One Hit to the Heart by NightStrike

It speaks well for NightStrike's material to have such a strong track opening up the second half of the CD! The semi-acoustic, conga feel a few tracks later (Release Me) makes you re-tune and say, "okay, this is different". This IS 1980's style power rock, but it doesn't sound derivative. Old is new again? Ken Raisanen WOAS-FM

In 1988 they were a bunch of young rockers with a dream to live on top of the rock and roll world. But careers, families and the necessity to earn a living got in the way of living out that rock and roll dream. By 1997, the band faded away. It’s members scattered in four different directions. Then, on August 28th, 2004 the stars lined up for an historic reunion of NightStrike’s venerable lineup. Jeremy Dishaw, Kevin Johnson, Rory Fiszer and Sam Bennett all ended up at the legendary Stubb’s Bar in Ontonagon, MI. The four had not been in the same room, let alone played together since that last show in the 90’s. After all those years apart the chemistry was still there. The house band graciously allowed NightStrike to use their gear for an impromptu performance. The boys launched into an unrehearsed set of favorites. The crowd was electric! Seizing on the moment, the band decided to get back together and re-record a collection of their favorite numbers from their extensive back catalog. An opportunity for a development deal under the sponsorship of North Lake Studios pulled them back together…and the members of NightStrike are dreaming again! The U.P. rockers have reunited, re-entered the recording studio, and finished their first new album in over eight years: “One Hit to the Heart: The Best of NightStrike”.

NightStrike was founded in January of 1988 by Lead Singer/Guitarist Rory Fiszer and Drummer Sam Bennett in Ontonagon, MI. One part Kiss, one part LA sleaze and a whole lot of Midwestern grit…the hard driving, hard working NightStrike carved out a niche’ for themselves on the fledgling independent music scene of the late 80’s. Although limited in commercial release, the band’s recordings were circulated on the underground tape trading circuit of the era. Ultimately, NightStrike would record and distribute three albums of original music between 1991 and 1997.

The band’s lineup was completed in July of 1988 when Lead Guitarist Kevin Johnson came into the fold joining Fiszer, Bennett and original Bassist Jeff Rule. The group spent six months rehearsing for it’s first show. NightStrike made their triumphant live debut at the 1989 UP Winter Olympics before a crowd of nearly a thousand screaming teenagers, one year to the day of their founding! The show would be one of the last with Rule who departed later that year and was replaced by longtime band friend and Bass virtuoso, Jeremy Dishaw. This incarnation of the group continued to play out live through 1991. Around this time the band shifted it’s focus to recording their original material.

Lead Guitarist Kevin Johnson left the group in August of 1991 and joined local power trio, Charvari, which featured U.P. percussion legend Mark Jilbert, as well as singer/songwriter Scott Frazer (solo, Rosie’s Machine). Unfortunately a rift had developed within NightStrike as to the direction it should go. Kevin was a “road dog” and lived to play live shows. The other three members certainly enjoyed playing out, but had begun to get focused on finally committing the original material they had written to an album. It would prove to be 14 years until all four members of NightStrike’s venerable lineup (1989-1991) would finally get into the studio together!

Recording sessions began in October of 1991 for NightStrike’s first release, “STREET JUSTICE”. For a group of kids from rural, middle America there seemed to be a fascination with the seedier side of life, as well as a social commentary far beyond their years’ experience would indicate. The band’s debut release was a major undertaking for a band with far more ambition than money. Recorded using borrowed multitrack cassette equipment and a lot of favors, “STREET JUSTICE” was released in March of 1993, and captured the growing voice of disenchanted youth in the early 1990’s.

NightStrike went on a two year hiatus following the release of and subsequent support of “STREET JUSTICE”. During this time, Bassist Jeremy Dishaw graduated from high school, left the band and moved to Hurley, WI where he eventually joined a top regional blues act: Headfirst Blues Band. It was at this time the remaining members, Rory Fiszer and Sam Bennett, decided to focus 100% of their time and energy on writing and producing original music. “This was definitely a time of change for the band,” said Drummer Sam Bennett. “After suffering through the defection of Lead Guitarist Kevin Johnson a few months before the recording of “STREET JUSTICE” in 1991 and then Bassist Jeremy Dishaw’s departure on the eve of recording the follow-up to our debut record, it could very well have been the end of the band. However, it turned out to be the most prolific period we ever enjoyed!”

The remaining members of NightStrike regrouped in May 1995 to begin recording sessions in Sam Bennett’s home studio. Following an eight month recording process the band put out it’s second release. Distributed in January of 1996 and eponymously titled, “NIGHTSTRIKE”, the band felt it was the purest project they had ever undertaken. Completely written and recorded by Sam Bennett and Rory Fiszer, every aspect of the album was done by the two! From engineering, to every instrument and vocal, even the artwork was done by them! After all the turmoil and uncertainty since their 1993 debut release, “STREET JUSTICE”, Sam & Rory really felt the band was now a phoenix rising from the ashes. The material was finally capturing the original thoughts and feelings the band had been trying to convey since that first jam session eight years earlier in 1988!

