Benders’ reunion benefits NOAS
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The Benders are coming back to the Robins Theatre for an encore, this time to support Northeast Ohio Adoption Services.
"They're fighting on the side of the angels," said Jeff Draime, who plays guitar and sings in the band. "The need for foster parents and good role models for the kids, it's mind blowing, and they're really trying to to help these kids get into stable environments and give them a chance to turn out to be functioning adults. Having raised four kids myself, it was something that struck a chord."
The Benders -- Draime, Dante Cerni, Dave Lemasters and Bill Griffin -- played many big gigs locally from 1999 until 2005, opening for such acts as Michael Stanley & the Resonators and the Gin Blossoms at the Mahoning Valley Rib Burn Off and sharing the stage with Bad Company and Kansas at Eastwood Field in Niles, and Ted Nugent and ZZ Top at Yankee Lake.
The band stopped playing when Cerni moved to South Carolina and Lemasters relocated to Southern California.
Last year's concert at the Robins was the group's first show together in 20 years. That reunion was sparked by Draime's son's wedding. At the reception, when the wedding band took a break, Draime and Cerni got on stage for an impromptu jam.
"The place went crazy," Draime said. "My son (Alex) played with us, the groom, on lead guitar. Dante asked me if I would consider playing again, and I said, "Well, what do you have in mind?' It wound up being, "Well, let's pay tribute to Bill and his son."
Bill Griffin died in 2019 and his son, Ross Griffin, died the year before at age 21. The 2025 concert benefited the Ross Griffin Memorial Foundation.
"We did the thing at the Robins last year, and we got such a good response," Draime said. "We weren't going to do it again, but people were so nice, saying, 'Would you do it again?'"
Griffin's widow, Kim, serves on the NOAS board, so the band approached the organization about partnering with them for the 2026 concert.
Lemasters is unable to make it this year, but Draime and Cerni will be joined by three of the musicians who played last year. Alex Draime will play lead guitar. Lake Baum, who played bass last year, moves to guitar in place of Lemasters. Baum's Brass Express bandmate, Dom Reto, returns on keyboards, and another Brass Express veteran, Rocco Criazzo, will take over on bass.
When Alex Draime was a young guitar player, he occasionally would join his dad's band on stage for a song or two, but Draime said playing a full show with his son was a rare treat.
"That was dynamite," Draime said. "He's so good. He's a hedge fund manager (in Florida) by day and a potential rock star. He could be touring with any number of national acts."
Draime's younger son, Joseph, also played a couple songs with The Benders in 2025, and his band, Fake Business, will open the show on Friday.
In addition to sharing the stage with his son, Draime said performing the Gin Blossoms' song "Follow You Down" was an emotional moment last year.
"Because Ross was such a beautiful kid and to lose him at age 21, that was really tough," he said. "I couldn't help but think of him as we were performing it, and all through the rehearsals, that one stuck with me."
The Benders won't be resting on its laurels for this year's show, and the group didn't rely on old favorites last year either.
"75 percent of the music we had never played before last year, and we're doing the same thing this year," Draime said. "We keep a few old standbys from the Beatles and the (Rolling) Stones, for instance, but we're adding Allman Brothers and Genesis and Alan Parsons and covering a wide, wide range -- Tom Petty, a couple Gin Blossoms tunes, Pink Floyd. We're trying to keep it more fun for us and maybe for the audience too. They're all tunes everybody would know, but for us, these are songs that'll be at least fresh to play, and that does make it fun."
But fun is not the only reason for Friday's show.
"Cheryl (Tarantino), who's the head of NOAA, listening to her talk about the needs for these kids in our area, it's very sobering," Draime said. "We're pleased to do whatever we can to help them raise some money to further their efforts."