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The Renegades Bio-
Fall of 1985 to the Summer of 1986

(Scroll to the bottom to listen to two Renegades songs!)

For a little less than one year 3 guys from San Diego and 1 guy from Upstate New York played a fast, hard brand of rock and roll. From the ashes of two defunct bands (United Front in San Diego and S.F.B in New York) these 4 guys lived, drank and played their own style of music. In The mid 1980's the music scene in San Diego was filled with dance bands or bands playing a very watered down version of New Wave (or whatever you want to call it). The Renegades played a fast blend of 50's rock n roll and early 70's New York style punk. Bands like Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers and the New York Dolls were key touchstones to the music The Renegades were playing. Also with some of England's finest being represented as well - The

The original lineup included Brent Studler, Arnie "Slick" Sinha, Pete "JD" Wrieden and Vaughn Avakian (for a short time Johnny Ramone drummed while Vaughn played in a very hardcore punk band) and all the way from the East Coast Bob "Bobcat" Catalano.

After disbanding the United Front- Studler, Sinha, Wrieden and Avakian split for a time musically. They stayed in touch going to parties and hanging out picking up chicks. In the summer of '85 Wrieden got a call from Bobcat, he wanted to come out to the west coast for a visit. After finding out that they both shared a love of music and had both been playing in bands (Bobcat played guitar and Wrieden was a singer/fledging bass player)- Bobcat moved to San Diego in the fall of 1985 to start what was to become The Renegades.

Bobcat found a house to live in off of 68th St. and El Cajon Blvd- near SDSU. Not a very nice neighborhood in that a row of one bedroom flop houses were across the street full of drug addicts and drifters. But it had the necessary practice space in a garage and none of the roommates had a car-so this is where the boys set up shop. It was time to put the band back together with Bobcat on Lead guitar/vocals, Studler on Keys/vocals, Slick on guitar/backing vocals and Wrieden on bass/vocals. At this early stage the boys didn't have a drummer with Vaughn busy with his side project.

First rehearsals took place in the front room of the 68 St. house- 3 guys in a circle, trying to figure out what to play. One thing they all had in common was a love for Johnny Thunders- the rock N roll guitarist of the New York Dolls and then later with The Heartbreakers (and I'm not talking about Tom Petty). So naturally his catalog was tapped for material (Born to Lose, Green Onions, Do You Love Me?, and later Blame it On Mom- about the only contemporary cover The Renegades ever tackled). Bobcat had an original song that owed a large debt to Chuck Berry

But the boys didn't really have a band until they had a drummer, so Slick made a call to his neighbor (whom he'd heard practicing because he lived right behind him) and Johnny Ramone came into the fold. He was a young kid who loved the Ramones and was very eager to be in a rocknroll band. Once Johnny joined the band in October of 1985, the group moved into the garage of 68th Street and immediately went about decorating it. Beer cans- posters- spray paint and an old American flag left by the one time owners of the house with 48 stars on it (cool!). Being a permanent practice space the boys left their gear padlocked into the garage. With plywood found lying around they proceeded to board up the windows and the door leading into the garage in an attempt to make is safe from thieves. Some of the gear the boys initially played out of: Fender blackface twin reverb, Plush 1000 bass rig with 2 x 15" in a tuck and roll cabinet and head, a borrowed Fender single 12" tube amp, Fender Contempo Organ with a Honher 2 x 15" solid state amp. PA was nothing to write about as it was cobbled together with whatever head / speaker combo they could find (Bobcat brought a non- working horn out from New York that served as a nice end table in his living room).

As for libations, they boys mostly drank beer- Bobcat was partial to Budweiser (in that he name checked that beer in almost every song he sang) and the others drank whatever was cheap- Schaeffer or Miller Hi-Life. When they could get the dough together maybe spring for a 12'er of Lowenbrau- the good stuff. One fond memory is of Bobcat's roommate who bought the boys a case of Heineken for their first club gig (no one could drink in the bar cause they were all underage)- very sweet gesture from a very lovely girl, whom they all wanted to date.

Rehearsals went well and before long the band had worked up a set and enough originals to make a demo tape. Called the 68th Street Tapes- they were recorded in the garage on a 4-track Fostex recorder and mixed at Wrieden's parents house on his Dad's stereo, cause it had an equalizer on it. Songs included the originals: "Move On", "Hard On", "No One Here Gets Out Alive", "Titty Bop", "Rock It!", and the lone cover "Party in Paris" by the UK Subs. First gig was a Halloween Party hosted by the band at their H.Q., and maybe about 15 people showed after handing out flyers all over SDSU- Band played well- and mixed up the set with obscure covers and some of the originals- a good time had by all that bothered to come. The door to the garage was merely lifted up and the band played out into the street. The party was shut down by the cops, as all good parties with a live band should be, it's amazing that the neighbors allowed the band to play as long as they did. For this first gig the band needed a name and it was decided the boys would use The Rockin' Bones- a name that seemed to fit the Halloween theme of the party.

The second gig was at the Missouri Compromise in Lake Forest, CA- Bobcat and Wrieden answered an ad in the LA Weekly promoting a Battle of the Bands and all you had to do was sign up. Seemed like a great idea, so the boys got a date to participate (mid week in Nov. of 1985) and loaded up the cars, bars and guitars and headed north. Half of the band and gear in Wrieden's 57 Chevy (which served as shuttle service for the gear and band for the duration of the band) and Studler's '67 Ford with the other half. Once arriving it was found that they'd wandered into enemy territory…for this was a

The band was feeling real good about their gigging and rehearsing and writing of new material. A couple of house parties helped knock everything into shape and build the bands' reputation in the area. The 2nd gig of the band's career was a birthday party very near to Slicks' house. A hot show- lots of chicks and beer and local wanna be guitar heroes in attendance. The boys blew the roof off the house- one of the best live shows by the band. Johnny Ramone settling down and playing well with Bobcat throwing out hot licks from his Les Paul like Thunders himself and all the metal heads going "who are these guys?"

