The Birmingham area can now lay claim to one of the three drum corps in the state — and that corps practices at Pell City High School. Southern Knights is the name of the all-age drum and bugle group, and the conception of the group stems from a lifelong dedication of its founder, John Hoekstra.

Hoekstra was involved in Junior Corp as a young man and stayed involved throughout his time in the military. He has been involved with various corps and his love of corps drove him to explore starting his own.

The group was started last year and has been gaining momentum since. It consist of drums, bugles and a color guard. Southern Knights now consists of 45 members of all ages. The youngest member is Hoekstra’s son, who is just 10. Having that wide of an age range creates a mentoring environment, allowing less experienced members to learn from the more seasoned members.

Hoekstra believes that being involved in drum and bugle corps is something that becomes ingrained in the members.

“If I go to California and talk to someone and they’ve been in drum corps, even if it’s across the country from me, that means something,” Hoekstra said. “It creates a common bond, it proves you’re a hard-working and dedicated person, you share corps values. Drum corps stays with you forever.”

As the corps was starting up, Hoekstra visited high schools throughout the Birmingham area, presenting on the corps and recruiting musicians. When he stopped by Pell City High School, he met with the band director, who had been involved in corps in the past and was excited about the prospect of one starting in Birmingham. He asked Hoekstra what he could do to help and they began discussing the need for a rehearsal location. Pell City High School worked with Hoekstra to provide the campus for the corps.

The corps currently has open positions for musicians and color guard members, but being in drum corps is not for everyone.

“This is an incredibly demanding group to be a part of, but it’s so rewarding” Southern Knights Communications Director Chris Deal said. “Seeing what everyone puts into this corps is incredible. They’ve built it from the ground up and everyone is eager to see how it grows in the future.”

Several St. Clair residents are members of the corps. Evan Woodall, Parker McWhorther, Brent Goodwin, Garrett Goodwin and Dylan Deal from Springville all participate. Hunter Shell and William Penwell from Pell City are members, Andrew Shorter and Anna Key Warner out of Leeds have joined and Carrington Byers from Ashville completes the list of St. Clair residents who are a part of Southern Knights.

The groups is already making strides, they passed qualifications in April through the Drum Corps Associates (DCA). DCA is the non-profit governing body for modern senior, or all-age, drum and bugle corps in North America. It sanctions competitions during the summer season, certifies the judges for its competitions, maintains and enforces the rules of the DCA activity, and conducts its annual championship.

For more information on Southern Knights, and to find out when their next concert will be, visit the group’s Facebook page, find them on Instagram, or go to southernknightscorps.org.