Steel Mill Retro - Band Members

Eddie Piersanti Bass	Ed Piersanti was born in New Brunswick, NJ and has been playing bass since he was 12 years old. He played in his share of garage bands until hooking up with banjo phenom Richie Gulya. They formed the Smokey Mountain Ramblers, a traditional bluegrass band, in which Ed played acoustic bass. He went on to play in the country rock band Renegade, and the southern rock bands Badlands, The Bad Land Band, and the top 40 band Street Lights. He has played and recorded with some of the tri-state area’s top musicians and is “happy as hell to be playing with these guys”.
John Galella Guitar	John is a veteran of various NJ based cover and original bands including the Albert Miller Group (with former members of the Critters (Mr. Die-ingly Sad), Simply Shania (tribute), and few original projects like the Stock Boys and Probably Taken. John writes as well, and had interest from a NYC jazz label in the mid 80's. John was a very close friend to our previous guitarist, Bernie, his guitar mentor.
Vini "Maddog" Lopez Drums	Vini "Maddog" Lopez has been involved in the music field for over forty years. He first played a valve bugle in a drum corp., not drums as one would expect. When Vini met Buzzy Lubinsky, who played drums along with records, Vini became hooked. Buzzy helped him with the drums and within a year, Vini joined SONNY AND THE STARFIRES. Playing with Sonny for a few years gave him the experience and knowledge of how rock n' roll worked. Soon after Vini and Danny Federici were looking for a guitar player who could sing, when they encountered Bruce Springsteen. Bruce joined their band where things evolved from there, such as Steel Mill and eventually the E STREET BAND. Vini played on Bruce's first two albums, 'Greetings from Asbury Park' and 'The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle'. Since then, Vini has played songs on Bruce's 'Tracks', '18 Tracks' and 'The Essential Bruce Springsteen'. Vini went on and played with many shore area bands (see Band Chronology) as well as his own band THE DISCO REJECTS. Vini had the idea of performing and recording the STEEL MILL songs for a while as no one has performed these songs live for over thirty years. Bruce has given him permission years ago to perform the STEEL MILL but to be sure, he met backstage with Bruce at the Meadowlands show on July 21, 2003 and approval was given to perform and record STEEL MILL songs. After that Vini played Spirit in the Night with the band. Vini is now doing just that with his band STEEL MILL RETRO and let's hope the rest is history.
Bill Kacerek Keyboards	I am proud to announce the addition of Bill Karecek on keyboards to Steel Mill Retro. We met through a mutual friend, Debbie Sinowell( a TV personality from Old Bridge NJ). Bill is a great addition to the band. His knowledge of music is astounding and he is very creative. Welcome Bill. Here are a few of Bills accomplishments. 1978 Stardust Band (Portuguese wedding and show band )The only wedding band that I know of that used a Kick ass 3 way PA system and full light show ! ) 1982 The Goods ( released a 45 single in 1983) 1984 Secrets 1985 Fastlane 1986 Usher Band 1995 Keskasay (released Cd) 1995 Joe cast studio project (released CD) 2000 Moving Target http://www.movingtargetnj.com 2005 STEEL MILL RETRO and all kinds of various studio and commercial recording projects