Kevin Ballantyne founded the City of Bundaberg Drum Corps in 1956, but he was drumming long before then.
Kevin Ballantyne started his life in music at the age of 9, but the family found he wasn't very good as a trombone player, so he switched to drums.
The first band he joined was the Bundaberg Boys' Band. He later moved to the Bundaberg Caledonian Pipe Band and then moved to the Bundaberg Municipal Brass Band.
When he was a pupil at East Bundaberg State School, Trevor Ballantyne used to play the drums for the students to march into class.
Trevor Ballantyne said during his life his father was a playing member of the Maryborough Excelsior Brass Band and the Walkers Engineering Works Brass Band.
He also played with brass bands from Townsville, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Gladstone and Mackay.
He was in the Queensland Concert Band, the Rum City Silver Band and the Coventry Brass Band UK.
Trevor Ballantyne also played as a pit drummer with the Bundaberg Amateur Players for 16 years.
In 1956 he formed the City of Bundaberg Drum Corps, and the band went on to play at festivals across the country.
These included the Moomba Festival in Melbourne, the Canberra Festival in Canberra, the Ekka and Expo 88 in Brisbane and the world marching band championships in Brisbane.
