Danny Piselli
Drums, Recording, Engineering, etc.
Danny is the man. I first met Danny years and years ago at the local School of Rock, where we would all play in our first bands as young bucks in the game. I don't recall our exact meeting, but we became friendly when he was playing drums in On Top and Fisthammer. We started working together informally when I played a few one-off shows with On Top, and "formally" working together over the 2020-2021 quarantine period.
I remember hearing and seeing online that he was getting into recording and engineering, and I sent him my number asking if he'd call me when he had a chance. I'd always recognized his prowess behind the kit, but never knew him more than a passing "what's going on bro?" level. I was a little nervous, but he was on board to start the project I'd had in mind - and we quickly hit it off and the Nicky B. Hannas band had effectively formed.
Since working with Danny, I'm consistently impressed by not only his immense talent, but also his attention to detail and overall professionalism musically. He's always down to try a new amp, or a new tone, or a double-take here and there, to get the right execution of what we're working on. I'm usually more of a "rip-it-once-and-be-done" guy, but when Danny says to do another take to get it just right - I say "sir, yes sir!". The man is an absolute beast live, keeping perfect time and pulling out drum fills I can't even conceptualize - as well as enthusiastically rolling with the improvisational element I seek to chase in a live setting.
Danny is a drum teacher at the Downingtown School of Rock, and has a resume of bands too long for me to count. Currently besides Nicky B. Hannas, he also plays drums in Sublation and Coffin Dust. Sublation's latest is EP titled "On The Advancement of Decay", and it's some seriously heavy and intentional technical death metal. Danny also plays in The L.I.F.E Project, Doro and Start Making Sense. I am honored to have Danny in my camp for the Nicky B. Hannas band.
(Pictured: Danny giving a mean stank face during our set at the Look Around Music & Arts Festival in West Chester, PA, 2023)
Jaron Gulino
Bass Guitar
Jaron is the man. I'd first met Jaron even before Danny, when he was the bass player in Trasher. Trasher is a legend in my local metal scene, and had basically heralded in all the bands we young bucks would form and play at the School of Rock. Shortly after Trasher he formed On Top, and they would have something like a revolving-door of guitar players, with Jaron playing bass and singing and Danny on drums. On Top is legendary in mine and many minds, and I was fortunate when Jaron asked me in 2017 to play a few shows with those guys. I still think of those shows fondly.
He eventually joined the national act Tantric as their bassist, and played and toured with them for years. When it was time to start the Nicky B. Hannas project, Jaron was in from the jump - no questions asked. He was happy to contribute and has been an irreplaceable supporter and friend in our musical journeys - not to mention the quarantine putting a serious damper on touring at that level. Coming from the metal-thrashing-mad background that we all had in common, he approached (and approaches) anything I bring to him with the intensity and fervor that the situation calls for.
The fact that Jaron has always made a point to stay in touch and holla at me when he's home from touring is a massive testament to his character, in my view. It seems like he never stops moving, but always makes a point to check in and see when the next tunes are coming. Considering the possibly lethal amount of Mountain Dew this dude consumes, my tunes better come correct. Due to his touring schedule with his main endeavors, Jaron is seldom available for live Nicky B. Hannas shows, but has played on all studio efforts unless otherwise noted.
Jaron is currently the bassist for Lynch Mob, Heaven's Edge, and more- like Danny, has played in so many bands that I can't count them. Neither could he, last time I asked. Lynch Mob released released their newest album "Dancing With The Devil" in 2025 and needless to say, it shreds. Check him out live if he comes near you, which is surely sometime soon. I am honored to have Jaron in my camp for the Nicky B. Hannas band.
(Pictured: Danny and I with Jaron at an On Top gig at the Whiskey Tango in Philadelphia, PA, 2017)
Bass Guitar
Rob is the man. I'd first met Rob when I was just a teenager, actually - I was 13 years old and my parents had gotten me about six months' worth of guitar lessons at the local Music & Arts Center. Rob was my teacher, and all these years later, I am astonishingly fortunate and blessed to be friends as well as musical collaborators. I remember wearing a Slayer t-shirt, bringing him a Nile CD to learn some vicious death metal - he was this funky cat in a Kangol with a turtle-patterned Irish green Stratocaster, and sent me home with Freddie King's "Hideaway" and a hand written 12-bar-blues guitar tab. Neither he nor I had any idea the lasting impression that would have, and when I got more into classic rock 'n roll and blues years later, I pulled that handwritten tab as my first point of reference.
Primarily a bluesman and funk man, Rob is one hell of a guitar player and locally has maintained that reputation as long as I've been around. Anytime I see this cat on stage, well, I'm somewhat sympathetic to whoever he's playing with. He tends to smoke them. As a lifelong guitar teacher and performer, he's an embodiment of musical enthusiasm. Given his background in funk and blues, improv is the name of the Rob Perna game. While my studio music has the aggressive attack more stylistic of heavy metal, I seek for my live shows to straddle the line of chaos and order, of known and unknown. Rob was honored I'd asked him to play with me live, and as he learns the urgency of rock and metal with me, he's still teaching me to this day about the present-tense of it- feeling it as it grabs you, capturing lightning in a bottle, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants nature of live music: fluid in its creation and performance.
Rob is currently lead guitarist and co-singer in onyx&honey. and lead singer and lead guitar player in The New Kings of Rhythm, who have been playing live all around the West Chester and Chester County area for something approximating 25 years. onyx&honey. released their newest album "Love Has Disarmed Me", recorded at Castle Bam studios in West Chester, PA, in 2024. I am honored to have Rob in my camp for the Nicky B. Hannas band.
(Pictured: Rob and Danny during our set at the Look Around Music & Arts Festival in West Chester, PA, 2023)