The 570 lb. Band

The 570 LB Band began in early 1972 in Fostoria, Ohio with Kerry Pierce on guitar and vocals; Will Droll bass; brother Jerry Droll keyboards and vocals; David Miller on drums and vocals. The band name came from the combined weight of the four. They would be known as The 570 LB Band, The 570 Band or just 570. The idea to form a group was to play the originals that they wrote. All their equipment was purchased at Difiore's in Cleveland.

Jerry Droll left the band briefly and Tom Bradner replaced him on keyboards along with Robin Chaney on guitar. They first played in downtown Tiffin, Seneca Shores for outdoor parties, The Lucky Gigalo and the Zodiac in downtown Fostoria which was the Old Civic Theatre later turned into a teen club. Then they played Plus 1 at the south end of downtown Fostoria where Bradner did his Alice Cooper impression and had the whole crowd on its feet.

Dave Miller who went to BGSU met singer Bill Jeffrey in Bowling Green who then joined the band. Bradner left shortly after and Jerry Droll rejoined and would be featured singing Teen Angel in their 50's medley. They then played the Agora in Cleveland, Bachelor 3 in Bowling Green and occasionally into Michigan.

They soon got the attention of Ron Hanson (from another Fostoria band Fresh Air) who started booking the band and arranged for them to record and release a 45 at GM studio in Detroit. The songs "Oh Those Ladies" and "Imagine Loving Madness", both written by Kerry Pierce.

Chaney stayed with the band until after they recorded the 45 and then left to be replaced by Bob Affholder on lead guitar.

They regularly played the Wayside in Lima where musician/sax player Brett Hill and musician/trumpet player Ian Pelton both from Fostoria were occasionally ask to sit in. Pierce temporarily switched over to running sound. The band continued until the spring of 1973 when this lineup dissolved.

In the summer of 1973 the band reformed with Ian Pelton on Hammond organ, trumpet and vocals; Brett Hill on keyboards, guitar, sax and vocals; Bob Affholder on lead guitar and vocals; Will Droll on bass and Dan Paulus from Tiffin on drums. Soundman David Cline also joined at this time. 3 months later Paulus was replaced with Bill Winans on drums and vocals. The band played a few months in the Northwest Ohio area and then Dynamic Entertainment in Columbus booked them through 1974 in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, New York, North Carolina and West Virginia.

In the summer of 1974 lead singer Bill Jeffrey (BJ) rejoined and in September 1974 the band was booked into the just opening "Coach Room" at Shawnee Lanes in Chillicothe, Ohio. There they remained the house band until the end of 1974.

Starting in January 1975 Al Schultz Agency of Waukegan, IL started booking them full time. This took them into Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the ski resorts of Aspen and Vail Colorado. They built up a circuit of clubs which they would rotate playing anywhere from 5 to 7 nights a week, occasionally they would return back to Shawnee Lanes.

With the trumpet and saxophone the band was able expand their repertoire with songs by Average White Band, The Flock, Earth Wind and Fire, Tower of Power and early Blue Oyster Cult. They also put together medleys of songs by Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, a Soul medley featuring songs of James Brown, a 50's medley and The Beatles 2nd side of Abbey Road album which was always well received.

The band opened 2 times for Sugarloaf ("Green Eyed Lady", "Don't Call us, We'll Call You") lead by Jerry Corbetta.

In September of 1975 Jeffrey left the band and was replace by 2 lead singers, Paul Sonderman and John Tucker. Affholder soon left and Robin Chaney was brought back on lead guitar. The band continued playing its club circuit and a year later Sonderman left to return to college. After 4 years of traveling they settled in the Kalamazoo, MI area and were then booked by Sidartha Booking Agency in Lansing MI. Bill Winans left the group and was replaced by drummer Paul Moore, this lasted another 4 months.

Over 100 original songs were recorded on a Teac 3340 4-track reel-to-reel while on the road, some the band would play live. Two of these songs were re-recorded in Fostoria at Moseka studios but were never released or pressed to a 45. Another song was picked up and re-recorded by the band The Other Half on Hanson's Moseka label.

In May of 1977 the band reformed in Michigan under the name Buster with drummer Winans returning, Tucker, Droll, Hill, Chaney and Cline on sound. They continued playing local clubs and many outdoor festivals until 1991.

As of this writing in summer of 2015, Bill Jeffrey (BJ) continues to entertain in the Indian Lake area of Ohio with his daughter Billie, "BJ and Billie". Bill Winans went on to work for Disney in Florida for 7 years, then New York City with "Uncle Carl" and "The SoulCruisers" and played the strip in Las Vegas with Elvis impersonator Trent Carlini for 7 years. He continues today doing fly dates to the New Orleans area. Bob Affholder still plays and teaches guitar in the Rockford, IL area.

Discography: Oh Those Ladies/ Imagine Loving Madness - GM (Nine Mile Music) 499, 1972

For a group of guys who had recently graduated high school and whose perspective of the world was based on Fostoria, life on the road proved to be an eye opening experience. One day we're sitting drinking beers at Dunn's Lanes or coffee at the L&K restaurant, then in a matter of months, we found ourselves eating in the finest restaurants in Chicago, authentic Mexican cuisine in Pueblo, CO and buckets of clams and beer in New York. Riding the ski lifts in Vail and Aspen was hard to comprehend when the biggest hills we ever saw were the ones at Gray's park.

We experienced one Iowa club owner that pulled guns on us because of a minor dispute. Played the Naval Base in Waukegan Ill. with an unbelievable sight of thousands of drunk and drugged up newly recruited sailors.

The people we met had careers we never heard of, one guy in Aspen wrote crossword puzzles for a living. We met Miss Nude Canada who said she was saving her money and buying a farm in Kentucky. When playing with Sugarloaf they told us how they played in Japan and their agent left them stranded there. They had to call their parents to send them money to get home. That made us feel good because we weren't the only people getting taken advantage of by agents.

Along the way we met our fair share of liars, cheaters and thieves but mostly good, funny and interesting people. We not only learned music but we learned a lot about life.