The Early Years   
In the fall of 1992, three members of the UM TrebleMakers, Kera Rennert, Kelly Gillis, and Galeet Dardashti, became disillusioned with the group’s all-female format and decided to form the University's first co-ed a cappella group. Thus the Faux Paz were born in January 1993 under the name “The Looney Tunes.”  The three of them held auditions, and they got 8 others to join their madcap crusade.

The group went through a bit of an identity crisis in its first semester.  The “Looney Tunes” name proved to be somewhat unpopular, and after the group rejected several names, including odd ones like “Skeleton Crew” and “The Scherzophrenics” as well as clichés like “The Accidentals,” someone suggested “The Faux Posse,” which for some reason met with less resistance than other suggestions.  The three founders made the wise executive decision to scrap the early 90’s lingo and adopt the name “The Faux Paz” on the basis that nobody in the group hated the name.  The name stuck, and the name’s bilingual French-Spanish translation of “false peace” came to be very appropriate for the group, which initially had a somewhat tense relationship with the University’s other a cappella groups.  The Faux’s logo also reflected that sentiment: the inverted treble clef turns the TrebleMakers’ logo upside down. Our official motto: "Instruments are for suckers!"
 

The Faux Paz Today
Since that first year, the Faux Paz have continued to grow in popularity throughout College Park and beyond.  The group has traveled all over the country, performing at colleges, high schools, and private events from Boston to New Orleans to Los Angeles, and everywhere in between.  The Faux have also frequently competed in the International Championships of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA).  In 2002, the group advanced to the International Finals at Lincoln Center in New York City, where they were judged one of the top four collegiate a cappella groups in North America.  The Faux recently advanced to the ICCA Semifinals in 2011 after placing 2nd in the Quarterfinal.

The Faux Paz have released four studio albums.  The group’s first two albums, Ends With a Z (2001) and We Steal Your Songs (2003), each garnered reviews of four stars from the Recorded A Cappella Review Board.  The group’s third album, For Lack of a Better Word, was released in July 2005.

In April 2007, the Faux released their fourth studio album, Crisis Control.  The album has received national attention, and three different tracks from the disc were selected for the national and international "best-of" compilation CDs BOCA 2008 (Best of College A Cappella), Sing IV, and Voices Only 2007.  In addition, the album was nominated for a 2008 CARA (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award) for Best Mixed Album of the year.  The Faux is looking forward to recording a new album in the next year, so stay tuned!