Steel Mill

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Steel Mill
General information
origin New Jersey , United States
Genre (s) skirt
founding 1969
resolution 1971
Founding members
Bruce Springsteen
Vini Lopez
Danny Federici († 2008)
Vinnie Roslin († 2012, to 1970)
Last occupation
Bruce Springsteen
Vini Lopez
Robbin Thompson († 2015)
Steven Van Zandt
former members
David Hazelet (September to November 1970)

Steel Mill was an American rock band and early band of American rock musician Bruce Springsteen .

Other members were the three later E Street Band members Vini Lopez , Danny Federici and Steven Van Zandt . As on the Jersey Shore (the coastal area around New Jersey ) occurred Steel Mill regularly in Richmond (Virginia), California, and a festival in Nashville (Tennessee). They opened up for artists such as Chicago , Boz Scaggs , Grand Funk Railroad , Roy Orbison , Ike & Tina Turner and Black Sabbath . Steel Mill Retro has been around since 2004, with which Vini Lopez plays and records Springsteen songs from the Steel Mill era.

history

Prehistory and foundation

Three of the band's founding members (Bruce Springsteen, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin) met for the first time on April 22, 1966 at a band competition at the Matawan-Keyport Roller Drome in Matawan, New Jersey. Roslin was one of the judges, while Springsteen and Lopez competed with their respective bands The Castiles and Sonny & The Starfires. Before founding Child / Steel Mill, both Springsteen and Lopez continued to play in other bands. Springsteen formed the band "Earth" with Ocean County College students John Graham (bass) and Michael Burke (drums). Another former Castiles member, Bob Alfano (organ), joined later. Lopez, meanwhile, played in the Downtown Tangiers Band; with Bill Chinnock, Danny Federici and Garry Tallent and then on “Moment of Truth” with Tallent, Federici and Ricky DeSarno (guitar).

Child

In 1968 the Upstage Club opened at 702 Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park, New Jersey. This club would play a central role in the history of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as well as that of Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes . On February 14, 1969, Lopez, who was looking for a guitarist for a new band, saw Springsteen performing with Earth at the Italian American Mens Association Clubhouse in Long Branch, New Jersey. On February 21st Lopez, Springsteen, Federici and Roslin met at Upstage and formed the new band called Child. Shortly thereafter, Carl "Tinker" West, a surfboard designer and concert promoter originally from California, became the band's manager. Since March 1969, Child played regularly at the Pandemonium in Wanamassa, New Jersey. They opened for James Cotton on May 28th . Child also played there on July 20, 1969; on the night of Apollo 11's first manned moon landing . The club installed several TV monitors especially for the occasion. During the show, the audience turned away and turned their attention to Neil Armstrong. As a result, the band broke with the club management and never played again. On November 1, 1969, the band played their last show under the name Child at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond (Virginia) . Shortly afterwards they discovered that another band from Long Island, New York, was also using the name Child and had just released an album under this name on Roulette Records. Roslin stated that they were actually mistaken for the other band of the same name during the Richmond shows.

Steel Mill

To avoid confusion with the other band, she changed her name. In addition to "Steel Mill", which was suggested by Chuck Dillon (a friend of Lopez '), "Mouse Meat", "Locomotive" and "Intergalactic Public Band" were up for discussion. On November 21, 1969 they were opening act for Chicago at Randolph-Macon College and the same location for Iron Butterfly the following evening . On January 2, 1970 Steel Mill performed at The Matrix and Filmore West in San Francisco in a band competition with Elvin Bishop, Boz Scaggs and Grin (the band of the later E-Street guitarist Nils Lofgren ). On February 22nd, they recorded three songs - Goin 'Back to Georgia , The Train Song and He's Guilty (Send That Boy to Jail) - at the Pacific Recording Studio in San Mateo, California for Bill Graham , who had just founded Fillmore Records and Steel Mill offered a contract, which the band declined. Soon after returning from San Francisco, Roslin left Steel Mill. He played his last concert with the band at Virginia Commonwealth University on February 28, 1970. He was replaced by Steven Van Zandt. Exactly why Roslin left the band remains unclear, but it has been speculated that the reason was because of his approval of Graham's contract offer.

After returning from California, Steel Mill continued to play regularly on the Jersey Shore and in Richmond, Virginia. On June 13, 1970, they were opening act for Grand Funk Railroad at the Ocean Ice Palace in Bricktown, New Jersey. On June 21, they played at the Clearwater Swim Club in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, with their opening act Glory Road, which included Garry Tallent and Bill Chinnock.

In August Robbin Thompson joined the band as the second lead singer / guitarist. Thompson was previously the lead singer of Mercy Flight, a Richmond-based band that was a regular opening act for Steel Mill. His first appearance with Steel Mill was on August 29th at the 3rd Annual Nashville Music Festival, sponsored by WMCA, a New York radio station. Steel Mill were one of about 20 bands. Headliners were Roy Orbison , Brian Hyland, Ronnie Milsap, Bobby Bloom, Ballin 'Jack, Ten Wheel Drive and The Illusion. Steel Mill were just one of the few bands without a record deal - some college students with ties to the festival organizing committee saw Steel Mill previously in Richmond and helped the band perform.

