Underhanded

In the early-80’s, in a small town called New York City, Mike Nicoletti was forming a band. A friend of Mike’s brought a drummer he knew to a rehearsal. The drummer’s name was Pat McCort. Mike and Pat hit it off immediately, both musically and personally. After getting some other musicians together and performing a concert, Mike and Pat decided to go off on their own and form a more cohesive and serious band.

One day, Pat walks into a store in Manhattan and sees a long-haired guy behind the counter. They looked at each other and said, "You a musician?" "Yeah, you?" and poof, we had our bass player, Jules Eros, and the band Jagged Steel was born.

Jagged Steel played a few shows with Mike and Pat sharing vocals. The band then decided to get a lead singer and brought in Sammy Mastandrea. The Steel played the NYC circuit for a couple of years, gathering a large following. But as many bands do, Jagged Steel broke up in 1985 and the members went their separate ways.

Jump to 2004. Mike was living in Long Beach, California. Pat finds Mike through the magic of the Internet and they are discussing playing again. Mike searches on the Internet for Jules. Mike finds Jules in, of all places, Hollywood. Yep, Jules was living 40 minutes from Mike for the last 6 years and neither had a clue. Two days later, Jules is in Mike’s studio with his bass, and they are playing their songs like 20 years had never passed. They look at each and say, "We gotta do this!"

Next, they needed a drummer, as Pat was unable to join them on this endeavor. After auditioning some talented drummers, Jules brought in one Marcos Mora. Marcos had been playing for many years with a number of bands in the LA area. Marcos sat behind the drums and the synergy of these three musicians was instantaneous. A few rehearsals and the band was ready to start playing the clubs.

After a rehearsal, the trio spoke of how the clubs and stages in L.A. were generally small, and Mike said, "Well, if anyone throws anything at us, I hope they throw it underhanded!" The three bandmates looked at each other, all thinking of the darker meaning of the word, and the name stuck.

After a few very well received shows at The Gig in Hollywood, the band decided they wanted to get a lead singer. Mike wanted to get back to doing the harmonies that they were missing and he hated being "chained" to the mic stand, since it kept him from being able to play with the passion and energy that the music demanded.

Underhanded auditioned a number of singers and found one Mr. Steve Green. Steve had been in a number of bands in L.A. and this man can SING! The boys are now gigging and lovin it!

While Underhanded enjoys recording, they are first and foremost a live concert band, and that is where they truly shine. Seeing them perform you feel their energy thunder off the stage and into the audience, and you can see and feel the audience absorb that energy and give it right back to the band, who truly feed off the interaction with the crowd.