This all new rock and roll history show gets an all new band. You’ll recognize a few faces from The Foe and the Fallen (as well as from The Kissers). We’ll introduce everybody, but start with the new faces first.

MICHAEL MASSEY
Piano, Organ, Electric Piano
Michael Massey is a musician, speaker, author, composer and producer, who has written or collaborated on over 350 rock, pop, country and instrumental songs as well as the score for the full length, Dracula, Rock Ballet. He’s receive numerous awards from the Madison Area Musician Association including most recently a Lifetime Achievement Award.Massey published “More, A Memoir,” with an emphasis on a life in music, a descent into acute alcoholism, recovery and life beyond substance abuse, in December of 2022 to critical acclaim, and the self-narrated audiobook production debuted at #1 on Amazon/Audible in the alcoholism category in October of 2023.
https://www.mikemasseymusic.com/

NICK OMICCIOLI
Electric and acoustic guitars, electric bass
Nick Omiccioli is a composer, electric guitarist, and educator. His music has been performed by groups all around the world including the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and The Berkeley Symphony. As an electric guitarist, Nick specializes in rock, metal, classical, and jazz fusion styles and has performed solo as well as with orchestras. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Kansas-Missouri and currently teaches at Madison Music Foundry. Nick was awarded “Music Teach of the Year” by the Madison Area Music Association in 2025.
https://nickomiccioli.com/

KEN FITZSIMMONS
Writer/composer, lead vocals, electric bass, acoustic guitar
Ken has worked in music for 30 years, receiving a Bachelor of Music under the tutelage of jazz bass great Richard Davis, and an MBA from the Bolz Center of Arts Administration. He is the bassist in Milwaukee-based Little Blue Crunchy things and co-founder of the nationally touring Irish rock group The Kissers. He has taught music privately for three decades and serves as the Education Director at Madison Music Foundry. In 2018 he launched into rock and roll history shows as the Artistic Director for The Greatest War: World War One, Wisconsin, and Why It Still Matters. He was awarded “World Song of the Year” in 2015 for Montreal (co-written by Kevin Youngs) and “Folk Song of the Year” in 2025 for Dear Mother (co-written by Kevin Youngs).
https://www.kenfitzsimmons.com

KEVIN YOUNGS
Mandolin, co-composer
Kevin grew up in a home filled with music, the son of Lowell Youngs, a classically trained musician who served as dean of the school of music at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. While still in high school he performed occasionally with the Madison Symphony on his first instrument, trumpet. In the late 1990s he and Ken Fitzsimmons formed The Kissers which led him to picking up the mandolin. The Kissers would go on to tour the country and release several award-winning songs and albums including the songs Montreal (MAMAs, 2015) and Dear Mother (MAMAs, 2025) both of which he co-wrote with Fitzsimmons. Kevin also has performed with folk/country outfit Don’t Spook the Horse. When not plucking the mandolin, he is the chef de cuisine at Sardine, which ranks at the top of Madison’s finest restaurants.

BRYAN ELLIOTT
Alto sax, vocals, tin whistle, co-composer
Bryan has been active in the Madison and Milwaukee music scenes for several decades. He is a member of the midwest funk/hip-hop group Little Blue Crunchy Things (with Fitzsimmons and Backes) which peaked in popularity in the 1990s and still draws large crowds for its reunion shows. Over the years he has played with Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown’s “funky drummer”), Lorenzo’s Music, Afrobeat goup Immigre, and Milwaukee-based indie rock band Testa Rosa (with Backes). In 1998 he was a founding member of Irish rock group The Kissers, dropping his sax and picking up the tin whistle.

BILL BACKES
Drums
A staple of the Milwaukee music scene (Testa Rosa, the Lovelies, Uptown Savages)Bill got his start as a founder of 1990s funk/hip hop group Little Blue Crunchy Things. A few years later he was joined by Bryan Elliott and Ken Fitzsimmons and would go on to release a total of five albums, tour the midwest and east coast, and appear several times on the Jenny Jones Show. Bill also was the founding drummer of The Kissers, playing out the first year at their Monday night house gig at O’Cayz Corral. A talented visual artist, he has made numerous flyers and album covers for Little Blue Crunchy Things. Bill got his introduction to rock and roll history shows as the drummer with The Kissers for debut performance of The Foe and the Fallen: Songs from The Greatest War in 2025.

HAYLEY MARGARET
Vocals
Hayley has performed in numerous community theatre roles including Morgan Le Fey (Camelot), Audrey (Little Shop of Horrors), and Elvira (Blithe Spirit). She recently launched her solo singing/songwriting work with Haylecat Music, which has released several of her “creative parody songs and quirky originals”. She has served on the boards of several community theatre companies (Fresco Opera Theatre, Middleton Players Theatre, Verona Area Community Theatre), and is the Booking Manager for Piano Fondue Dueling Pianos. In addition to vocals, Hayley also works on marketing for Mobilize the Poets.

https://haylecatmusic.com
Insta/FB @haylecatmusic