The
Knight
Riders
Shenandoah,
Pennsylvania
1967-1969
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Stan and Frank played
together in The Capries and formed up with Mack to
form a new group. Mackie knew Pete and Tom and we
just sort of melted together in the same musical
pot. It was a great time and one of the best groups
I ever played in.
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Personnel:
Joe Mack - Bass/Vocals
Tom Zangari - Keys
Stan Jankaitis Rhythm Guitar/Vocals
Pete Sevinsky - Drums
Frank Malia - Lead
Guitar/Vocals
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Influences:
Top 40 of
the years we were together.
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Setlist
Sample:
Brown Eyed Girl, Bend Me Shape Me, Beg
Borrow & Steal, Daydream Believer,
Originals by Jankaits-Malia.
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Equipment:
Hagstrom guitar, Silvertone amp, Kent and
Fender guitars, Ludwig Drums, Farfisa
Organ.
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Rehearsal
Space:
Tom's
cellar. We loved rehearsing there. Tom's
mother would make us all kinds of great
Italian food and there was always a pot of
coffee brewing.
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Band
Vehicles:
Our own
cars. 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk
(Stan's), 1953 Buick. (Macks).
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Fashion
Statement:
Those
beautiful hot satin shirts in the picture.
AHHHHH.
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Best
Gig:
Outside
dance in Shenandoah at the A&P
supermarket. It was our first gig, Aug.
28, 1967 and despite a steady light rain
fall we drew the largest crowd of all the
summer dances.
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Gig
from
Hell!:
St.
Stephens Hall, Feb. 1968 (The gig in the
picture). We had Christmas lights on
everything. Tom had those old bulbs that
you could fry an egg on stapled to a straw
hat he was wearing. Needless to say his
hat caught fire. The crowd thought it was
part of the act. Tom wasn't injured and we
got the fire out fast. Also at the same
gig, we could not afford a strobe light so
Frank made one by placing a spotlight
behind a large window fan. But the fan
blades moved too fast even on slow speed
to give a strobe effect. So we weighed the
blades down with weights. It worked great
except when there was a break in the song
and you were able to hear the weights
banging off the fan blades. It sounded
like a cement mixer.
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Last
Gig:
May have
been a battle of the bands at Marion High
School, can't really remember.
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Comments:
If you are a
musician the best times for being one was in the
60s.
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Where
are they now?
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Spring,
2004
Stan, (Still writing and
trying for the big break), Mack (not sure, last I
heard he was a supervisor at a large plant), Tom,
Sunbury PA, ( Teacher for special children,) Frank,
Allentown PA (a Barber), Pete, (Has his own
contracting business )
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Above photo from a no
budget independent film titled "The Count". Filmed
around 1990 It's a comedy/horror about a Vampire
(The Count) who becomes a rock star in order to
lure his victims to his castle. Both Tom Zangari
and myself were in this.
From left to right:
Stan Jankaitis - The Count (Knight Riders lead
vocalist)
Tom Zangari - Vito, The Count's Enforcer (Knight
Riders Keyboard player and the poor guy who's hat
caught on fire during the St Stephens gig of Feb.
68 and I must add one great keyboard player
too.)
Janine (The Count's assistant who betrays him to
the Vampire hunters)
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Information contributed by
Stan Jankaitis yukonsnow@nni.com
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