Vini Lopez - Steel Mill Retro

Steel Mill Retro

After leaving The Lord Gunner Group, Lopez went onto play with several Jersey Shore bands led by Paul Whistler, formerly of the Blackberry Booze Band. These included The Wheels and The Asbury All-Stars. The latter band also featured Mike Scialfa, the brother of Patti Scialfa. Then, during the mid-1980s he played in both Opus I and The Acme Boogie Company with vocalist/bassist Sam Cooper. In 1987, he reunited with Vinnie Roslin in J.P. Gotrock. By 1989, Lopez was playing with Live Bait, a band led by singer/songwriter Laura Crisci. In addition to original Crisci songs, this band also included two early Springsteen songs in its setlist, "Goin’ Back To Georgia," from the Steel Mill era, and "Cowboys of the Sea," which had been performed by The Bruce Springsteen Band. Lopez took lead vocals on both songs. During the 1990s, Lopez led his own bar band, Maddog & The Disco Rejects. Members of the band included Sam Cooper, John Luraschi, Ricky DeSarno and Bob Alfano, who had played keyboards with two early Springsteen bands, The Castiles and Earth. This band also included early Springsteen songs in its setlist. By 2002, Lopez was playing with Cold Blast and Steel, which also included John Luraschi and Ricky DeSarno. Its setlists included an original song called "Whatever Happened to Asbury Park?," written by Steve Clark, and another Steel Mill song, "The Judge." By 2004, this band had developed into Steel Mill Retro, led by Lopez, and also featuring Ricky DeSarno. The band has played and recorded Bruce Springsteen songs from the Steel Mill era. In 2007, they released The Dead Sea Chronicles, an album that featured Steel Mill-era songs. In September 2008, Steel Mill Retro played at a Springsteen fan convention in Rotterdam, organized by the Dutch fan club Roulette. They were accompanied to the convention by Carl "Tinker" West, the original manger of Steel Mill. They have since released another CD called All Man the Guns for America The lineup currently includes Lopez on drums, John Galella on guitar, Ed Piersanti on bass, Steve Lusardi on B3 and Adam Glenn on keys.