I play keyboards and also trumpet (for the weddings and church carnivals) but I enjoy singing the best. I enjoyed singing all my life although I didn't take choir in high school. As a four year old I used to sing songs for my grandma and she'd give me a dime for every song I'd sing to her.
That was how I made my first dollar!

I played trumpet in high school for concert and jazz bands. I have some great memories there. It was my first experience of playing to a crowd. Al & I played trumpet together in a Jazz Band in high school, that's how we met. Al also played in a polka band with his Dad. For a few years after high school, I joined that band,
The Beyer Two with Bill Beyer on accordian, Al Beyer on drums and me on trumpet. We played mostly polkas and waltzes. I didn't sing at all in this band but I enjoyed playing the dances. My first "real" band where we played out for weddings and other jobs. It was fun.

At the same time I was in The Hootenanny Band for many years. The Hootenanny Band's early beginnings were playing at The Outpost in Tomahawk. That band consisted of my dad, Vern Yanda on banjo, my mom, Nancy Yanda (now Hotzfeld, she remarried after my dad died) vocals, my aunt, Pat Heckendorf, accordian & vocals, my cousin, Bob Heckendorf, lead guitarist & vocals, his cousin, John Heckendorf, bass guitarist & vocals, Al Beyer, drummer & vocals and me on trumpet and occasional vocals. Then after my Dad died, The Hootenanny Band eventually became a four piece with Bob Heckendorf on lead guitar, Mark Fugate on bass guitar, Al Beyer on drums and me on keyboard. All four of us sang in this band and we performed for 5 years. It was a lot of fun. Way too much fun, but in a good way. When Bob & Mark were ready to retire, they wanted to go out with a "bang" so we booked our last gig together at Weston Lanes on New Years Eve 1992. It was a fun night.

Al & I weren't ready to quit playing yet so we formed a new band MonTazh, first with Tom Stefonik on lead guitar & vocals (& saxophone on occasion) and Russ Vasilovich on bass & vocals. We had a fun time in this band, learning new songs and playing at some new places. Russ quit after 2 years and Ward Bennett joined us on bass guitar. I was in Jazz Band with Ward in high school, so I've known him for many years. This band was also a blast! Some new songs again and a lot of great memories. After playing together for 5 years, when Tom & Ward decided to retire, they also wanted to go out with a bang, so again we booked our last job together at Weston Lanes on a New Years Eve, 1999. "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999". That was also a very memorable night.

Once again, Al & I still wanted to keep playing yet so we looked for some new players and were very happy to find Gunnar Antell for lead guitar, keyboards, bass & vocals & and Dan Dalbey for bass guitar, lead guitar and vocals. Lots of fun places to play and lots of good times again. In this band, I learned how to make a website and had fun posting the pictures of all our public gigs.

As all of you know who have heard him play guitar, Gunnar Antell is an incredible lead guitarist. Words cannot express how awesome his playing is, you have to come out to see him in action. Dan is also a great performer and it was fun watching him & Gunnar on stage. This combination of Montazh lasted for four years. Dan quit Montazh in early January of 2004.

Al, Gunnar and I had no desire to quit anytime soon so we put out an ad for a new bass player and found one in 11 days. Rick Lynch joined Montazh in mid-January of 2004. We learned some fun new songs and continued to play all the old places and added some new ones. We played together for a year and a half. We enjoyed playing in the band with Rick . Rick now plays bass with Frontier and we wish him the best.

The band went throughyet another change in June 2005 when Dan Dalbey rejoined the band. We enjoyed playing in the band with Dan once again. We got to be the Opening Band for Starship that summer. That was really a memorable night. We played a bunch of festivals, weddings and bars during the summer and fall with Dan.

Early December 2005 Dan moved back to Minnesota and we needed someone to help us out for awhile and Jim Wood did that for us. He played with us almost the entire month of December. We enjoyed meeting him and appreciated all his help. Thank you, Jim!

January of 2006 brought one more change for Montazh when Mark Mittlesteadt joined Montazh! Mark fits right in to our band family and we're having a blast jamming with him in the band. He's even singing with this band and we love that!

A fun twist with the band happened the summer of 2007. Tom Stefonik re-joined the band & we were a 5-piece band! (Al, Lorri, Gunnar, Mark & Tom). Tom has a phenominal voice. We were able to play songs with 5 vocals and 2 guitars. We were grateful for the chance to play with him again and had a fantastic time jamming with Tom for 2 1/2years. Unfortunately, he made the decision to retire once again in January 2010.

So Montazh is back to being a 4-piece band again like we were for all of it's 17 years except for the last couple of years when Tom rejoined us for awhile. We are still going strong and are committed and dedicated to each other and to all our friends who come out to party with us and hear us play.

We did enjoy being a 5- piece though and are open to becoming a 5-piece again if the right person comes along and is a great fit to our band family. If you sing (preferably a tenor/higher voice) and play a little guitar and are interesting in joining us - call us at 715-536-5678.