A Brief History of the Rogues

In the late 1980s, Lars Sloan, E.J. Jones, Randy Wothke, and J.W. McCormick formed a band called Clandestine. They played almost exclusively at the Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF), performing mostly traditional pipe and drum music. The last incarnation of the old Clandestine band (1993) was Lars, Thomas Campbell, Randy Wothke and Paul Rendon. (E.J. had left the group to go to college, and J.W. McCormick had left to pursue a career in movie special effects.)

When Lars left the group, also to pursue a career in movie special effects, he took the name "Clandestine" with him. In the summer of 1994, the remaining members, Thomas Campbell, Randy Wothke and Paul Rendon, joined by E.J. Jones, who had recently returned from Carnegie Mellon University, needed a new name. Randy's wife, Sharon, suggested "The Scottish Rogues." The band adopted the name and thus The Scottish Rogues (later known as "The Rogues") were born. During this first year together they did not record any albums. This is also when Bryan Blaylock began to hang out with the group, helping out on the sidelines and carrying the Scottish Flag. Tom Campbell gave him a bodhran and he started to learn to play on his own.

By the end of the 1994 season, Paul Rendon and E.J. Jones had left the group. E.J. and Jennifer Hamill (whom he had met while attending Carnegie Mellon University) got together with Lars and formed a new group using the "Clandestine" name and different instrumentation. The remaining members of The Scottish Rogues, Randy and Tom, invited Jimmy Mitchell and Bryan Blaylock to join their group for the 1995 season. They recorded their first album that August and released it in cassette form at TRF. For the initial run, the band only ordered 500 copies of their self-titled tapes, hoping and praying that they would sell enough to recoup their expenses. If they could sell one or two tapes per show, they reasoned, they would be able to break even by the end of faire. The tape's success was overwhelming. Not only did they break even by the first two weekends, they had to reorder two more times before the faire was over.

In 1996, the band began to expand their appearances, traveling to such venues as Scarborough Faire, The Castle at Muskogee, Dickens on the Strand in Galveston, and Victorian Christmas in Austin. In March, the band made a Compact Disc version of their first album, which was released on St. Patrick's Day in Houston. They quickly discovered that there was a greater demand for CDs than tapes. In the spring of 1996, Jimmy decided to leave the band to pursue his interest in competitive piping. Knowing this, the band invited Lars to join them, thus giving them three pipers for the last couple of weekends of the faire. This allowed for a smoother transition when he left. Lars officially joined the group full-time and was there when the band made their debut at the Maryland Renaissance Festival and Kansas City Renaissance Festival in the fall of '96. The Scottish Rogues recorded their second album that summer, and released Hollerin' for Haggis at TRF that fall.

In early 1997, the band continued to expand its horizons by including Norman Medieval Faire and the USCO Scottish Highland Games in Oklahoma. In June of '97, Tom left the band and moved to Oklahoma, helping to form the 32nd Street Pipe and Drum Corps in Oklahoma City. Jimmy was invited to rejoin the group and only had six weeks to learn all of the band's music before playing their first summer gig. At this time, the guys decided to officially change their name to simply, "The Rogues."

They went on the road that summer to pick up new gigs at Bristol Renaissance Faire, Great Lakes Medieval Faire in Ohio, and the new faire in Ontario, Canada. It was there that they paired up again with the Tartan Terrors, a comedy and dance troupe they originally met at the Maryland Renaissance Festival the previous fall. The Terrors' first Ceilidh show was performed in August of '97 in Burlington, Ontario. The performance was recorded and became the band's third CD, Live in Canada, eh? which debuted that fall at TRF.

Live, which featured some of the best music from both of the first two CDs, plus some new tunes, was filled with all of the energy and passion of their live shows. It received an excellent review from Dirty Linen Magazine in October '99. Because of its traditional bent and lively nature, it remained one of their most popular recordings before it was retired in 2004, on the heels of retiring their first two albums: Scottish Rogues and Hollerin for Haggis the previous two years.

In January, 1999, The Rogues went into the studio once more and recorded their Off Kilter CD, which was scheduled to be released in late March. A preview of the unmixed album was heard by guests of The Rogues' first Caribbean cruise on a ship called the "Enchanted Isle." That trip was also remembered for the turbulent twelve-foot swells while everyone was trying to dance, turning the dance floor of the disco into a mosh pit, but that did not deter anyone from jamming to the upbeat sounds of the new music.

"Off Kilter" was officially released on March 28, 1999 at McGonigel's Mucky Duck Pub in Houston. It was the most critically acclaimed album to date. It was put in the Grammy Book two times (having made the second level of nomination) in the categories of "Best New Artist" and "Best Contemporary Folk Album." Since the new CD was self-produced by The Rogues, it did not have enough national exposure to be considered for the official five nominations.

The band personnel remained unchanged throughout the year 2000, as they continued to perform at renaissance festivals and Scottish games around the country.

The Rogues' 5th album, appropriately named V.O (with the Roman numeral "V" for "5"), was released in July 2001 at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. This album, their most progressive to date, also made the Grammy book in four categories including "Best Contemporary Folk Album," and "Best New Album."

At the end of 2001, Bryan Blaylock left the group, and our current front man and bad boy, Nelson Stewart, was brought onboard. Nelson is a resident of Ontario, Canada, and plays several instruments. The band took advantage of this when they recorded and filmed their show at McGonigel's Mucky Duck Pub at the end of 2002, which became their sixth album, and their first DVD.

That release, Made in Texas, debuted in April, 2003 at Scarborough Faire, followed by the release of the DVD of the same name the last weekend. The double CD set is a collection of some of their best music from their previous five albums, presented in a fresh new way with musical guest appearances from E.J. Jones (formerly of Clandestine and The Willow Band), Brian Thomas (second horn with the Houston Symphony), Wolf Loescher (Jiggernaut), Carrie Carter (Molly and The Ringwolds), and Emily Vacek (vocalist on Cullen Anderson).

In the spring of 2004, Lars decided to pursue other projects, and chose to move from full time piper to guest appearances. To fill in the gap, E.J. Jones came on board as the new full time member. Lars continued to join the Rogues throughout the summer, then decided it was time for a more permanent hiatus from the band.

When the Rogues returned to Texas, they needed a piper to fill in for E.J. on a couple of their gigs. It was suggested that they contact Jeremy Freeman, a highly acclaimed open class piper, who had placed second in the Silver Medal competition at the Northern Meeting in Inverness, Scotland -- a significant achievement -- in 2004. Jeremy, who teaches piping with his former mentor, Gold Medalist Mike Cusack, at the renowned St. Thomas Episcopal School (four-time World Juvenile Champions), learned the entire anthology of Rogues music well enough to perform in November and December.

When Jimmy Mitchell resigned in the beginning of 2005, the band was left with an open spot for a new piper. Having seen the tremendous job that Jeremy had done for the band as a substitute (with very little time to learn the music), The Rogues offered him the new position. Jeremy was a natural fit for the band, contributing his excellent playing skills, winning personality, and original music. Everything fell into place effortlessly; it was as if Jeremy had been with them all along.

As of this writing in January, 2005, the band is preparing to go into the recording studio in February to record their seventh CD. It will have all new music, which will include a lot of original tunes from the band members. Stay tuned for Roguetrip!

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