The group spent virtually no time promoting the release of it’s second album, “NIGHTSTRIKE”, and instead went straight back into the studio in March of 1996 to begin work on what would eventually prove to be their final studio album (to date), “ROAD TO NOWHERE”. Ultimately a story of darkness and light (mostly darkness!), “ROAD TO NOWHERE” found the boys experiencing life in all of it’s graphic details…love, sex, death, heartache, betrayal, substance abuse…young men struggling with who they really were and what their place was in this world. As personal as “NIGHTSTRIKE” had been, “ROAD TO NOWHERE” provided an almost uncomfortable insight into the band’s personal lives. While the creative process played out between March 1996 and February 1997, an ever increasing series of life shaping events were unfolding behind the scenes. The people who began this journey were very different by it’s end eleven months later. So much so, that an indefinite and uncertain hiatus for the band followed the completion of the record. Oh, the light?...Bassist Jeremy Dishaw re-joined the group and the guys wrote and recorded the best music of their lives.

The band spent the next few months mixing the album and for the first time, used a computer to do the graphics, artwork and layout of the album cover. Member began to drift away from the band throughout the course of the year. The recording process had been an arduous task that had really made a break inevitable. Commencing in March of 1995 and concluding in February of 1997, NightStrike wrote and recorded nearly two dozen songs, putting together two albums worth of material! Needless to say, NightStrike needed a change of scenery…the studio had worn the guys out. The album limped to release in September of 1997 with even less fanfare than the previous album. No one in the band wanted to do any live shows to support it, so it really just faded away. By this time the band was on indefinite hiatus. The future was uncertain. It proved almost three years before the band would play together again, and eight until they re-entered the recording studio.

Over the course of those three years (1997-2000), the members of NightStrike fanned out in different directions across the country. Sam Bennett and Jeremy Dishaw moved to Marquette, MI in August of 1996. Sam built his practice there as well as finishing his degree at Northern Michigan University. Jeremy continued as a professional musician playing with the likes of Third Street Traffic and The Funky Muthas featuring Bobby Hayes. Sam and Jeremy continued playing together throughout the period. Rory Fiszer earned his degree from Concordia College (Moorehead, MN) and afterwards, drifted around America, heading west to Las Vegas, but ultimately returning to the Midwest, settling in the Detroit area. Kevin Johnson married his high school sweetheart, had three kids, took a position managing a big box retail location in the Green Bay, WI area. Later divorcing and marrying again in May 2005, adding three more children to his flock. The hiatus officially ended when Rory attended Sam’s college graduation party in May of 2000. This was the first time the boys had played together since February of 1997. Rory, Sam and Jeremy played together one on one for the next four years until fate intervened and Kevin Johnson re-entered the fold.

NightStrike re-convened on March 13, 2005 at North Lake Studios in Ishpeming, MI to begin recording their comeback CD under the watchful eye of Producer James Harju. Recording an album is a difficult task for any group, but add in the distance (Rory lives in Lapeer, MI, Jeremy in Ontonagon, MI and Kevin in Wausau, WI), not to mention those same family, career and financial pressures that we all have. Despite all that the members of NightStrike were determined not to let this fortuitous second chance pass them by. The group made nearly monthly treks to continue recording sessions that concluded on June 8th, 2006. Over the course of the next 15 months the group logged nearly 50,000 miles on the road, sent thousands of e-mails, made hundreds of phone calls, had two babies, but most importantly, four friends became a band again! The album was Mixed by Harju and Drummer Sam Bennett. Following the Mix process, Charles Ritola (PJ Olson, Head, Jeremy Rowe) Mastered the project at his facility in Atlantic Mine, MI. NightStrike: Jeremy Dishaw, Rory Fiszer, Sam Bennett and Kevin Johnson laid 15 of the group's favorite numbers to track and are ready to unleash the band’s brand of loud, rude and aggressive rawk & roll on an unsuspecting planet earth! With the popular resurgence of straight ahead rock music from the 80’s and early 90’s things have come full circle for bands like NightStrike. “People want to have a great time at a show and escape their cares and concerns for a few hours. Going to Rock show is about having fun and letting go! That is exactly what NightStrike is all about!” said Lead Guitarist Kevin Johnson. STAY TUNED!!!

FOR MORE INFO VISIT NIGHTSTRIKE’S WEBSITE: www.nightstrike.net

Average Customer Review: 3