Mark "Piker" Steiner - vocals, guitar
Chris "The Butcher" Mele - drums
"Pick-pocket" Peter Mele - bass
James Babbo - guitar
PIKER RYAN (2006 studio sessions)
Mark Steiner - vocals, guitar, accordion
Christopher Mele - drums
Peter Mele - bass
Eric Wolter - piano
Dag Stiberg - saxophone
PIKER RYAN'S FOLLY (?-2000, RIP)
Mark "Piker" Steiner - vocals
Phil "The Tremelo King" Vanderyken - guitar
Chris "The Butcher" Mele - drums
"Pick-pocket" Pete Mele - bass
Eric "The Heretic" Wolter - piano
Influences
DEBAUCHERY - booze, cigarettes & women...
BOOKS:
"The Gangs of New York"
"Around the Town"
by Herbert Asbury
"Lowlife"
by Luc Sante
MUSIC:
The Birthday Party, The Stooges, These Immortal Souls, Crime & the City Solution, Tom Waits, Screamin' Jay Hawkins...
FILMS:
Yep, Scorsese's rendition of Asbury's literary masterpiece... ONLY approved of by Piker 'cause of the sets, 'dem firefighter brawls, 'dose cameo appearances of Hell-Cat Maggie, 'da ballum-rancum, 'da sheer debauchery... and of course, Daniel Day Lewis' spectacular acting in 'da role as "Bill the Butcher," which salvaged 'dis moving picture from being tossed into 'da murky abyss of 'da East River... ;-)
Sounds Like
"NYCs club scene has been exposed to a group of local musicians fabricating the mood for drunken, broken-hearted, lounge music. That band is Piker Ryans Folly. Its enough just seeing Mark onstage hammering out his almost criminally insane rants and raves Go see this band for all theyre worth! You think youve got problems?"
- The Aquarian Weekly
"This album (Bowery Blues) reeks of that bittersweet smell of bourbon and stale cigarettes Nick Cave comparisons aside, Steiners vocals can really deliver a wallop. Excellent musicianship from the band members, a keen sense of timing, create highly entertaining songs for all those desperate times when the only friend you need comes in a bottle."
- The Sentimentalist
"That Piker Ryan song Eat Em Up Jack is AWESOME!"
- DJ Terre T., WFMU radio, New Jersey
"Mark "Piker" Steiner, lead singer of Piker Ryan's Folly, promoted the show ("An Evening at McGurk's Suicide Hall"). His band (Piker Ryans Folly) was also celebrating the release of their new CD, "Bowery Blues". The ten dark, lounge-y, punk-ish cuts, with a little goth thrown in (especially with Steiner's deep, brooding voice), were recorded last year at CBGBs. Steiner likes the old, dirty, rough-and-tumble days of the Lower East Side, and wore a black Bowler hat at the gig. Some of the songs on "Bowery Blues" were inspired by the book Low Life, written by Luc Sante. The 1992 work recalls the days of McGurk's and waiter Short-Change Charlie and bouncer Eat-'Em-Up Jack McManus."
- From the article "Dead Whores, Debauchery, and a Killer Vibraphone. Just Another Friday Night Downtown: A Review of "An Evening at McGurk's Suicide Hall," by Lyle Deixler, for The New York Press
Finally! Piker Ryan live! Videotaped in Oslo, Norway during their European tour in the fall of 2006!
New mugshots of Piker and the lads (Babbo, Butcher, Pick-pocket Pete, as well as a couple of Texan New Yorkers) taken by photojournalist John Hughes, recently released by Norwegian authorities after a bar brawl in a place in Oslo formerly known as "The Round Barrel"!
Also: new photos from PIKER RYAN live at La Fleche D'Or, Paris!
Here are some new photos online taken by Maho, live at La Fleche D'Or, Paris, Monday 25. september 2006, featuring special guest musicians Dimi Dero (of Dimi Dero Inc), Sophie Perez, and Delphine Ellis (of Delphine Thirteen)!
