The players

The Band

One core, two names, and a decade of shifting lineups — from a high-school band called the Grapes of Wrath to the many iterations of Kindred Spirit, and the reunion band that carried it into the 2000s.

Roles and dates below are drawn from the interviews with Greg Falvo (three sessions), his brother Gerry Falvo, and John Galiote — cross-checked against each other. A few dates are still marked to confirm.

A card for every musician known to have been in a Grapes of Wrath or Kindred Spirit lineup, across all of Greg's “nine or ten iterations.”

The lineups, era by era

Greg counts “nine or ten iterations” of Kindred Spirit over a decade, then a reunion band a generation later. Pieced together from the members’ own interviews, here is who stood on stage when — and what changed between each lineup.

1. ~1966

   The Grapes of Wrath form

   Greg forms a band in 11th grade and names it for his favorite Steinbeck novel. Two guitars, keyboards-and-bass, drums, and Greg out front. Their first job is the high-school Thanksgiving “can hop” — admission was a can of food.

   • Greg Falvo — lead vocals, band leader
   • Dave Abraham — lead guitar (founder)
   • John Hemlock — rhythm guitar, backing vocals
   • Jim Smedo — keyboards & bass (left hand)
   • Tom McCullough — drums
2. September 1967

   Gerry Falvo and Joe Nemanich join

   The band is already a year old when John Hemlock leaves to marry and take a steady job. Greg’s brother Gerry and Joe Nemanich come in to fill his chair — Gerry singing, Joe on rhythm guitar behind Dave.

   • Greg Falvo — lead vocals
   • Gerry Falvo — high harmony, percussion
   • Dave Abraham — lead guitar
   • Joe Nemanich — rhythm guitar
   • Jim Smedo — keyboards & bass
   • Tom McCullough — drums

   In: Gerry Falvo, Joe Nemanich  ·  Out: John Hemlock

3. 1968

   The coup — and a new name

   Dave’s marathon solos and rehearsal antics wear thin and the band ousts him. The musicians’ union sides with Dave over the Grapes of Wrath name, forcing a rename — a fan contest lands on Greg’s mother Carmela Falvo’s suggestion, Kindred Spirit (no “the”). Joe Nemanich moves up to lead guitar.

   • Greg Falvo — lead vocals
   • Gerry Falvo — high harmony, percussion
   • Joe Nemanich — lead guitar
   • Jim Smedo — keyboards & bass
   • Tom McCullough — drums

   Out: Dave Abraham (ejected in the coup)

4. 1969

   John Galiote joins — and the first single

   Fresh out of Bishop McCort, John Galiote auditions at the Cage on Joe’s Rickenbacker and lands the rhythm-guitar chair. In June, Gerry is drafted into the Marines — Karl Mundok steps in to cover. That fall the band drives to New York City and cuts “Under My Thumb” / “Blue Avenue” with money from John George (Moxie, then Intrepid).

   • Greg Falvo — lead vocals
   • Joe Nemanich — lead guitar
   • John Galiote — rhythm guitar, backing vocals
   • Jim Smedo — keyboards & bass (left hand)
   • Tom McCullough — drums
   • Karl Mundok — vocals (covering for Gerry)

   In: John Galiote, Karl Mundok  ·  Out: Gerry Falvo (drafted, June 1969)

5. 1970 – 1971

   The nine-piece horn band

   Chasing the Blood, Sweat & Tears / Chicago sound, Kindred Spirit becomes a nine-piece with a horn section — the band Greg calls the best he was ever part of. Only Joe Nemanich, Jim Smedo, and Greg carry over; John Galiote leaves for college and Tom McCullough for a degree. This lineup cuts the “Peaceful Man” / “Clown” 45.

   • Greg Falvo — vocals, leader
   • Joe Nemanich — guitar
   • Jim Smedo — keyboards
   • Al O’Donnell — trombone
   • John “Poncho” Garshnick — sax, flute, guitar, vocals
   • John Hockycko — trumpet, high harmony
   • Tom Bell — trumpet
   • Paul Lanzendorfer — bass (co-wrote “Peaceful Man”)
   • Danny Adams — drums

   Out: John Galiote (left for college, ~1970), Tom McCullough (college-bound), Karl Mundok

   Second horn band (after the record): In: Chuck Adkins (trombone/flute/keys), Bob Gmuca (guitar)  ·  Out: Al O’Donnell, Joe Nemanich

6. 1971 – 1972

   Gerry returns; Kindred Spirit reforms

   The horn band splinters — half the guys chase the big city in Pittsburgh. Out of the Marines in June ’71, Gerry joins a new band Joe Nemanich is starting, until Greg folds the three of them (plus singer John Falcho) back into Kindred Spirit. Gerry loses interest and leaves again by mid-1972.

