In December 1981, five good friends in Torpshammar, Sweden, joined together and started a band. Mikael Backe played drums, Stefan Gullicksson – Bass, Peter Bergman – Guitar, Patrick Rapp –Guitar and Börje Falk did the voclas. They called themselves Nightdrivers and the idea to the name was taken from a Ventures tune called “Night Drive”. They all shared a big interrest in listening to and playing guitar instrumentals and particulary those from The Ventures. Since most of the bandmembers had been playing this style in two other local bands before (The Freeways & The Rebels), it was natural to bring along the Mosrite guitars and continue with that ‘60’s sound. Also influenced by 50's rock'n'roll & country artists like Chuck Berry, Elvis, Ricky Nelson, Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash to name a few, the bands reportoir started to take form.
In 1984, the first single was released on the Swedish Rainbow Music label. Two original songs; Outlaw / Golden Sunburst. That same year the band played a support act for The Spotnicks and also finished up one night after Doug Sam & Sir Douglas Quintet had finished their show. Later they also backed up the Swedish original rock'n'roll legends ”Rock-Ragge” 2-3 times and Leif ”Burken” Björklund once.
Not until 2004 did disc no. 2 arrive, which was an entire album with 18 songs on the Dutch label Rarity Records. The album was called Let Me Take You For A Ride and two of the tracks are original songs. In the wake of that album came a lot of fun shows as well as an offer of becoming a back-up band for rock'n'roll artist Micke Muster. A collaboration that lasted a number of years (2006-2009) with several new gigs in new places.
In 2013, disc no. 3 was released, which was an EP with four original tracks. The track Carlene was played quite frequently on a major radio station in Sweden for several weeks.
In 2016, Spotify editors created a playlist called ”Rockabilly Mania” and picked up The Nightrivers's version of Ricky Nelson's "Believe What You Say". The track got good spread thanks to the playlist and the interest in the band's music on Spotify has increased after this.
In February 2019 came their latest single "My Ancient Car".
Through the years, The Nightdrivers has often recieved good honours for their instrumental playing and their way of reproducing the famous Ventures sound. What might have improved this even more, was when two of the bandmembers visited Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Famer Nokie Edwards (lead guitarist of The Ventures) in Minnesota 1999 and got to join him in a couple of gigs on stage. What a thrill!!
Members Current line-up 2020: Patrick Rapp - Lead Vocals / Guitar Mikael Backe - Vocals / Drums Peter Bergman - Lead Vocals / Bass Dick Sörholm - Lead Vocals / Piano
Former Members: Börje Falk - Vocals (1981-1984, 1994-2000) Stefan Gullicksson - Bass (1981-1991) Ulf Lindeberg - Vocals / Guitar / Piano (1986-1991) Gunnar Johansson - Drums (1984-2015) Magnus Bergström - Piano (2003-2015) Mikael Mattsson - Bass (2011-2018)
Hört från arrangörer
"The Nightdrivers, ett skönt gäng musiker som vet hur man lirar så det gungar! Publiken var med hela resan och fick ta del av kända rock/blueslåtar, i grabbarnas egna tappningar. Vill man ha en festlig och stabil musikkväll är The Nightdrivers ett säkert kort!" /Lina Bergström Mormor Hilma Café & Restaurang
"Vi får tacka Nightdrivers för en toppenkväll på Sunnersta Folkets Hus. Bra och varierande musik för en lyckad kväll." /Karin Edin Kalknäsmons Vinylklubb
