Rebels

On February 10th, 1989, the two Danish groups Chaos Cooperation and Roadrunners decided to join forces and merge into Rebels. Their first production, On the Wheels of Steel, announcing the merger, was released just two days later at the Bamiga Sector One and Warfalcons party in Fredericia, Denmark.

Among the original members were Droopy, Jake, Static, Vandal, Xod and Yoyo, all of whom remained in the group for several years. In The Incredible Hulk, Xod mentions another founding member, Cruncher, who suddenly sold his Amiga and left the scene in August 1989 — only six months after helping to form Rebels. He would later return under the name Pac-Man and is even listed as a member in the 1994 release Prurient.

During the early ’90s, Rebels became the unofficial “go-to” group whenever other groups ran into trouble. When the original Kefrens disbanded in early 1991, prominent members such as R.W.O, S.L.L, ICronite and Milkshake briefly joined before moving on again. Later that year, in August, Sanity faced a similar situation, and several of their key members joined Rebels as the group dissolved — including well-known names like 16-Beat, Chaos, Cruiser and Jester.

Over the years, Rebels maintained divisions in several European countries, including Sweden, Holland, Finland, France, Germany, the UK, Austria, Belgium, and even Yugoslavia. In mid-1990, however, the highly talented Swedish section — including Alta, Fuzzac, Marillion and Mogwie — left to join The Silents, although many of them would later return. In November 1990, their pack Candyland #34 announced: “Rebels no longer have divisions in Holland, England, and Yugoslavia. Instead, we have some new cool members in Austria.”

One year later, in November 1991, Top Secret #09 reported that the entire Finnish division had been kicked. This seems somewhat unlikely, as they released their BBS Commercial in January 1992, and later Meegosh was announced as world leader during the summer of 1992.

1993 began disastrously for Rebels, as January saw a mass migration of members to a new group formed almost entirely from ex-Rebels members: Movement. Dane Jake took over leadership and managed to get Rebels back on track. He later passed the role of main organizer to Bozo in 1994, and this “rebirth” also saw prominent members such as Danes Conan and Static rejoining.

Shortly after the reformation, the German section released their first demo, Prurient. It was quickly followed by Switchback, the winning demo at the Doomsday party, and Rebels once again appeared as one of the leading groups. They closed the year at The Party with Whammer Slammer, the third demo in a row by the German duo Zulu and Grey.

1995 saw only a few pack releases and a couple of issues of the Swedish chart/mag Sverige Toppen, produced in cooperation with The Black Lotus and Triad.

Sources:
- Various productions by Rebels
- Numerous Amiga diskmagazines
- Amiga Scenery by Glenn Lunder