The Nomads (band)

The Nomads are a Swedish garage punk band founded in 1981 by Hans Östlund, Nick Vahlberg, Joakim Tärnström and Ed Johnson. Today, Östlund and Vahlberg are the only members left of the original line-up.

The band plays music influenced by the MC5, The Stooges, Roky Erikson, The Cramps, The Ramones, New York Dolls and other early garage rock and punk bands. The Nomads have been an influential band in the Scandinavian garage rock and punk scenes, inspiring bands such as The Hives, Hellacopters, Gluecifer, and many others.

Career

After releasing a number of records in the 1980s the band toured extensivley and built a large fanbase without any significant rotation on either radio or television. During the years touring and recording have decreased but The Nomads still play a number of shows every year in the Scandinavian region. In 2001 the band celebrated their 20th anniversary with a gig in Stockholm that included appearances by members from Bob Hund, Sator, The Flaming Sideburns, Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks as well as members of the original line-up. At their gig at the Hultsfred festival the band once gain took the opportunity to celebrate with guest appearances from Nick Royale, Chips Kiesbye Handsome Dick Manitoba, Ross The Boss, Jello Biafra, Chris Bailey, Odd Ahlgren och Wayne Kramer. 20 Years Too Soon - A Tribute To The Nomads was released in 2003 with bands like The Hellacopters, The Dictators, The Robots, Bob Hund and Nitwitz contributing with their own version of their favorite Nomads songs. In 2008 The Nomads shared the stage with Roky Erikson at the Peace and Love festival in Sweden.

The Nomads (Texas City band)

The Nomads were an American garage rock and psychedelic band from Texas City, Texas near Galveston who were active in the 1960s. The band was known for Frank Ziegel's passionate vocals and a melodic guitar sound. They are not to confused with an number of other bands using the same name in Texas and elsewhere, such as the Nomads from Fort Worth and the Nomads from Mount Airy, North Carolina. The band eventually re-located to California and evolved into the Smoke, who recorded for Uni Records at the end of the 60s.

The band's membership consisted of Frank Zigel (or Zigal) on lead vocals, Doug (or Bill) Kirby on keyboards, Johnny Orvis on guitar, Fred Thomas on bass, and Shawn Bennett on drums. James Manlove of the Rebellers have been mentioned as members in their lineup at various junctures. Zigel was a charismatic singer who was ably to convey both sincerity and vulnerability in his vocals. The band was also known for a melodic guitar sound, as evidenced in sings such as "I'll Be There." They band was also capable of harder rocking material such as their protopunk version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "My Little Red Book," previously performed by Love, which features an aggressive organ part.