ABOUT NIGHTWALKER
David Friedlander - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, and Composer
Music is a wonderful gift that is best when shared. When the music is going right it is mostly because it isn't forced. Just let it flow through you from the unbounded possibilities that exist out there, waiting to be experienced.
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Some early influences include classical music from the masters. Later it was Rock 'n Roll, the Beatles, British Blues, American Blues and Jazz. Albert King, B.B. King, Coltrane and Miles Davis. I love those artists. I got to play with Willie Pooch, J.D. Blackfoot, Spirit Feel, DeMarco Brothers, and the Mojo Kings. I jammed with Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, and Danny Kalb. I was in bands that opened for Albert King, B.B.King, Albert Collins, and the Doobie Brothers.
Scot Gassen - Drums, Percussion
My attraction to percussion was originally ignited by the performance of a high school marching band for the grade school I was attending on the far west side of Chicago during the late 1950's. The experience of being pummeled by the thunderous drums and crashing cymbals had me hooked for life. By 1964 the excitement of the British Invasion inspired me to coerce my parents into purchasing a crude beginner Rogers drum set with a few Zildjian cymbals. As a freshman in high school the drum lessons and practicing had me on my way with enough basic chops to collaborate with other newbie musicians and launch a Rock 'n Roll band named the Shadows. We played our first gig at a teen dance in the spring of 1965. I remember my younger brother Tim sitting on the basement steps watching us rehearse. That would foreshadow musical adventures that would unfold decades later. Between those early experiences and today I've performed and recorded in a broad variety of genres ranging from the diverse styles of Rock 'n Roll, Blues, Funk, Jazz, and Country throughout Ohio and Tuscon, Arizona. Highlights include a performance in Chuck Berry's backup band at the University of Arizona Spring Fling event in April, '81, and recording and touring with my brother Tim's garage rock band, Marshmallow Overcoat in various lineups between 1988 - 2016. We were fortunate to be played on the radio by renowned LA disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer and have our music video of the song ~13 Ghosts~ premiered on the MTV show 120 Minutes in June of 1990. Flash forward to 2022 and I am honored to be making music with fellow seasoned musicians in the recently formed Blues Rock band Nightwalker in Columbus, Ohio.
Bill Kerwin - Vocalist, Lyricist
My first gigs as a singer were in Cincinnati, all free, all command performances: my immigrant Irish grandmother doted on my boy soprano, loved the way I sang "Danny Boy" and "Galway Bay". But in sixth grade, my voice cracked, and those magic days were done.
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My paid gigs began in Columbus in the middle to late 1970's: first with "The Trout Band", then with "Five Guys Named Moe" (where I first joined forces with Pete Remenyi). Both bands were eclectic, steeped in Americana. In the early '80s, Pete and I performed with the '60s revival band the Deltones. From the middle '80s, I concentrated on teaching high school English and writing poetry, appearing occasionally with various bands under the name "Five Guys Named Moe". In 2015, I began playing with "Bluesswing", an eclectic band specializing in roots music and songs from the Great American Songbook, and still perform with them today.
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I joined "Nightwalker" late in 2023. It's great playing with Pete again, and I love working with the other four guys as well. They are all skilled musicians, generous collaborators, and reliable colleagues.
Bruce McLeish - Vocals, Guitar
When I was a teenager, the British Invasion, Motown, and the folk blues revival inspired me to get a guitar and learn how to play. As a college student I began jamming with other musicians I met in the dorm. It was a very transitory thing as people were here one day and gone the next due to running out of money, flunking out, or getting drafted. After college I eventually found work playing in bands around Chillicothe and Washington Court House for several years. I played clubs and colleges all over Ohio with a band named Midnight Cruiser. We eventually backed up a singer-songwriter in Cincinnati and recorded about half an album that never got released. After that I picked up gigs with various groups and founded a recording studio, FM Production, with a guy I had been playing with off and on for a few years. We recorded a number of Columbus groups and singers including Ray Fuller, The Alligators, and Willie Pooch. I played guitar on some tracks behind Willie in our studio. That led to playing gigs with Willie for eight months at such places as Joe's Hole, Gene's Upstairs Lounge, The Liberty Club in Delaware, Stache and Little Brother's on campus, and a private party or two. I had been a blues fan for years ... Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Jimmy Reed, Albert King, B.B.King, Freddie King, and Little Walter. Playing with a real blues artist like Pooch, who had played with these guys, was a real education.
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After a ten year hiatus from music biz I started to play again. Scot Gassen moved back to Columbus from Tuscon. He contacted me and we started jamming which led to about a dozen years of playing blues rock in bands such as Holy Smoke, Winter Street, and Wazzin'. We played in sports bars all around the outerbelt as well as taverns in Marysville, Indian Lake, Kenton, Delaware, Waldo, and Prospect. We backed up Christine Kittrell (a renowned blues singer), played the Creekside Blues Festival in Gahanna, the Balloon Festival at the Delaware County Fair, and opened for the Fabulous Thunderbirds in Bi-Centennial Park.
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After another hiatus from the music scene, I got in touch with David Friedlander via Facebook and we found that we neither one were playing music and that we would like to be doing so. We started rehearsing and a band emerged. We call ourselves Nightwalker after one of David's original instrumentals. We play Blues, Rock, and Jazz and we have a lot of fun doing it.
York Proctor - Bass Guitar
I've been making music in Columbus for six decades. Groups I have played with include the Alligators, DeMarco Brothers, Dave Workman Blues Band, Willie Pooch & the Upsetters, Dick Mackey Band, The Jewels, T. C. and the Cats, and the Blue Cats.
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I'm a fan of Film Noir, Zap Comics, and the game of golf.
Pete Remenyi - Vocals and Harmonica
I've been playing music in Columbus for a long time in many different bands and many styles of music. I've played in Red Mountain String Band, 5 Guys Named Moe, The Deltones, One Riot One Ranger, Death By Banjo, The Subterraneans, and currently The Woodpickers, and Nightwalker.
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Harmonica is the first instrument I learned and is the instrument that has given me the opportunity to pursue everything else I've done musically, including playing dobro and singing. Playing blues harmonica has always been the key to being able for me to express my deepest feelings. My harmonica influences include Little Walter, Paul Butterfield, Charlie Musselwhite, and Bill Miller (Mr. Stress) who was a Cleveland legend I met when I was just starting out.
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I love all forms of music and believe that music is the only real universal language.
NIGHTWALKER LIVE
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Friday 06/25/2024
Eldorado Food and Spirits
New Music Showcase
4968 N. High St.
Columbus, OH
8-PM - No Cover
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Saturday 08/10/2024
Uncle Buck's Riding Stable and Dance Barn
71945 Shea Road
McArthur, OH 45651
7 PM - No Cover