This story was originally published in the Asbury Park Press on Dec 1, 1996. Maybe Bruce Springsteen is born to remember.
“From ’69 to ’70, there was a woman at the Asbury Park Press named Joan Pikula … and she wrote quite a bit about Steel Mill,” Springsteen told Press music writer Kelly-Jane Cotter last week, recalling one of his early bands. “But that was all the attention we got.”
Pikula, who served as a staff writer and entertainment editor at the Press before leaving the paper in the 1970s, not only recognized Springsteen’s talent early on, but also had an early inkling of his potential impact on the Shore area’s music scene.
“Springsteen recalls APP writer who wrote about him when nobody else was” appeared in the Asbury Park Press on December 1, 1996.
For an April 1970 story about Steel Mill, Pikula attended one of the band’s rehearsals in Ocean Township. She wrote:
“They were called ‘Child’ in the beginning and it was under that name the four-man rock group built a following like no other group before or since in the Shore area. All the kids talked about last summer was Child; Child and that ‘wild’ guitar player, Bruce Springsteen; Child and that “way-out” keyboard man, Danny Federici; Child and that fantastic drummer, Vini Lopez; Child and that bass player, Vinnie Roslin.
“Now they’re called Steel Mill. … They’ve got a new bass player — Stevie Van Zandt replaced Roslin — and they’re set to go. …
“They have opened the way for the talent in this area — opened it with their own careful application of the music trade. They’ve proven there is a following here for people with skills — a following big enough to build a name on and make a living.
Perhaps Steel Mill will be the Shore’s (Jefferson) Airplane or Band. Perhaps it will be the band to put this coastal playground on the pop music map — a Mecca in its own right.”
“Springsteen recalls APP writer who wrote about him when nobody else was” appeared in the Asbury Park Press on December 1, 1996.
The following week, Pikula wrote about a Steel Mill performance at Ocean County College in Dover Township:
“Springsteen writes most of the group’s material and it’s good. It’s not a one-man group, but Springsteen is definitely the focal point. He sings in a compelling voice … from screaming blues to country to rock and he makes the run with ease and skill. The main thing about Springsteen is that he communicates. He does it through the throat and through the guitar, an instrument completely under his control and from which he draws a fantastic range of emotions. …
“Springsteen’s songs are blues and they’re solid rock. They’re physical and they’re political. They’re gentle and they’re angry. And, most importantly, they’re really fine. …
“There are going to be a lot of rock groups in this area come summer — some of the best. If you have to make a choice between the best of them and Steel Mill, you’d end up ahead of the game if you chose this group.”
In July 1971, the Bruce Springsteen Band, the immediate predecessor of Springsteen’s E Street Band, performed at the Sunshine In in Asbury Park — as an opening act for the group Humble Pie, whose members included Peter Frampton. In Pikula’s review of Springsteen’s performance, “C. West” is Carl “Tinker” West, who managed several of Springsteen’s early groups:
“The Bruce Springsteen Band opened the concert with a set that was a knockout. Springsteen has been holed up for six months getting this band together — ever since he disbanded Steel Mill.
“He wanted to get some horns in, have two guitars going, be able to take piano occasionally. He wanted, mainly, to make what he called `happy’ music. And that’s what he did.
“From the old group, Springsteen has Vini Lopez on drums, and Steve Van Zandt, who switched from bass to guitar (which is his instrument). He added Garry Tallent (bass); Bobby Feigenbaum (alto saxophone); Harvey Springsteen (trumpet); C. West (conga); Dave Sancious (keyboards), and vocalists Dolores Holmes and Barbara Dinkins.
Steel Mill was a band that rocked. It got you on your feet, set you in motion, and kept you there. This band rocks a little differently – more in the rhythm and blues vein than rock and roll, sometimes with a gospel blast that really moves. And, it swings. …
Essentially, the thing to be said about this band, headed by Springsteen and his excellent guitar (and some amazing slide work by Van Zandt) is that it is full. Lopez, as he was before, is a fine drummer; Sancious does some really nice work on the organ; Tallent is one of the best bass guitarists playing; the girls are beautiful, with powerful voices.
“It works. That’s the whole of it.”
In 1988, years after Springsteen’s rise to international stardom, Pikula wrote a retrospective for the Press, recalling her initial exposure to his music.
” … It was dynamic. Part heavy-metal, part blues, part gospel. It was filled with clean, powerful guitar work from Springsteen, and funky vocals, too. …
“Bruce was lean then, with a sensuous muscularity. He seemed to live on Yodels and soda. And though he came on kind of foggy when he talked to you, he had (and has) one of those quick, satiric minds. He was nobody’s fool.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Bruce Springsteen recalls APP writer, 1996
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