Zombie Apocalypse Tour

In 1963 a Renegade was born…

      Once upon a time there was a little renegade kid in elementary school. He was always getting into trouble for drawing hot rods, motorcycles, and big boobed cartoon girls on his desks, or anywhere else he could get his grubby little fingers on. No matter how much his teacher smacked his knuckles with her ruler, that kid just wouldn’t stop. Then one day, the little renegade boy came to school to find a sheet of drawing paper taped to the top of his desk. When the boy looked up, astonished, his teacher was standing there in front of him. She just sighed and said, "I give up," and handed the little boy a brand new box of pencils, a box of crayons and an eraser. A renegade was born.

Starving Artist…

      If you are new to Renegade and don’t know me, my name is Scharf. I’m an artist with a life-long addiction to motorcycles, hot rods and beautiful women. That’s who I am, and that’s what I do. There is no 12-step program that can cure my disease.

      For as long as I can remember, I have had this worm in my head driving me to create, and to live my life as an artist. For better or worse, I wouldn’t have it any other way. It doesn’t really matter what tools, pencils, pens, brushes, airbrushes, welders, wrenches, hammers, cameras, computers, etc., etc. Imagination is my religion and tools are only limited by the imagination of the person using them.

It’s who I am…

      Renegade is an accumulation of all that I am. It’s the perfect outlet for all my passions, my art, my addiction to motorcycles, hot rods, and beautiful women!

      I have been publishing Renegade as a one man show since 2005. Since the beginning, I've been doing all the graphic design, website design and most of the photography, all while also working a part time job and living in a warehouse, AKA "Renegade Studios,” all so I could keep chasing the dream! Renegade for life!

Hard work pays off. …Well, sort of…

      Just over a year ago, I finally signed a deal to get Renegade on the national newsstands all across the US and Canada. It was one of the best and worst years of my life.

      Yes, it was exciting to finally see my magazine on the newsstand right there along-side all the other greats, with every issue out selling the last, and an average sell through of 50-60%! For those of you who don’t know, that is excellent! The average magazine sell through is 30-40%.

      Needless to say my distributors were astonished, and assured me I had a real winner on my hands. Great! Honestly though, I was not surprised. I always knew I could build a kick ass magazine that people would love! I have no doubts in my talent and abilities. I'm not bragging, I just want to let it be known getting on the newsstands was the easy part. The hard part was staying there.

The cold, hard truth…

      Unfortunately life is not all sweet pussy and rose petals! It was the most stressful year of my life, with deadlines to meet and big bills to pay, and the constant pressure to sell ads, just so I cover the cost of producing the next issue. I hated it! It takes money to make money, and fuck me, I didn’t have any! I had already maxed out all my credit cards and exhausted any and all other credit I had. I was all on my own at this point.

Don’t bitch, just do it…

      All I had and still have to this day is the sheer will, determination and mad skills to create the most awesome magazine ever created!!! That’s what I believe I’ve done and will continue to do!

Reality, it's not just a TV show…

      Despite really strong sales on the newsstand, the money earned from magazine sales is not enough to cover the high cost of the printing and shipping.

      It’s all about ad sales, ad sales, ad sales! You have to sell a tone of ads just to cover your expenses and break even, let alone make any money. Unfortunately for me, that is just not one of the skills I possess. Every ad I did manage to sell, I wound up making them such a great deal, I was practically giving it a way for free, just to get them onboard.

I’m an artist, not a salesman, damn it! I just want to do cool shit, meet cool people and make the best damn magazine I can!

Really bad timing…

      To make matters worse, I hit the market at the worst time in the history of publishing. With the world economy in the shitter, and many of the top selling magazines in the country going under or going digital, print magazines were already well on the way of the dinosaur. I knew this going in, but I still believed if I built it they would come! The readers did, but the ad sales didn’t. Eventually they did, but by then it was just too little too late. Print is dead!

A brave new world…

      It’s time to fully embrace the brave, new, digital world! Right from the beginning I had always planned on the transition to digital publishing and have had a digital version of the magazine on our website almost from the beginning, but I was not able to give it the full attention it deserved because I was being consumed with just trying to survive and pay all the bills. So, it came to the point where I had to decide to either just give up or go digital.

