Era of rock returns once again as sophomores start their new band

In the 1970s, musical groups such as Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath and the Rolling Stones gradually took over the music industry, spurring a new-found love for rock bands throughout the world. Sadly, as the 21st century dawned, the age of rock  has not yet returned to its former glory.

But sophomores Kainoa Giomi, Samantha Sherman, Kanika Vora and Rajat Vora decided to revive this past mania by creating a rock band in the spirit of the ‘70s: They call their band The Renegades.

In the beginning of summer, the fraternal twins — Rajat, an avid percussionist, and Kanika, an experienced guitarist — called Sherman, a vocalist, and Giomi, a pianist, and asked them to join The Renegades.

Their initial repertoire of 10 songs consists mostly of classic rock pieces.

“We tend to focus more on  rock or alternative,” said Kanika. “[Sherman] can’t do the full-on hard metal, but we like to play a lot of Green Day, Bon Jovi and All American Rejects since they have just the right amount of rock and roll.”

During the summer, they held 3-hour practices three times a week. Now that school and sports have taken over their calendars, the rigorous band practices declined to once every three weeks for around an hour.   

The Renegades got their first taste of live performance over the summer when they played at the Sevathon, a charity awareness walk, and Saratoga’s Got Talent. In addition to performing, the band also promotes its music through a Facebook page started this year in July that has 225 likes as of Nov. 13.

For now, the band is mainly concentrated in getting ready for upcoming shows. With the help of Kanika’s guitar teacher, Carl Atilano, the Renegades are able to perform at various gigs. Atilano is part of a music company called Musician’s Mobile, which Kanika and Rajat have been taking lessons from since third grade.

“Carl is like our mentor. He helps us perfect our songs, work on stage presence and sometimes finds places for us to play,” Rajat said.   

Even though being in a band can be difficult in terms of scheduling practices, the band members still find its process more beneficial than detrimental. Giomi believes that being in a band is much better than working solo, since the friends build memories at every practice and show.

Although The Renegades hope to play at a bigger variety of events and garner more attention, their goals do not extend to the professional field. Rather than dreaming about becoming future stars in the music business, the band members play purely for fun.

“Our goal is to get really good and hopefully start playing originals instead of covers,” Kanika said. “It is more of an entertaining hobby that we all enjoy and we do with our best friends.”