Guitar & Lead Vocals
Dave Hankins
Dave picked up the guitar and started singing at an early age, honing his skills over time. After mustering out of the Navy he pursued a career in aviation and eventually went to work for the airlines as a commercial pilot. He has gained much experience playing in various bands and participating in other musical endeavors along the way.
Dave enjoys a wide variety of musical styles and genres but tends toward rock and blues. He is currently having a great time playing guitar and leading the vocals in Takin' The Fifth.
Guitar
Steve Winogradsky
Having started playing guitar at the age of 9, Steve played in cover bands, groups doing original music and pit orchestras for local theatrical productions, and taught guitar in the Los Angeles area until his musical career was interrupted by law school. After passing the Bar he worked as a music attorney for major studios and his own legal practice.
After retiring, he and his wife moved to the PNW in 2019, where he was able to restart doing what he loved most. With some luck he met other musicians with similar musical tastes and formed Takin' The Fifth. Steve brings a background in folk, country, rock and blues, giving the band a wide assortment of musical styles.
Bass
Sue Rose
Sue grew up playing guitar, violin and French horn, and played various gigs during college, grad school and a few post-grad fellowships until she was forced into a "real job" to pay off her student loans. After a few decades as a research scientist and a few more as a gerontologist, she is finally retiring and hanging up the lab coat.
Sue is delighted to be playing the bass. She met the others at a jam class of like-minded musicians, from which Takin' The Fifth was born.
Drums
Leslie Lulham
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Leslie has lived many lives before landing in Vancouver, WA, her home since 2021. A classically trained pianist and violinist with fifteen years on the keys and seven in the orchestra pit, she also studied voice, sang alto in a high school a cappella trio, and performed in a jazz ensemble. She spent years working in live television before pivoting to tech and business, and today runs two companies of her own: Introly, a professional networking platform, and SunUp Operations, an HR and business ops consultancy.
Music never left her. Fascinated by the drums for as long as she can remember, Leslie picked up the sticks in January 2025 and says it felt like coming home. Her influences range from Mitch Mitchell and Art Blakey to Ed Thigpen, Patty Schemel, Patrick Carney and Dave Grohl, and her playing reflects a deep love of blues, rock, grunge and jazz. She connected with the band through the Jam Session community, walked into a Saturday session, and the rest is history.
When she's not behind the kit (where you'll likely spot a Fuggler or two) Leslie is snowboarding, paddleboarding, cooking, gardening, or finding some other way to be a tiny agent of chaos.