Staff
Will Salerno
How does the saying go? “If you can’t run with the big dogs- stay on the porch”? Will Salerno has run with the big dogs. Lucky for us he has come to Superior Street after years on the road eating catered food, staying in luxury hotels, and hanging out backstage. (what a life!)
Will received a degree from Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts in 1987, afterward he was quite successful mixing front of house and monitors in various clubs and venues.
Most notably he worked at The Park West here in Chicago from 1991-1993. There, amongst all the greats who played the venue, Will masterfully mixed monitors for the late Warren Zevon, receiving credit on his live CD, Learning to Flinch . As if that wasn’t enough, from 1995 – 2001, Will toured as FOH (front of house) engineer with legendary bands “Material Issue”, “Stabbing Westward”, and “Buckcherry”; receiving multiple gold records and credits for his work on the road.
In recent years Will grew tired of the glamorous life, whereas he decided to settle down back in Chicago and has been our Technical Director and Chief Engineer ever since. Will has never met a band he couldn’t mix and make sound great. With Will Salerno on board we hope that through his leadership and technical excellence he can make Superior St. the best rehearsal facility in the Midwest.
Dan Evans
Meet our newest member of the Superior St. engineering team. Although new to us, he’s a veteran Sound Engineer, with a number of years of experience both here and in California.
Meet Dan.
Dan has been playing instruments since he was in the third grade, eventually settling on the saxophone, which he continues to play to this day. Dan is also well versed in playing and has a keen interest in synthesizers, that experience led him to spending hours in the studio learning to program and produce sounds that eventually became music.
Dan completed his formal education in the Bay Area, at a school that changes its name every week, (hippy shit). About six years ago he moved to Chicago and has been producing, engineering, and making music here ever since. His forte is electronic/ industrial/ rock, and he plays in a band with a bunch of talentless #@*!’s (his words not mine- we still always appreciate your business, no matter what sort of talent you are!
Dan enjoys his job here, hated giving us this interview, does a great job as a Sound Engineer- you won’t be disappointed- and he’s a Vegan – so take that meat eaters!
Tony Lazzarra
Sometimes great engineers are born of necessity, which would be the case with Tony Lazzarra. He’s been involved in Chicago’s music community since the mid-nineties, and has been exposed to countless musicians and engineers over the years. Tony’s peers at the time were all people who wrote, performed, recorded, played, produced, and released music independently, during this time Tony found himself doing everything from booking shows, to installing PA equipment, engineering, and recording. At that time, Chicago was (and continues to be) filled with great musicians and audio professionals who taught Tony everything he knows. As a result, he was encouraged to pursue music and the production of music as a full time gig.
1999 found Tony on the road touring as a drummer and later as a sound tech. From those humble beginnings, Tony’s reputation and talent allowed him to grow. Since then, he has been fortunate enough to play and mix shows for a handful, and to thousands, of people in over 20 countries. Tony is badass.
Currently Tony works here at Superior St. as well as running front of house at many local venues. If you are at a show and it sounds good, check the booth, chances are it’s Tony Lazzarra.
Joey Zimmerman
Joey came to us from that large state park north of Illinois, otherwise know as Wisconsin.
There he went to the UW-Steven’s Point where he majored in physics and where he first started mixing local, regional, and small national acts.
Following school, Joey took to the road as a FOH engineer with the not so traditional Irish band, Gaelic Storm. Once back from the road, he became the Head Sound Engineer at The Stone’s Throw in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In 2006, Joey moved back to Madison, his home town, and started working in pro-audio for Sticha Brothers Productions.
While working with Sticha Bros., Joey had the opportunity to work as the FOH/ Mons/ Systems engineer for acts like Queensryche, Method Man, and Randy Travis. After three years with Sticha Bros., Joey continues with them part time and shares his time here in Chicago at Superior St.
With such a daunting resume and so much to be proud of, surprisingly, he lists as his biggest professional accomplishment an opportunity “while doing a taping with Gaelic Storm at the WGN Studios, I snuck onto the Bozo Circus Show’s set and played ‘The Grand Prize Game’- I won!”- “Definitely my biggest accomplishment”.
Welcome to Chicago Joey.
Alex Fishback
Alex has been playing music since the age of four, and although he would much rather jam on a drum set or synthesizer these days, he started his career with that old classic, the piano. He still plays. Alex has been in countless bands since the age of four, none of which have really gone anywhere, but he has time. Alex grew up in Frankfort, IL, a far south suburb of Chicago, he is currently pursuing a degree in Audio Arts and Acoustics at Columbia College, he’s been recording his own band’s music using a lo-fi “studio-in-a-box” set up since the age of thirteen, but once he gets his degree he’ll be ready to run with the big dogs. Maybe sooner.
Alex is our audio engineer intern here at Superior St., he hopes to learn a lot from both our staff engineers and clients. In return, he promises to school the Superior St. staffers in the fine art of “partying” – another item he lists amongst his skills. Other than that, he enjoys fresh sushi (as opposed to?), Dance Factory Radio, and beautiful women that like to rock…….yes ladies, he’s single.
