Hank Wedel

Independent singer-songwriter and performer. Born 1963: Kevin Thomas Wedel in Dayton, Ohio, USA Raised and schooled: in New York City ’63 - ’74 And Mallow, Co. Cork ’74 -‘81 Attended UCC ‘81-’85 BA (History and Economics), HDip in Ed. Married: 1987 to Eileen Walsh of Mallow with four children Ruairi, Sarah, Niamh and Oisin. Whilst attending UCC, began busking on Princes Street at the very heart of Cork City ’86 - ’88: in The Bronx, NYC - teaching the 8th grade (’86–’87) at St. Phillip Neris school on The Grand Concourse eventually working 7 nights a week - playing gigs but getting into writing and recording, too, with both Irish and U.S. musicians-The very first line-up of Open Kitchen. A mini L.P. cassette tape entitled “Open Kitchen NYC ’87” is produced and thousands of copies sold at gigs. ’88 - ’90: in Cork with fellow musicians from Princes Street in a Rock’n’Roll band of the same name - Based at The Lobby Bar on Union Quay - performing, writing and recording. a mini L.P. cassette entitled “The Night John Lynch Lost His Glasses” released in ‘89. Thousands of copies sold. Travels to and performs in New York City regularly during this period also. From ’90 - present day (2005): performing, writing and recording with many musicians based in and around Cork City, effecting an evolutionary, revolving-door membership policy, in a band also known as Open Kitchen. The CDLP entitled “An Open Kitchen On Princes Street”, released in ’97, gathers tracks from the ’86-’96 period. A CDLP entitled “Taking It In” by Open Kitchen, is released in 2002. Many thousands copies of both albums sold On St. Patrick’s Day 2002, Open Kitchen performed a song from “Taking It In” entitled “New Yorkers” on the observation deck of The Empire State Building Much performance work during this period with Ray Barron (Bone Idol (4), About Time Two) nationally and internationally also in Charlies Bar, Union Quay, Cork City where Hank and Ray have had a residency on Monday nights since ’93. An CDLP of their set, entitled “Where The Bottles Break”, is produced and released in 2000 to great critical acclaim and thousands of copies sold. In his time as a professional musician, Hank has made many Television/Radio appearances (The Late Late Show, John Creedon, NightHawks) and has worked and appeared with an impressive cast of people including Kíla, Bono, Declan Sinnott, Shane MacGowan and The Kinks to name but a few.