finest solo players in Scotland, and produced the Scottish solo champion in 2000 (cornet player Lee Bathgate), 2001 (tuba player Gareth Ross) and 2008 (when cornet player James Smith lifted his eighth Scottish title). The band's trombone quartet has been runners up at the Scottish Championships in 2000 and 2001, while Kingdom's mixed quartet became Scottish Champions in 2001, a title they retained in 2007 and again in 2008.

The success of the band in the initial years enabled Kingdom to move on to a higher stage competition wise. The band was invited to compete at the European Open Brass Band Championships in 2002, which was held in the impressive 'Kultur und Kongresszentrum' in Lucerne, Switzerland. That trip proved to be the highlight of the band's first few years, with a creditable sixth placing and an invite back to the event for 2003 where the band gained seventh place. In 2011 Kingdom Brass represented Scotland at the European Brass Band Championships, which were held in Montreux, Switzerland.