Band

Gary Belniak

Gary Belniak has had music in his blood since he started playing ukulele on his Grandfather’s lap at age 5. By age 10, he was teaching himself how to play an old acoustic guitar and a spinet piano, and began gigging with his first band at 13.

Gary performed and wrote with international touring/recording band Tyrant in the 70s and early 80′s as guitarist, singer and songwriter. During the 80s and 90s, he played with such Chicago favorites as the Shadows of Knight, Heebie Jeebies, Leather & Lace, Dog Dreams (later Plush Cargo), Dana French, Pickled Beats, Fables and others. He has since continued performing and working as a producer, guitarist, keyboardist and sometimes vocalist with select Chicago musicians and songwriters.

In 2003, Gary met Noah Gabriel and has proudly worked with Noah and the Noah Gabriel Band over the past several years as a guitar player and producer. Gary and Noah have recorded and co-produced four CDs for the Noah Gabriel Band and are currently working on a fifth. Gary continues to work with the Noah Gabriel Band both in the studio and live performances and remains active in the Chicago music scene as a producer, performing and studio musician.

 

Michael Addyman

With musical parents, Mike Addyman was exposed to a wide variety of music styles at an early age. Mike started his music career in high school in eastern Iowad in the late 60s, playing bass at school and community teen dances in rock bands and folk music at a local ice cream and coffee shop. During this time Mike played bass on three albums for local Iowa artists, and also performed in a religious rock-musical, Mark, written by Fr. Robert Beck.

A hiatus of nearly twenty years passed as Mike married and settled down to raise four children, but the fire and love of music remained. As his kids grew to maturity, Mike restarted his active music life by playing at open mics and jam sessions around Chicago’s western suburbs. This introduced him to the local music scene. A long term playing relationship with Gary Belniak and Andrew Szymanski resulted, first, in recording and performing act Pickled Beats, and concurrently on several recording sessions at Belniak Media with local artists Lisa Sayers, Karmaflage, Mike Prette, and a young artist named Noah Gabriel.

Mike’s talent on fretless and fretted bass continues to be in demand, with recording sessions for vocalist/songwriter Sandra Troutman as well as work on Noah’s next CD, and performance commitments with NGB.

 

 

Andrew Szymanski

For over 25 years, Andrew Szymanski has been playing in the Chicago music scene. He has played in several different groups utilizing a wide array of genres of music including rock, pop, rockabilly and blues, jazz and even classical music!

He holds a bachelors degree in music education and works  full time as a junior high band director. He also is a multi-instrumentalist playing percussion, bass guitar, saxophone, oboe, as well as a wide variety of band instruments!
His talent as a well established drummer in the Chicagoland area as well as his sense of humor endears himself to his fellow band mates in the NGB; really, what else could it be?!