Corps Names

[TennTux]

I can't say HOW the name was picked, but I can tell you the circumstances.

Most all of us involved with the Renegades were actually in a new Senior Corps called "Shockwave". I was actually the brass instructor for Shockwave. We met in a very nice high school in San Ramon, CA. As I recall we had 30+ horns, 20-ish drums, and some guard, after only a few months of operation!

SO ... I was working for Oracle and had to go to London for business for a couple of weeks. I get back, show up to rehearsal, and there were NO drummers, and only a couple of brass players!!! I asked the director ... "WTF,O?" and he came up with some lame excuse that everyone quit because of something. Well, I came to find out that they quit because of the director and his temperment (which I was definitely aware of!)

So, the Renegades were formed by ex-Shockwave people ... and I always assumed that the name Renegades had to do with their "renegade" action against Shockwave.

Jeff, If true, that makes two "Renegades" organisations, one on each coast (as well as separated by a couple of decades) with similar stories of their beginnings.

[JimF-LowBari]

I can't say HOW the name was picked, but I can tell you the circumstances.

Most all of us involved with the Renegades were actually in a new Senior Corps called "Shockwave". I was actually the brass instructor for Shockwave. We met in a very nice high school in San Ramon, CA. As I recall we had 30+ horns, 20-ish drums, and some guard, after only a few months of operation!

SO ... I was working for Oracle and had to go to London for business for a couple of weeks. I get back, show up to rehearsal, and there were NO drummers, and only a couple of brass players!!! I asked the director ... "WTF,O?" and he came up with some lame excuse that everyone quit because of something. Well, I came to find out that they quit because of the director and his temperment (which I was definitely aware of!)

So, the Renegades were formed by ex-Shockwave people ... and I always assumed that the name Renegades had to do with their "renegade" action against Shockwave.

You had to go to London for Oracle? LOL, get to fight with... err... work with Oracle and never got to go overseas to anyplace nice like London. <insert jealous smilie > Have seen the Shockwave name but have never heard details. Never guessed there was a Renegades connection, thanks.

And Mike and Tony, thnaks for the Whaler pic and story. Harpoon looks a lot different than I ever expected. Ranks right up there with Chicago Connections' Tommy gun.

Edited June 22, 2010 by JimF-LowBari

[JohnZ]

People also believed we were from Thermopolis Wyoming in 86

actually some of us thought you came out of nowhere.......

[Euphscott]

In looking for a name that evoked our Texas heritage without being the stereotypical idea Texas, we settled upon Vigilantes. The following encyclopedia entry summed up what we were looking for quite nicely...

In rural and undeveloped areas military had no jurisdiction over civilians and there was simply no law available because the town was not organized enough to collect taxes for salaries for lawmen. Crime ran rampant, and citizens finally saw something had to be done. As happened in so many lawless boom towns of the West, the only answer seemed to be a citizen's committee to take control. No matter the title, all were eventually called vigilantes.

[CallipygianKing]

Chops, Inc. actually started as a drumline-only organization:

1991 - Chopstix Percussion was formed. I, uh, actually don't know what prompted Mike Mayer to pick this name. Huh.

1994 - Top Chops Brassline came to be, and they were given the name to go along with the theme started by Chopstix.

1996 - The two groups are organizationally merged under the name Chops, Inc. They also start performing concerts together under the same name.

1999 - The first year that Chops, Inc. came on to the field in competition.

2001 - Hot Chops Colorguard is formed. Yes, for two years the corps was on the field with no actual colorguard.

As it stands today:

-Chopstix, Top Chops, and Hot Chops continue to perform on the parade routes as three SEPARATE units. That is, there are always a few floats (5-10) between each section of the corps.

-The competitive corps is still in lurk mode. But, we have this big 20th anniversary coming up in 2011, so...

-I still don't know where they came up with Chopstix. But I can guarantee that the name of the corps stems from that. So, I guess I'll have to ask Mike and get back to you.

[BCCGrifle09]

The Bluecoats started as an extension of the Canton Police Department Boys Club. Their name comes from the obviously blue shirts that the police wore, thus the name "Bluecoats" :-)

[Bossop]

The Bluecoats started as an extension of the Canton Police Department Boys Club. Their name comes from the obviously blue shirts that the police wore, thus the name "Bluecoats" :-)

I'm still waiting for someone to tell me where the name "Hip Pickles" came from!

[hairbear]

I'm still waiting for someone to tell me where the name "Hip Pickles" came from!

I don't know... Chet would! But some GREAT drummers in there!

[JoeDz]

I'm still waiting for someone to tell me where the name "Hip Pickles" came from!

It comes from "Selk Ci Ppih" spelled backwards.

[taters]

The novelty of the name "Buccaneers" notwithstanding ($1 to Kris), here's an excerpt from an article by our corps historian, Donnie Solinger, about the founding of our corps and the choosing of the name:

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For years during the 1930s, 40s, & 50s there were many junior drum and bugle corps in Reading and Berks County. It was essentially a youth activity. Junior corps members were forced to retire from competition at age 21. Some of these corps included the Barons (West Reading), the Green Hornets (Kenhorst), and the Cadets (Temple). Others were named the "Modern Woodmen" and the "Greater Reading Post." There was even a corps sponsored by the Grand Army of the Republic called "Stinky Davis" (no doubt the nickname of one of their leaders). By 1960 all of these corps had folded. There were many senior, (now called "all-age") corps in the northeast at the time, with names like the "Raiders" "Musketeers" (Philadelphia) and "Caballeros" (Hawthorne, NJ) and "Princemen" (Boston). But there were no all-age corps in the Reading area.

When the Buccaneers' founders first started talking about forming a senior corps they settled on a nautical theme. Many of them had been in the Navy and had marched together in the Temple Cadets. They were determined to start a senior corps when they had all completed their military obligations. Along the way they agreed on the name "Jolly Rogers." They liked the skull and crossbones as a logo and it fit the nautical angle. It was the working name of the gradually forming new corps.

At the third organizational meeting of the Jolly Rogers in early 1957, someone in the growing group of charter members pointed out that a corps had just formed in Toronto called the "Jolly Jesters." Some thought "Jolly Rogers" was too similar to "Jolly Jesters" and was not really the image they were trying to project. At some point someone suggested the name "Buccaneers." According to charter and founding member Bruce Englehart, no one remembers who it was. But the name was an immediate hit with all in attendance, and so the Reading Buccaneers Drum & Bugle Corps was born.

Good to know...see I had always heard that when they did their first standstill they had yet to determine a name for the corps and someone in the crowd shouted "Oh My F**** Ears" and then one of the staff members said "Hey how about the Buccaneers?"