   • Greg Falvo — lead vocals
   • Gerry Falvo — rhythm guitar, vocals
   • Joe Nemanich — lead guitar
   • John Falcho — vocals, flute
   • Jim Smedo — keyboards

   In: Gerry Falvo (returned), John Falcho  ·  Out: Gerry Falvo again (mid-1972)

7. 1972 – 1974

   The home-town iterations

   Back from the horn band, Greg keeps Kindred Spirit alive as a local act through a revolving cast — “a lot of bands that played from ’72 to ’74 locally, two or three or four different iterations,” he says. He himself admits the exact order is a blur; a returning Joe Nemanich comes and goes, and John Crookston anchors the drum chair for several years.

   • Greg Falvo — vocals, leader (throughout)
   • Joe Nemanich — guitar (in and out)
   • Karl Mundok — guitar, vocals
   • John Falcho — vocals, flute
   • John Jones — bass (’72–’73)
   • Danny Livingston — keyboards (’73–’74)
   • Tom Karwoski — vocals
   • John Crookston — drums (the mainstay)
   • Other drummers — Chris Klym, Danny Adams, Tommy Yurochko

   Greg calls these years a blur — the players are documented, but the exact sequence and dates of these local lineups aren’t nailed down.

8. 1974 – 1975

   The road band

   At the end of ’74 Greg assembles a band built to tour, and spends most of ’75 grinding Midwest clubs through a Milwaukee booking agency tied to the Green Bay Packers’ Left Guard club chain. Only Karl Mundok — from the “Under My Thumb” lineup — carries over; the rest are players Greg had never worked with before. It disintegrates by the end of ’75.

   • Greg Falvo — vocals, leader
   • Karl Mundok — guitar
   • Ed Cominsky — lead guitar, vocals
   • Bill Striker — bass
   • Harry Levicky — keyboards
   • Tommy Gajewski — drums
9. 1976

   The Golden Key — “The Key Band”

   Greg forms one last band for a single purpose — the house-band chair at the Golden Key in downtown Johnstown, six nights a week from January until the club closes. Better known as The Key Band.

   • Greg Falvo — vocals, occasional keyboards
   • Karl Mundok — vocals, guitar
   • Joe “Baby Joe” Frank — bass, backing vocals
   • John Crookston — drums
   • Chuck Adkins — trombone, flute, synthesizer, keyboards
   • Tom Bell — trumpet, valve trombone, percussion

   In: Steve Spack replaces Baby Joe Frank on bass in the summer of ’76.  ·  Out: the club closes — the end of Kindred Spirit, a full decade, 1966–1976.

10. 1991 – 2000

    The reunion band

    A generation on, Greg reassembles the classic guys. A shaky multi-band comeback at Ace’s Lounge (fall 1991) stings enough that he books a redemption night at Ace’s in March 1992 — which leads to biennial benefit shows for Dave Kekich’s Spinal Cord Society at the War Memorial in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000.

    • Greg Falvo — lead vocals
    • Joe Nemanich — lead guitar
    • Karl Mundok — guitar, lead & backing vocals
    • John Galiote — rhythm guitar, backing vocals
    • Jim Smedo — keyboards
    • Gary Frank — bass
    • Chris Klym — drums

    In: Gerry Falvo returns to sing the last two shows (1998 & 2000). A 2002 show was planned but fizzled after Gary Frank died that January.

    Greg has VHS recordings of every reunion show — a lead for the Video page.

In memoriam

Bandmates who have passed. Remembered.

✦ Remembered

Joe Nemanich

Lead & second guitar · vocals

When Joe passed, two tributes ran in the Tribune-Democrat — one from bandleader Greg Falvo, one from Michael M. Mosorjak. Click to read.

Were you in one of these lineups, or do you know a spelling or a date we've marked to confirm? Help us fill in the record — set it straight →