"I'm not sure how much you've read or seen about us as a group but we are practically one of New Jersey's best kept secrets," laughed Danny Vechesky of 52nd Street, the "World's longest running" Billy Joel tribute. "We've been around a long time; 28 years and I started the band back in 1994 after "The River of Dreams" came out."
Vechesky or "Danny V" as he is known, calls Burlington County, NJ home but as Joel himself has said in his lyrics, "Home can be the Pennsylvania Turnpike" and Danny knows that reference to touring very well as 52nd Street has played nationally for parts of four decades and on October 16 at the Broadway Theatre of Pitmann he will be doing what he does best at a 6 p.m. show right here in South Jersey.
“Yes, Sunday October 16 at The Pitmann Theatre," he said enthusiastically. "We usually do outdoor summer concerts for different towns as part of their summer concert series and doing this gives an opportunity for people who normally don't get to see Billy Joel or have seen him in the past to come out and relax in the summertime with family and friends. So, we've been focusing on that aspect probably for the last 10 years and had a wonderful time with it; the response from the crowd is great so that's been primarily our concerts and they vary depending on the town and how big they can have their events and what the budgets are so, it can be anywhere from a couple of hundred people to a couple of thousand; it's been something we’ve enjoyed so, we are looking forward to this."
So, what makes one form a tribute band; let alone one that has stayed together for nearly 30 years? According to Danny, it was just a matter of making a decision.
"I've been in a number of bands off and on over the years and always wanted to do a Billy Joel tribute but for different reasons, the timing wasn't right," he began. "Then "The River of Dreams" came out and it was hitting the charts and I said to my wife at the time; you know what? I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna do it now! Now as far as the history itself; it all started back in 1974. I was a freshman at Albright College out in Reading, PA and I was on the stage crew when Billy Joel was on the "Piano Man" tour and I guess the only thing that I knew about Billy Joel was the song "Captain Jack" because in Philly; I don't know if you remember WMMR but Ed Sciaky used to play that song a lot and it was huge in Philadelphia. So, that's how I knew about Billy and then being on stage crew, I was at the concert, I got a chance to talk to him and being a young kid; I'm blown away. I took piano lessons as a kid but there was a guy who rocked on the piano in the spotlight and I felt really connected. So, I said, that's it, I'm gonna do that and I had a chance to talk with him and that gave me some encouragement. So, over the years, I learned all of his music and all by ear. I took lessons, I knew theory but his music; I sat down listened to records and learned it all by ear and eventually in college I started doing these coffee houses; all Billy Joel and then eventually with different bands that I was in I'd do a bunch of Billy Joel songs and finally in 1994 I realized; you know what? This is the time and so 28 years ago I started it and we're still going strong today”
OK Danny, "YOU" had this connection to Joel and his music through a personal experience; how did you find musicians who shared your passion and the other six pieces that make up the 52nd Street Band?
“I lived in North Jersey and Bergen County for 16 years and that's where the band started. I had put out an advertisement in one of the local rock'n'roll periodicals; I think it was in "The Aquarian" or "The EC Rocker" up there in North Jersey and guys answered the ads and I had auditions with different guys and I just felt which ones would make a good fit and that's how it came together; up in North Jersey. My guitar player who's the original guitar player; he's been with me all 28 years and I’m proud of the fact that we’ve been together that long. We were starting out just at the very beginning of tribute mania and at the time, there was maybe a few bands that were doing it; of course, there was B Streets who was doing Bruce for the longest time even before that but we got in at the right time where all of a sudden at all of these town concerts they started having tribute bands. So, we developed our notoriety with our bread and butter and of course now you know what it's like; I mean, there's a tribute for just about every band that ever existed and multi-tributes for different artists as well.”
“My philosophy and my first thought for the band was, I want to put together a band that's going to present the sound that's what you hear on the radio," he continued. "You know, the songs that they love by Billy Joel and I wanted to do so practically as much as possible note for note and even from me singing them. So, I immersed myself and I still do actually in listening to the songs. I sing along with them, I try to make sure that my pronunciations and my pitch are exactly like Billy does it and the guys in the band, they do very close to the same thing so that we present what you're going to hear as Billy Joel's music and so it sounds like Billy Joel. Mentally, I've known these songs for forever, I grew up with him basically as a kid, I learned them all and every song I can relate to the eras of my life basically by when these songs were played. So, it's easy for me because of my personal history with each one of those songs; I actually almost feel like when I'm performing them that I am feeling those lyrics as well and not just singing and performing and that kind of works for me. I don't know about the other guys but I just try to live it and perform it as you hear it on the radio”
With a band and a philosophy in place Danny found his niche as an entertainer and like many others, it was the Fab Four's appearance on a certain TV show that was the impetus for his love of Rock 'n' Roll.