      I know going digital is an up-hill battle. It’s still a new medium and not everyone is ready or willing to embrace it. On the other hand, though, I will be on the ground floor of a new medium and on the front side of the wave, for the first time in my life. The possibilities are endless. Plus it offers me the opportunity to make Renegade the first iconic culture magazine of the digital age!

Fear not…

      Like so many of you, I still like the feel of a print magazine in my hands, and hate to see it completely go away. So, for all of you old-schoolers out there who simply can’t live without the printed magazine, or simply don’t know how to operate a computer, don't fret! I will still be offering special limited edition signed and numbered print on demand copies of each issue available on the website for $19.95. It’s a 100-page high quality collectors' print on 80lb gloss full color, cover to cover.

Going where no magazine has gone before…

Renegade 2.0 is a whole new concept in digital magazines! It is truly going to be a fully interactive experience! Six action-packed issues of Renegade will be available on our website or on iTunes, Amazon, Kindal Fire, Blackberry, Reader and other digital newsstands each year. Every issue will be overflowing with hundreds of stunning photos and creative videos of today’s wild custom culture scene, in all its glory! The rust, the grease, the gears, the smoke, the tattoos, the beautiful babes, wild characters, music and artists will all be brought right to you with stunning photography, video and creative graphic design.  It’s a Renegade revolution!

Membership has its privileges…

      Join the Renegade revolution and ride along with me as I travel the countryside hitting up some of the hottest hot rod and biker events, tattoo conventions, concerts, and dive bars. You get to be my plus one and get VIP access to some of the coolest back street garages and back woods barns all across the US and see where all the best hot rods, custom bikes and other mad creations are tucked away.  You never know, I may even visit your garage!

      Renegade 2.0 is more than just another digital magazine. It is one piece of a three-part project. Other parts include the definitive documentary film, and a coffee table photo book on the custom culture scene which I call “The Custom Culture Circus!” …And you can be part of it!

      As a subscriber, you will get to follow the progress of the documentary and go behind the scenes of the photo shoots with the wild woman and cool rides and meet some of the coolest people who make up the custom culture. With bi-weekly and monthly behind the scenes footage posted on our YouTube channel, some of which will be part of the over-all documentary, while of course some of the footage will be saved for the definitive film.

Renegade Zombie Apocalypse Tour…

      Now I’m 49 years old, and to quote Steve Miller, “I’ve been telling all my friends I was a genius since I was 17, yet they still don’t know what I mean.” That worm in my head keeps screaming at me: “It’s Time Mother F#@Ker! Show the world what you've got and create the best art of your life!"

      I’ve been working towards this forever, and I have lived the struggle of the starving artist life, as cliché as it may sound. I am one of those fools that lives his life for his art. I have sacrificed relationships, comfort and security to feed my addiction to create! It’s who I am, and I know no other way.

      So ride along with me as I scour back lots, barns and garages across the country as I hunt for wildest hot rods, rat rods, custom motorcycles and the wildest women this country has to offer. Come with me to some of the coolest parties, concerts, hot rod and motorcycle events & rallies, both large and small from all across the U.S., a lowbrow tour of the U.S. if you will.

      Meet some of today's most interesting characters the custom culture has to offer, plus go behind the scenes of my photo shoots with today's sexiest tattooed pin-up dolls, burlesque dancers and of course the Renegade Angels.

      As I write this editorial, it’s already been three weeks or more into my solo journey across the US. I have shut down my studio, put what little crap I had into storage, quit my job and packed up the Renegade Assault Vehicle. I hit the road with less than $1,000 in my pocket! Right now, I’m sitting in the my mobile command unit, broke as hell, and working my ass off to get this issue done, and work on a few freelance jobs and do whatever else I can do to raise funds for the journey. I’ve already done several photo shoots, met some really cool people and found some way cool cars and bikes.

      These photos are from my first stop. I was in Myrtle Beach, SC to see my good friend and partner in crime, Pain Erikson of Darkside Performance. Not only did he give me a place to set up headquarters, but he also introduced me to many of the cool locals for my first installment of the Renegade Zombie Apocalypse Tour! My next stop will be the Horses Smoke out and then The Heavy Rebel Weekender!

      If you hear I’m in your area and you have a cool ride or know someone who does, give me a shout and maybe I’ll come hang out, have a few beers, shoot some pics and shoot the shit about cars, bikes and babes!

Kick it!