San Francisco Renegades

The Renegades were founded in 1996 by a small group of people that got together simply for the love of drum corps. No horns, no uniforms, no instructors, and 3,000 miles from the nearest competitive senior circuit: this corps had it all.

In February of 1999, the corps put the Renegade 2000 plan into action and added an infrastructure that not only included a world-class instructional staff (notably brass arranger Larry Girard and percussion arranger/instructor Lee Rudnicki), but also a promotions team that took advantage of world class marketing, financial and legal consultants.

The mission of the Renegade organization is to bring an unprecedented awareness and appreciation of the drum corps activity to the public through a comprehensive marketing and financial plan.

Initially known as the Bay Area Renegades, the group's early uniform was green and white baseball shirts and jeans. Later on, members were instructed to wear anything they liked on the field as long as it was black. In 2002, black leather and Madonna tube tops were uniformized in an evil Matrix look, but were still black.

The Renegades made their DCI debut in July 1999, at the Moonlight Classic contest in Stockton, California, and are one of two charter members of the newly formed DCI-Pacific Senior Division. In 2000, the Renegades fielded an expanded corps, which was received with standing ovations at every show. The year culminated with a proclamation by San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown honoring the Renegades as The Official Drum & Bugle Corps of the City of San Francisco.

In 2001 the Renegades fulfilled their goal of a full complement of drums, horns, and guard members, and performing on two tours: the first to the Pacific Northwest, the second down to the Los Angeles area. Both tours and the local Northern California shows were rousing successes. In 2001 the Renegades also founded a new non-drum-corps musical group, Renegades Taiko!

In 2002, the corps became the first senior California corps to compete in DCA Championship competition, in which they finished tenth.

The Renegades sponsor an annual show entitled "LOUD Music Symposium." The black-clad corps' 2003 show, 'Red Skies at Night,' was subtitled 'Midnight in the Stadium of Good and Evil,' a show that won them sixth-place honors in DCA World Championships competition.

The 2004 season got under way early when the men in black marched in San Francisco's Chinese New Year parade in February. Their 2004 show was entitled 'Goodbye, Blue Skies: The Triumph of Evil.' The show was dramatically fronted by the Ed Teleky-designed "anti-pit", an unusual collection of front percussion instruments such as suspended Duplo blocks, PVC pipe beaten with brushes, a rake, and bicycle-powered cymbols, mastered by a black-clad dominatrix. The Renegades finished sixth in DCA Championships.

[http://www.renegades.org/about/; Drum Corps World, June 24, 2002, p.5; June 28, 2002, p.6; Dave Strickler; DCW, 2/04, p.4; DCW, 7/9/04, p.6]

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