THE RETURN OF PIKER RYAN - PIKER IN EUROPE!!!
Emerging from deep within the bowels of nineteenth century Manhattan's historic Lower East Side came Piker Ryan's Folly, a gang of debaucherous vagrants who exploded onto the "lounge-noir" music scene of the New York area in the late 1990's. Combining elements of dark lounge with punk, jazz and swing, Piker Ryan's Folly earned quite a reputation amongst the mayhem specialists of the city's most notorious pubs and saloons, with their fame reaching as far as New England and Pennsylvania, and even across the Atlantic to the far reaches of Scandinavia.
On vocals was Norwegian-American Mark Steiner, aka "Piker," whose strong background in avant-garde film is evident in his cinematic lyrics - powerful lamentations which paint beautifully seedy pictures of his innermost sorrow and frustration, released through the deep vocals, growls and wails of a mischievous drunk. At his side was the Belgian-born Phil "The Tremelo King" Vanderyken, recognized for his unique Ennio Morriconne-meets-Dick Dale-with-a-twist style of guitar After the release of the now out-of-print "Lowlife" CD-EP, the two struggled long and hard to find a rhythm section that could prove the perfect compliment to their incredible dynamic, and finally found their match: Chris "The Butcher" Mele and "Pick-Pocket Pete" aka Peter Mele, Jr. With their edgy, swinging drums and bass guitar, the Italian Mele brothers seemed to provide the ultimate foundation, completing the initiation period of this wild bunch of New York musicians called PIKER RYAN'S FOLLY.
Named after a "take-out menu," or list of services, found in the pocket of Piker Ryan, a nineteenth century thug arrested by NYC police in Manhattan's Lower East Side, Piker Ryan's Folly asserted their presence in the Bowery ganglands with the release of the long-anticipated "Bowery Blues" CD, now out of print...
It was then reported that a Hessian derelict was sworn in as a new member. After his ex-communication from the local church for helping himself to the blood of Christ, Eric "The Heretic" Wolter was found slumped over a piano in the dank cellar of McGurk's Suicide Hall. Already known to Piker through some shared wild drunken evenings playing music in various establishments, he and the boys decided to drag him onto the stage and into the ranks of Piker Ryan's Folly debauchery.
After the infamous, chaotic (yet successful) ballum-rancum, known as "An Evening at McGurk's Suicide Hall," Piker Ryan's Folly retreated into the shadows of the dark tenements from which the gangmembers came... Rumor has it that Phil "The Tremelo King" Vanderyken was forced to flee after swiping a sharkskin suit from his former landlord, and is now serving a lifetime sentence in Austin, Texas...
But now, PIKER RYAN has regrouped some of his troups, and recently returned to the streets with a vengeance, including new recordings in the works, and a European tour of debauchery with fellow "noir" New Yorkers, ALICE TEXAS... featuring the diva of country-noir, Alice Schneider, who almost by coincidence proves to be the actual sister of legendary street-fightin' vixen Hell-Cat Maggie herself!
JUNKIE LOVE, by Phil Shoenfelt, won the Firecracker Alternative Book Of The Year Award (Drug Books Section) for 2002. Now licensed to Ebury Press/Random House, and available in bookshops in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Also available directly from www.randomhouse.co.uk, Original Twisted Spoon Press edtion available in bookshops in the USA and Canada, or from www.twistedspoon.com, Both versions available via www.amazon.com,
"A nice, nasty read. I enjoyed it a lot." Nick Cave
"A fine, gutsy, spare rendering of the drug underworld." Will Self
"Ever-descending scenes of brute squalor." Michael Gira
"The best book about heroin since "Junky". An essential read." Nikki Sudden
i put a record on! i'm happy to announce that my solo album is out now! and: you can listen to all the album tracks on my site this week! best regards ggut
