| The NOMADS  The NOMADS were a band very close to me; mainly because my brother Bob Drechsel was in the band, as well as many of my childhood friends from the neighborhood. The origin of The Nomads happened way before the band. We all lived on Lockwood Drive and/or Mary Lane in Waldwick and grew up building mud forts and shareing the growing pains of life in a way that Francis Ford Copolla would have envied.
For the most part, we all attended the same Waldwick Middle School/St. Lukes/Nativity ring that everybody in town seemed to share, and while at Waldwick, started in Mr. Umbach's music class where we learned to play guitar to such songs as "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore" and "Puff...The Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul, and Mary. One way or another, we all had an acoustic guitar to learn on, and most of them were probably Silvertone or Harmony bought by our parents at Sears, where everything seemed to be bought those days.
Initially, they were known as THE MALIBUS, and they played neighborhood parties, teen clubs, and the usual supply of CYO dances, etc. The local scene at this time was Mike Taurone's house where we would sit in his back yard and practice our "D" chords while his mom "Tessie" would pump us full of Italian delicacies. Their neighbor Buddy Litchult - who was a Waldwick police officer - had a cousin who was Bucky Pizarelli (a renowned guitarist), and when he came around, he would teach us new chords and generally amaze us. But it was Richie Staff of the TEEMATES who got us all started on Rock & Roll, and broke us away from the acustic guitar. At first, we would take the bus to Paterson and buy these cheap guitar pickups (at MUSIC MANOR), and plug them into anything we could find; radios, Victrolas, ...the back of a TV...anything before we finally got our hands on real electric guitars and amps - again, usually from Sears. It was some time later that we all ended up with either a Hagstrom, Fender, or Mosrite.
Soon we were all playing "Sleepwalk" and other VENTURE inspired songs. Sometime in this period, we attended our first big concert at the Fox Theatre in Hackensack, NJ. The show featured several of the Motown acts we were hearing on the radio, but it was a stunning performance by Jackie Wilson that really taught us the meaning of "Wyld", and would change the way we heard music forever.
As time went by, I drifted my own way and formed my own band(s)> It wasn't until Joe Wetbach (a teacher at Waldwick HS) took an interest in the band, that things started to happen for them. He was responsible for the name change, and the band soon became THE NOMADS. Shortly afterwards, drummer Richard Silvan left the band, and was replace by two drummers and a keyboardist. This was Joe's idea for a new local "Super-Group".
Propelled by a desire to make the Nomads the "next big thing", he invested a lot of money and time into the band. And like the Beatles, he thought he was going to be the next George Martin. Unfortunately that never worked out, but he did provide the band members with a teen experience they will never forget, and for a while there, they were the envy of every garage band in town. Like any good manager at the time, he provided them with new instruments, fashionable clothing, styled hair-doos, publicity, publicity, and an image. He took them all around the country (for photo shoots), and "fathered" them through many of the teen crisis' we all had to endure in those days. He even enrolled them at Quintano's School For Young Professionals in NYC, because now they were "stars". Somehow I ended up going to Quintano's as well...but I wasn't a star.
For a while, THE NOMADS were the hottest ticket around. They played the same songs, dances, and teen clubs we all did...but they looked better. And unlike most bands in the area - they recorded 4 songs to vinyl.
The Nomads were......
Bobby Drechsel - Guitar and Vocals
Mike Taurone - Guitar and Vocals
Dan Manning - Bass and Vocals
Richard Silvan - Drums
and later on........
Dave Braun - Drums (1)
Bob Barry - Drums (2)
Lex Juby - Keys
Life Must Go On Next: The WRESTLESS BREED and The LEFTOVERS
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