New Years eve 1986- at JW and Dave Crab's house - a skate party for the masses. The Band decides as a one off that they'll change their name to Code Blue (who knows why?)- and again the band is tight and red hot. Chicks everywhere- skater boys- rockers- punk rockers- they were there- 100's of people rocking to the band. It got so hot that Studler lit a empty 12'er on fire with his ass (actually it was on top of the stove- band was playing in the kitchen- he leaned back and his butt accidentally turned the stove on while playing)- great pyrotechniques. Galvanized by the crowd the boys played great- hard and fast numbers, banging one into another. People were getting out of their heads and the band fed off of it. The band quit playing cause they couldn't stand up any more for exhaustion. The best comment from the night was when J.W. and some of the boys went to get beer, when they parked the car to go into the 7-11, and someone said, "hey turn the radio off" - reply- "it is off…"- "…then where's that music coming from?" - answer- "My house- over 20 blocks away! " Awesome…

At this point the boys started getting serious- having played their first real show and a few parties. Johnny Ramone was out of the band (for reasons other than the mishap at the Missouri Compromise Gig) and Vaughn was back. His hardcore band was fizzling out and he found out there wasn't much of an audience for that (hardcore) at the time. He decided to re-unite with his United Front Members (Wrieden, Sinha, and Studler) as the Rockin Bones' were fast turning into quite an exciting rock n roll band with gigs to play and chicks to have. At this time the band decided to change the name of the group to The Renegades, feeling it more described there music and image. They did everything together and practiced hard to try and become a unit. Or as Bobcat would say become a "Tight" band (meaning hitting all the changes and stops and starts). The band worked hard to get Vaughn up to speed on the new material, which didn't take long in that he was the youngest drummer in town with real drive to push himself. Also he was a really good drummer (which may have made it easier to push Johnny Ramone out and bring Vaughn in).

At this point this is where the band starting rehearing at Music Power, a studio owned and operated by a husband and wife team of Elmo and Barbara. It was located in El Cajon on Main Street. It consisted of a bunch of rooms, upstairs and down stairs that were for rent for bands to rehearse in. Having left the 68th Street house Bobcat and Wrieden moved in together just down the road in an apartment, this became the new head quarters for band meetings and bringing the chicks. The band needed a place to rehearse and music power was it. Barbara started taking (a real) liking to the boys, so they always had a room for the band, even when they were totally booked. The band practiced 2 to 3 times a week to stay tight and get ready for the upcoming "shows" at clubs. That's when they started to play the Spirit Club off of Morena Blvd, near Mission Beach in San Diego. From the spring of 86 to the end of the band this was the Renegades home turf. They played off nights (middle of the week) and weekend nights. The local press (The Reader) occasionally had brief praiseworthy snippets on the band. They opened for such national acts as Tex and the Horseheads and the Screamin' Sirens. These were real Tim Maze shows (famous local promoter associated with 91X Radio in San Diego). The Renegades just missed playing with their idol Johnny Thunders. Maze not being familiar with the band, didn't make the connection between The Renegades and JT and the Heartbreakers. But a week after Thunders played the Spirit, Maze lamented to the band that he made a mistake and should've had them open for him. Que sera sera…

The bands first trip into the studio was in April of 1986. Having saved what little money they did make from gigging (remember this was an era where bands had to pay to play- meaning if you didn't sell enough tickets- you were not asked back to play- complete shit- it put everything on the bands to promote the gigs and take whatever crap the owners of the clubs would dole out- the band was even too young to take advantage of free beer from the club). Scene Diego in El Cajon was where the boys got together to record some tracks. These included: "Lie", "Move On", "No One Here","Lonely Little Boy", "No Other Girl" and "Midnight Snapper"- (all originals) 3 penned by Studler, 2 by Bobcat and 1 by Wrieden. The recording was conducted over a one-week span at night, after everyone either got off of school or work- and it was a mess from the start. With the band not knowing anything of a studio and the guys who worked there not much better- the quality wasn't what it could've been- the mix always being called into question. "Rob" from Ministry of Truth, who worked at the studio also assisted, for better or worse (in addition to trying to snake Vaughn into his band). The 4-Tracks done on 68th Street sounded fresher/better/clearer than what was gotten out of the sessions at Scene Diego. But it was very exciting for the band to be in their first proper studio and at the time everyone felt good about it. Even if it meant that all the beer money was gone for studio costs.

With the first proper demos recorded, hopes were high as to where this musical adventure might take the boys. The band continued to gig (opening up a Ralph's Hair Place in Pacific Beach in P.B.- the owner claiming he cut Pete Townsend's hair, lunch time at Patrick Henry High School and The Spirit). The band were in the planning stages of kicking off a summer tour- renting a van and driving across country selling demo tapes and playing clubs. Wrieden ended up sailing to Hawaii with his family, Slick got serious about college and Bobcat moved back to New York (with all the bands videos, tapes and some of the gear).

And so ended the rock n roll saga know as The Renegades- for a short time in the mid-80's these 4 guys tried to live the ultimate rock n roll fantasy- lots of fun, music, gigging, recording, drinking and having a good time! Having properly recorded maybe 6-8 songs, this is what is left aurally to listen to but with memories enough to last a lifetime.

Pete "JD (Johnny Drunk)" Wrieden
Fall of 2003

The Renegades - Party in Paris
The Renegades - Don't Turn Around
(these are both WMA files, if someone converts them for us, we'll post mp3s instead)