“I started taking piano lessons when I was 11 years old and I realized after a short period of time that I wasn't going to be another Rachmaninoff or Tchaikovsky but the thing that really sold my soul on rock'n'roll was seeing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show and for me that was it. So, even though I was taking general lessons my ear was always leaning to learning some of the stuff that I was hearing; all of the pop songs on the radio. I took classical lessons pretty much through high school and then as I said, meeting Billy my freshman year in college; that was it. I was focused totally in that direction.”
Ah but today there is no Ed Sullivan, there is nothing on the radar even remotely close to a second-coming of a band such as The Beatles but he has some thoughts on that and today's music climate as well.
“Yeah," he said with some hesitation, "Believe me, guys in our age group, we recognize that because of our own longevity in music. We recognize it and it's kind of unfortunate but there is some hope. I do see some young guys that try to emulate the classic guys of that era so there are some young artists that look at Eddie Van Halen or Keith Emerson and Yes or anything that's like a masterpiece of classic rock and they are trying to emulate that which hopefully that'll be some of the future of rock'n'roll music; we'll see.”
There are stories of tribute bands being joined on stage by the artists they are paying homage to; has that ever happened to Danny V and the boys of 52nd Street?
“We had a close call; well besides meeting Billy back in '74 where we had a very close call coming together. We were performing at the food court in the Wachovia Center in Philly when he was performing there; I'm going to say maybe 10 years ago. We were performing before his concert and so my brother, who was managing us at the time was on the phone and I saw him walking around the food court and he was actually trying to get Billy to come down and meet me after his soundcheck. We were in the same building together but that was his last concert, it was press day so he had a lot of interviews going on so we couldn't come together but that's as close as it can be; in the same building that same time.”
Doing anything for 28 years can become monotonous but if there is passion, there is a desire to continue and for Danny V, the audiences and the music make it all worthwhile.
“Yeah, it's a combination of things really. I enjoy the songs and as I said. I grew up with them so I felt attached to learning them and the history of him and of course sharing it with the audience and with the Billy Joel fans is so rewarding. During the shows to see people enjoying it, singing along with us, coming up to me afterwards and telling me that they really enjoyed it and the cool thing about it is telling me their stories. Always at the end of a show, somebody's going to come up say, oh I knew Billy when he was in high school or when he played at this bar or I saw him at a restaurant somewhere and to me that's like the icing on the cake because it adds to the history of the band. I have all these little stories that come along the way so yes, absolutely it's the performance, it's singing songs and of course enjoying it and the relationships with the audience as well.”
The show in Pitmann may have a slightly different look and feel to it due to it being an indoor venue which is different from their aforementioned regular outside events.
“ My brother is the owner/producer of Re-creation Concerts and he has a number of tribute bands he works with and what he does with his business and with his artists is recreates exactly the scenes, the clothes, the wardrobe, the songs and the look of artists from the classic rock era. His number one band is Kiss The Sky a Jimi Hendrix tribute and if you Google Kiss The Sky or any of those videos you will think it's Hendrix and when those shows are performed; that's what people expect to see. So, it's never been done with Billy Joel before to this extent and he's producing the show and we've taken all the eras of Billy Joel, the jacket changes, the band changes, the members and we're gonna try to create the eras of Billy Joel at this particular concert and that's something that I don't believe anybody has ever done before and my brother, with his knowledge of classic rock and his eye for perfection will be putting together a unique show where people are going to see a Billy Joel concert from say 1975, 1980 or 1993 and that's kind of what you're going to see on October 16th in Pitmann. I’ve got to tell you; Billy is always spot on with his music. Even now, although he has changed the key of a couple of songs that he now sings a little lower; I just look at his performances and I'm really a little bit jealous (laughs) and he's still an amazing performer, pianist, vocalist, and it's one of those things where it still gives me chills at this point and for me there is still something to try and achieve. So, that's why I still watch his shows and his videos because I'm always trying to perfect my performance as much as I can.”
That said, what is in store following the Pitmann show?
“Probably after this show for the season, we'll take a little bit of time off. The guys all have different other projects that they're involved with and what I try to do in the offseason is to sort of regroup a little bit and I've got to focus on marketing for the next year which is not exactly the fun part of this business (laughs).I've got to get the marketing going for the next year and I have some original stuff that I'm working on; I usually try to get back into that mode as well just to see if I can get that finished. It's one of those things that I have in the back of my mind to do after I'm done with Billy Joel or maybe at the same time but I have those and a few other things in the in the works as well.”
To purchase tickets to the October 16 show, please visit https://www.thebroadwaytheatre.org/show/52nd-street-billy-joel-tribute/ and to find out more about Danny V's 52nd Street Band, please go to http://www.52ndstreetband.com/
That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!
