Kevin Knapp (keyboards/guitar, Lou Ricigliano(Guitar), John Deyeager(Bass), Dean Miller(Drums - deceased RIP)
	Karl Laporta added as second Keyboardist

	Bass- John Deyeager, Ron Tropiano, Bill Foster, Gary Terwilliger, Harry Ford, Steve Galucchi
	Keyboards- Kevin Knapp, Karl Laporta
	Guitar- Lou Ricigliano
	Drums- Dean Miller, Ralph Bushey, Bill Hunt, Len Colantoni

	Sweet Lou Ricigliano  on Guitar and vocals
	Paul Fricano on Sax and vocals
	Karl Laporta on Keyboards and vocals
	Steve Gallucci on Bass
	Len Colantoni on Percussion and vocals

 

Behind The Band

After a brief retirement from Lex Byers and Vegas, R*Gang was originated by Kevin Knapp (Keyboards/Guitar), and myself (Guitar) in 1988. The original concept of the group was to do classic rock. John Deyeager, on bass and vocals brought his 50's style singing with him. John and I played together in a fifties group back in the early 70's called Fever. Check out that page in this site. The band practiced at my parents house in Gates, diagonally across from Karl Laporta's house. Karl and I go back to high school days where we had a very popular band called the Last Rites. He stopped over during a few practice sessions and added his opinions of the songs and how they sounded. It was clear to see that Karl was getting very interested, for there is a spark inside every musician that never dies.. Within a couple of weeks, Kevin and I asked Karl to join up. He accepted.

During the practice sessions, I came down with Pneumonia, and was out of it for at least six weeks. Band practices  dwindled down. I returned to practice, still very weak. During one of the rehearsals,  a booking agent come down to audition the group. He liked what he heard, and began to cite off some opening gigs. John Deyeager was replaced by Ron Tropiano. The band made it's debut at a small bar on Lake Avenue at Charlotte Beach, and was well received. In attendance at the debut was an old high school acquaintance of Karl's and mine, George Cocchini...now a Memphis studio musician. He liked what he heard.

Well the band was off and running, with me doing the fronting. We began playing some of the better clubs in Rochester. And as always, issues come out that required the replacement of band members. The band finally stabilized musicianship around around 1990. At that time, we had Gary Terwilliger/Harry Ford on Bass, and Lenny Colantoni on drums.  Karl, who had been doing all the booking for the band, finally got to the point where the club owners were calling him. The group became in constant demand. Things were going great and then the axe fell. No, not my Axe. Harry and Kevin finally had decided to call it quits. In one night, close to half of the band was gone. Since we had always had the luxury of two keyboard players, we pushed on. Steve Galucchi had just ended a gig with his current band and was available. We needed to replace Kevin's vocals. After auditioning a few players, and female vocalists, Paul Fricano joined the group.  Now the group was more solid than ever. 

R*Gang began to perform for more events. Whether it was a wedding, concert, or a party, with Paul fronting the band R*Gang had no problem getting the audience involved. Even tear-downs at the end of the night were lively sounding. It was with R*Gang that I received my "Sweet-Lou" nickname. During the first couple of songs, I made my way out to the dance floor during a ballad to do a sound check of the band, and usually asked a lady to dance with me.

Then MY axe did fall. In the Spring of '93, with  high tech employment  in Rochester at an all-time low.  I was laid off along with forty seven other colleagues after fourteen years with Kodak/Digital. So here I was, after 14 years with Kodak/DEC, no job, a mortgage and family, paying child support, and totally depressed so bad I didn't want to even get out of bed.  Unable to find suitable employment in Rochester, I was offered an excellent position with a major company in Falls Church, Virginia.  It was a tough decision to make, having to leave family, friends, the band, and my home town to start a new life in a different state. The alternatives were dim so I packed up the family and we relocated to Fredericksburg, Virginia. But that's another story.

Well as it always happens in the music biz, the latest R*Gang concoction finally called it quits. New Year’s Eve 2001 was the final performance of R*Gang.  

In 2010 available members of R*Gang got back together again to perform at the 7th annual Pumpkinfest held by Randy Wolf and the PumpkinFest committee in Gates NY.  Karl Laporta, Lennie Colantoni, Steve Gallucci, and myself (Sweet Lou) took the stage at 6pm and opened the festivities with American Band by Grand Funk. R*Gang's harmonies and solos never sounded better. I was totally enthralled at how well we performed after only a two hour practice in which we performed tunes like Soul Man, Long Train Running, and Knock on Wood. Other tunes were ready to go but unfortunately we were limited on time. R*Gang is scheduled to perform at the 8^th annual Pumpkinfest in October of 2011 and can hardly wait to do it again. We would also like to thank our former fans for coming out to see us!   

At the 9th annual pumpkinFest in 2012, Steve Gallucci's brother and my guitar student when he was 14, Anthony Gallucci joined R*Gang on stage and added his excellent guitar to the performance!!

Currently:

As of 2013, I met the love of my life, married her and relocated back home to Rochester. Currently  teaching guitar.  

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Click here to see the actual on stage set list  for the performance.

Checkout the "R*Gang Hall of Fame"

 

 

                                                                               Luigi Sweet-Lou Ricigliano

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Last updated 07-18-2014 LDR