bios
VOR's roots go back to 1973 when the music wasn’t classic yet, just GOOD MUSIC! We all have a long history of recreating this type of Classic Party Rock and that’s what makes VOR a fun and exciting band not only to see but to hear. Classic Rock Like You Remember It.....
Tom Nyhus
Lead Vocals
Tom's singing career spans more than four decades beginning at the age 7. He grew up listening to the Beatles, Hendrix, the Doors and Led Zeppelin. It was after seeing Robert Plant and Roger Daltrey fronting their band's, that he decided he wanted to be a lead singer. That day arrived when he had his first gig at the early age of 15.
Over the years, he has played with many popular groups at the hottest clubs on Long Island, and in NYC and Orlando Florida including Sidemen, Simulcast, Rouge, Gift Box, Sour Mash and Back Alley. He has also recorded with the band Break 100.
Tom is currently working with a few projects including The Bag of Bones Band and The Fools & Me.
In January 2016, Tom became the newest member and front man for VOR - Victims Of Rock. He is a perfect fit with the hard hitting Classic/Dance Rock "Victims." And looks forward to the evolution of the band as they continue to grow, keeping audiences engaged and entertained.
Bob Brown
Lead Guitar / Vocals
Bob started playing guitar in high school, and made the rounds playing with a number of local bands (e.g., Taus < with Steve Baloga >, Monsoon Alley, Dallas, and Crusty Duchess). He also toured the country with the Andrea True Connection.
As with other members of the band, ‘life’ – marriage, children, a full-time job – put a decades-long hiatus in his musical endeavors (but not in his collecting of guitars)
It wasn’t until 2010 that he and brother Ken, a drummer, decided to put together a one-shot band to play – relive – the classic rock tunes they’d grown up listening to. They got back together with a few other local musician friends they had played with over the years and had so much fun playing that they decided to keep the band together, and VOR was born. Through the years, the make-up of the band has changed, and today Bob is the sole original player. His earliest influences – guitarists like Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple) and Eric Clapton (Cream) – are evidenced in both his playing style and the band’s repertoire – true ‘classic rock’ sound.
Steve Baloga
Bass Guitar / Vocals
Steve started his musical career as early as 4th grade, taking up the saxophone and teaching himself guitar, and in high school, playing in both the marching band and the jazz band. In the 9th grade, however, Steve switched from guitar and sax to the bass, with the quip “I thought 4 strings would be easier than 6, and I didn’t have to blow into anything.”
In his early 20’s, he played mainly rock music around the Long Island club circuit in local ‘cover’ bands (e.g., Taus < in which Bob also played>, Dallas, Fantasma, Airborne, Coopers Still and Fligg). For 7 years he was a manager at a Sam Ash Music store in Huntington, toward the end of which he got involved in playing at weddings and corporate events at the Huntington Town House and various catering venues, until as he puts it “DJs ruined the live band business”.
With a lifelong preference for ‘heavier’ rock music (“I’m not a disco guy at all – LOL”), he allowed VOR to pull him out of retirement around 2010 to present Classic Rock’ to another generation – or he wonders “Maybe they just needed my truck to haul equipment”.
John Frondelli
Drums / Percussion
John “JR” Frondelli originally hails from the musical hotbed of Queens, NY. He grew up in a musical family, “My Dad and brother played guitar, and my Mom played the radio 24/7”, in addition to other relatives who were also musicians. He was bitten by the drumming bug on February 4, 1964, when his older brother sat him down in front of the TV, at the ripe-old age of 4-1/2, to watch The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. He got his first REAL drum set on Christmas 1969, at age 10. From then on, it was drums, drums, and MORE drums! Fortunately, his neighborhood was well-stocked with musicians, and he played in many NYC bands through the 70’s and into the 80’s (before it was called “Classic Rock”). Along the way, he also studied Jazz and Classical percussion (as well as guitar and bass), and even spent three years in High School as a Principal Percussionist for the prestigious All-City High School Band. As a 70’s boy, JR was a true Rocker at heart, but his wide palette of musical taste, as well as his ability to read and write music, also bred versatility.
In his mid-20’s, he began doing “jingle” and demo recording sessions in NYC, and thereafter, entered into the bustling Long Island and New Jersey wedding/show band industries, where he spent the next almost 30 years kickin’ the beat for some of the busiest bands and agencies on the East Coast, playing with some major artists, including Johnny Maestro, Gloria Gaynor, and Jay Black, all the while practicing his trade as a noted musical instrument repair technician and consultant in NYC, for some very stellar clientele, as well as building guitars, drums, and guitar amps.
JR eventually returned to his roots as a dyed-in-the-wool rocker when he was asked to join Long Island’s “DRIVE- The Cars Tribute”, and subsequently subbed for many other Long Island bands and tributes. His nickname is “The Sub Guy”, because he can literally step into nearly any musical situation at a moment’s notice (the list of bands is staggering), which eventually led him right here, to Victims Of Rock, where he is very at home with his Classic Rock roots.
