7 Scenes of the San Francisco Renegades storming into DCA Prelims
2002 - History is Made
Welcome back to Drum Corps Scene 7, cats. Today’s flashback is 7 scenes of the arrival of the 2002 San Francisco Renegades to DCA Prelims in Scranton, PA. This was an incredible moment for all of us, the result of years of hard work and approximately seven international incidents.
Photo #1. Perspective.
As the sun rose the morning this photo was taken, a large contingency of this evil drum corps was ALLEGEDLY partying like rock stars at the hotel, complete with a contingent of strippers and more beer than anyone had ever seen at one drum corps event since the band Guns & Roses went to WGI. Allegedly.
And then …. there we were. Taking the field at DCA. Wow!
Among the many characters in the corps, one of the hottest chicks ever seen in DCA was in our mellophone line — in uniform, she looked like she fell right out of the movie The Matrix, which was a hot film at the time. Cool Factor 777.
Despite never having appeared at DCA Prelims before, and the entire 2002 season coming down to one performance in Scranton — our percussion section had no fear of DCA competition, they had heart lion and gave 150% all year.
I was very proud of them, and I loved working with these cats!
The Renegades horn line was loud and amazing. This belligerent performance resulted in the Renegades becoming the first DCA Finalist from California in the history of the Earth. Rock Stars!
We showed up to DCA on Day 1 with 72 horns and a healthy disrespect for any dynamics below FFF. Our t-shirts said “LOUD is Good,” a genius marketing ploy invented by horn player Chris Nalls, who then spent the next decade trying to convince people the Renegades horn line really did play dynamics. hehehe.
Drum Major LEWIE presents the Renegades to the East Coast fans.
DCA instantly loved the Renegades. The Renegades instantly loved DCA.
Genius!
BTW - Thank you to Gil Silva and the 2002 DCA Board of Directors for all the help you gave us. Ditto to Mr. B. and Hanover Area High School.
Seven.
The magical key to everything.
More soon!
It was an honor to march on the same field as the Renegades with the Northwest Venture! Imagine that! Two Senior Drum Corps, doing Drum Corps Right!
This was my first year marching Statesmen and I remember seeing Renegades that year (and several years after) and thinking that it was so cool to see a group putting out a completely different feeling for what marching music could be. To that point I had only seen more traditional groups in terms of uniforms and musical selections. Bravo.