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Ed Peabody
Ed started playing Harmonica at age 14 after watching James Montgomery. He startedÊbands,with his brothers, called The Trygve Lie Band, RT21 & Blue Steele. He has shared the stage with many of his idols, James Cotton, James Montgomery & Rod Piazza. One of his major influences is the late & great Paul Butterfield.

Tony Carminati
Tony Carminati has been playing in several Connecticut based bands for many years.  Originally a guitarist in the early 70Õs, Tony picked up the bass at a jam session, and decided thatÕs what he wanted to play from then on.  In the mid 70Õs he was a founding member of a local band called the Bedlam Brothers, which played top 40 tunes and was very successful in the local clubs and area schools.  The band was together for about 5 years.  After that, the band regrouped with a different lineup, different songlist, and formed one of the areas hardest working bands, Tiara, which lasted for approximately 12 years. During those years, the band had several different lineups of musicians.  One of the members, was keyboardist Gary Cordeiro, who currently plays with Tony again in the Johnny Press Mess.  Tiara was very successful in the private sector, playing weddings and private parties, and then filling up the balance of available dates doing the Sheraton and Ramada Inn circuit.  After taking some much deserved time off, Tony then got back into music, playing with a short lived band, Bad Dog, which covered songs by the Who, Zeppelin, Doors, and the like.  A short time later, Tony was asked to join a new band, Soulshaker, a blues rock band, which featured guitarist Johnny Press.  The band started to develop a small following, but due to personnel priorities, didnÕt last too long.  A few months later, the phone rings and it was Johnny Press, who, with Ed Peabody and his brother Ned, decided to form a new band.  Tony was asked to join, which again reunited him with keyboardist Gary Cordeiro, and rounds out the current members of  The Johnny Press Mess.

Gary Cordeiro
Gary Cordeiro has over twenty years experience playing keyboards professionally. He started out playing for Worcester based rock bands Rockahol and The Kim Page Band, and the Connecticut based Tiara. For two years Gary was the music director at the Publick House in Sturbridge, performing five nights weekly. He has also performed weekly at the Beechwood Inn in Worcester.
ÊGary then went on the road, playing as a solo pianist and as part of a duo for the Hilton and Ritz-Carlton hotel chains. Gary's playing style has developed over the years fromÊ rock and jazz influences to its current blues feel.

Ned Peabody
Ned was 7yrs old when he 1st played the drums. He had no lessons,but just knew what to do naturally by instinct.He got his 1st set of drums by 9 and his 1st gig as a drummer by 10 in the band Trygve Lie.When he started playing clubs, his Mother had to accompany him because he was under age.He also played in his High School marching and stage bands. Ned has always adapted to whatever music he's playing at the time, whether it would be Rock, Blues, Country or Jazz. He has 37 yrs of drumming experience.In 1997 he played drums with the Mike Crandall Band and won a competition to become Connecticut's Best Blues Band. They later travelled and competed in Memphis. They eventually ended up third in the country.Some of his influences are Ringo Starr, Ginger Baker,John Bonham, Buddy Rich,Terry Bozzio, Neil Peart, Mitch Mitchell, VinnieColiuta & Ian Paice. He's looking forward to doing more studio work and teaching clinics, doing what he loves best playing Drums. He has opened for Rod Piazza, Pat Travers, Roomful of Blues, Bo Diddley, James Cotton, James Montgomery, The Amazing Rythym Aces and many more. Now if you want to catch him live, come down to see the Johnny Press Mess, where John thinks Ned is a driving force of nature that just forces the band to be great.

Johnny Press
Johnny started playing guitar at the age of 13, after being influenced by The Beatles. His 1st band was a 3 piece band called The Esquires. Throughout High School he played in the Band Gerry and the Stompers, who later changed their name to The Sunny Daze (how psychadelic). While in College he hooked up with the Boston Multimedia group called Gross National Productions (GNP) and signed with Metromedia records. The band enjoyed great fame in the early 70's and are still being played on Boston Radio Stations. The lead singer of the band is now known as Red Peters (of Howard Stern fame). John went his own way in 1972 and started Smokin' Joe, which toured up and down the East Coast for 4 years. He did a brief reunion with GNP, before creating the band Pinch. The band played a lot but could not break through. He then hooked up with legendary Worcester MA rocker Lee Vachon in the band Leader Dog. The band recorded a lot of songs, but died before it ever really got off the ground. He next hooked up with the legendary club band Southpaw and stayed with them all the way through their Under the Gun stage(name change). He then recorded a number of new tunes that turned into the band Velocity. Many felt this band was the best unsigned band in the country, and opened many doors for John. When the group disbanded John did a lot of session work at CRS in Bridgeport CT. He then started Big Guns and recorded 5 tunes with them. John was working a regular job at the time and was involved in an industrial accident which broke his back.Thinking he was through with the music business, he put the guitars away to watch his children grow up. His daughter Nikki is now a successful graphic artist and his son Shane is a pro baseball player in the Oakland A's organization. Twelve years after putting his guitar down, John pulled his old black Strat out of his case, and to his surprise, it was in perfect tune.  Old friends encouraged him to play again, so he hit the jam clubs. He hooked up with the Peabody Brothers in the band Blue Steele and then started the band Soulshaker with some old friends. When Soulshaker broke up, John asked Tony & Gary (Soulshaker's bass & Keyboards) if they wanted to continue playing with him. They did and Ned & Ed Peabody hopped on board to complete John's new band The Mess. John has many influences. He'll tell you that anybody he's ever seen play has influenced him one way or another. Its more like a buffet full of styles that he picks to fit the songs.