On September 11th, they played another show at the Clearwater Swim Club. Among the opening acts was a local folk singer, Jeannie Clark, whose band consisted of Steven Van Zandt, Garry Tallent and Southside Johnny. Steel Mill's line up on the show featured drummer Dave Hazelett (Hazelett was later immortalized as "Hazy Davy" in the song 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) ) of Mercy Flight. Lopez was previously jailed during a raid on his home. He should be charged with drug trafficking as a large amount of drugs were found on him. He had obviously gotten involved with the wrong woman. The concert should take place as a charity event and the proceeds should pay the lawyer's fees for Lopez.

Police came on stage to end the performance after attempts to turn off the electricity failed. Protests broke out and Danny Federici reportedly threw parts of the sound equipment at the police officers in front of the stage before he managed to disappear into the crowd when riots broke out between festival goers and police. Federici escaped arrest and was given the name "Phantom" which he kept.

On October 11th they supported Ike & Tina Turner at The Mosque in Richmond and on November 27th they played with Kaktus and Black Sabbath at the Sunshine Inn in Asbury Park. Steel Mill played their last show on January 23, 1971 in Upstage after Springsteen had told the other members in late 1970 that they wanted to break up the band. In the early 1970s, Springsteen, Lopez, Federici and Van Zandt played in several short-lived bands that had their origins in the upstage. These included Bruce Springsteen & The Friendly Enemies, The Sundance Blues Band, Dr. Zoom & The Sonic Boom (when they once opened an Allman Brothers Band show at the Sunshine Inn in Asbury Park) and the Bruce Springsteen Band. The Bruce Springsteen Band can be seen as the predecessors of the E Street Band.

Steel Mill Retro

Since 2004, Vini Lopez has led Steel Mill Retro, a band that played and recorded songs by Bruce Springsteen from the Steel Mill era. Lopez was a veteran of numerous Jersey Shore bands, some of which had Steel Mill songs on their set lists. In 1989 Lopez played with Live Bait, the band of singer / songwriter Laura Crisci. In addition to Crsici songs, the band also played two songs, Goin 'Back to Georgia and Cowboys of the Sea , which were played by the Bruce Springsteen Band. Your setlist includes the song Whatever Happended To Asbury Park? by Steve Clark. Lopez had his own pub band Maddog & The Disco Rejects in the 1990s. Members of this band were John Luraschi (bass) and Ricky DeSarno (guitar). The band also played early Springsteen songs. In 2002 Lopez played on Cold Blast And Steel with Luraschi and DeSarno. This band eventually resulted in Steel Mill Retro. In 2007 they released The Dead Sea Chronicles , an album of songs from the Steel Mill era. In September 2008 Steel Mill Retro played at a Springsteen Fan Convention in Rotterdam, which was organized by the Dutch fan club Roulette. They were accompanied to the convention by Carl "Tinker" West, the original manager of Steel Mill. The band's current line-up consists of Lopez, Steve Lusardi and Adam Glenn (keyboards), Ed Piersanti (bass) and John Galella (guitar).

Discography

Steel Mill never released an official phonogram, but bootlegs from the period exist. Both Robbin Thompson and Vini Lopez later recorded original Steel Mill songs.

Robbin Thompson
  • He's Guilty (Send That Boy To Jail) - Recorded as Guilty on Better Late Then Never (1985). It is also featured on Thompson's 2002 The Vinyl Years . In 1997 he was also included on the One Step Up / Two Steps Back: The Songs of Bruce Springsteen .
  • The Train Song - On the album One Step Ahead of the Blues (2007)
Steel Mill Retro
  • The Dead Sea Chronicles (2007), Mega International Records
  • All Man The Guns for America (2009), Mega International Records

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Details of the cast at castiles.net
  2. ↑ brucebase.wikispaces.com
  3. ↑ Steel Mill keeps Asbury Sound of the past alive
  4. ↑ Garry's Corner
  5. ^ Far From E Street, Still a Spirit in the Night
  6. ↑ Peter Ames Carlin: Bruce . 2014th edition. Edel Germany GmbH, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8419-0298-6 , p. 90 .
  7. ↑ Peter Ames Carlin: Bruce . 2014th edition. Edel Germany GmbH, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8419-0298-6 , p. 98 .
  8. ↑ Commonwealth Times 1970-02-26
  9. ↑ Peter Ames Carlin: Bruce . 2014th edition. Edel Germany GmbH, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8419-0298-6 , p. 106 .
  10. ↑ Peter Ames Carlin: Bruce . 2014th edition. Edel Germany GmbH, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8419-0298-6 , p. 116 ff .
  11. ↑ Steel Mill Retro Page ( Memento from October 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Freehold rocker leads way for 'old' gang at Stone Pony
  13. ↑ www.robbinthompson.com