Mile Train: Bio
Mile Train, the answer to a question
Mile Train is an answer to the important question, how can we put back woods delta blues, stomping hard rock and funky jazz fusion into one sound? Tired of playing in an alternative rock band, a blues band and a fusion band, David Pippin was determined to put a group together that could spit out this mutt of a vision. His first attempt was a four piece band including a southern rock vocalist, a jazz bass player, a heavy metal drummer from Lagrange and Pippin on the guitar. This was not to be. After about five practices the drummer was canned for being too doped up at practice and the singer got married, need I say more. This did not discourage Pippin. Tired of dealing with flakey singers he decided to tackle the discouraging challenge of learning how to sing. He started taking vocal lessons from two local teachers named Jenny Lyle and Dominique Petite. Yes he was so bad he needed two instructors. Struggling to find musicians that would play with a less than terrible vocalist in progress Pippin called upon his good friend and long time drummer David Reddish. Reddish had played with Pippin in a local cover band called 3DM which had been around for a few years at this point. Reddish, a hard hitting rock drummer with roots to heavy metal bands like Slayer and Metalica, was a perfect fit. Pippin was at Millers on the square in Carrollton enjoying this great jazz quartet. Everyone in the band started to take solos and when it was the bass players turn Pippin was blown away at the grove and fluidity of his playing. He then decided to campaign for the recruitment of this fabulous musician who we now know as Bryan “Wiesenheimer” Hall. With the pieces in place, and the album in their hands they began to book shows all over the southeast. They are ever growing as a band and so is their audience. And that my friends, is the tale of Mile Train.
David Pippin - Vocals and lead Guitar
David Pippin is the fast fingered raunchy vocalizing front man for the band we know as Mile Train. It all started with a pool game. Pippin was a big fan of pool in his early years and played every chance he could. He would ride his bike to a local bar in Jacksonville Florida every Saturday and spend all his lunch money on the 75 cent scratched up beer stained pool tables were he would learn the game. He eventually found a friend in the neighborhood who had a pool table in a shed behind his house. His friend, who was nick named Waldo because he looked like the character in the book “Where’s Waldo” played the guitar. Waldo and Pippin were on there way to play a game of pool one day when Waldo invited Pippin to listen to his new pedal he got for his guitar, “ I don’t care about your stupid guitar, lets play some pool” Pippin replied rudely. Finally after some convincing, Pippin agreed to the performance. Waldo had a cheep Lotus guitar, an old Peavey P.A system and a Big Muff distortion pedal. Waldo cranked up the amp and turned the pedal wide open and struck a power chord. At that very moment David Pippin’s life completely changed. “This is the most wonderful sound I have ever heard and this is what I will do for the rest of my life” thought Pippin. He went straight home without the game of pool and called his grandfather who had a guitar hung on his wall which had only four strings. The guitar belonged to Pippins father who had attempted to learn when he was a boy and now it would be the first of many guitars for his son. David would start by learning from a self help book and later convince his father to get him some guitar lessons. His first and most influential teacher was Rob Scavetto. Rob had a Masters Degree in music and played keyboards for Molly Hatchet when they would go on tour. David’s greatest joy in life was his Monday night guitar lesson which he practiced vigorously for all week. He would not hang out with his friends as much and he would not be seen for a whole weekend but the entire house could hear him practice for hours. Things got rough in Jacksonville with David’s home life and it was time to move to Georgia with his mom who has recently written him out of the will because of a song on the Mile Train album, Couch and A Grand, just listen and you’ll get the picture(its all a true or so I’m told). In high school David formed his first attempt at a blues band named Laced Blues which was just that, an attempt. His first successful project was an alternative rock band called Adamson Square (available at cdbaby.com). David and the singer Brian Mac had written an album and recorded it with Eric Shoelin playing on bass and Kevin McDowell hitting on the drums. The album turned out beautifully and everyone thought this ways going to be a hit. But Brian decided that God did not want him to play rock and roll so he quite a month after the release of the album. Why God would want to break up a perfectly good rock band still remains a mystery.
David decided to go back to his roots. He wanted to combine delta blues with hard hitting rock, so he set out to form what eventually would be named Mile Train. The first lineup would be a four piece but ended after the fifth practice. The drummer would be canned for showing up to practice too doped up to play and the singer would get married, need I say more. Eventually he would get David Reddish, a long time drummer and good friend to commit to the vision. Then he would stumble across Bryan Hall playing in a jazz band at a local café on the square in Carrollton Ga. He now spends all his energy and time making Mile Train the best Swamp Rock band in the southeast. David is also a graduate from The Atlanta Institute of Music.
David Reddish aka The Terror From Tallapoosa - Drums
Dave Reddish is a Hard Hitting drummer that brings the pain! He is more than the backbone of Mile Train he is the whole skelleton. He has been playing with Pippin for about five years now and the two play off of each other like Abott and Costello Meet Frankenstien. He first started playing the drums in his home town church and with the high school band. He latter made it to the stage with his "Rock Music" for his first performance at the high school talent show where he realized that he liked the stage and could get use to it. He eventualy moved out to L.A. to try and make a run for the big time but found out it was a hard road to follow so far from home. He ended back up in Tallapoosa Ga. and played around with some local bands until a good friend of his Derick Jiles introduced him to this David Pippin guy who could play the guitar. Reddish pulled up to the square, backed his van up to this run down grungy studio with empty and not so empty beer bottles layed out all over the place and reluctantly unloaded his drumkit. Derick set up his bass rig and with almost no introduction the three began to jam. After the first jam Reddish and Pippin looked at each other and decided that this was the begining of a fall down drunkin, loud as hell and certantanly long and unhealthy relationship. The next day Pippin called up Reddish and asked if he could play a show that weekend and Reddish replied " We haven't even practiced. I have no idea what we are going to play." Then Pippin said "Don't worry about it, you'll do fine, no problem" and they played the gig and it was glorious. They latter on wound up in a band called 3DM with another guy named Dave, hence the 3DM( the M standed for Mark Hendrix who was a hell of a Bass player but some how ended up in Louisiana). Dave Gordon was the lead singer for the band or as they liked to call the masscott. They nick named him fishsticks because there were to many people calling each other David and his last name was Gordon (Gorton Fishsticks). Durring this time Reddish played around with other people but always seemed to end up playing with what ever Pippin cooked up. Now his whole purpose in life other than his number one daughter Natalie, is to make that which is Mile Train PLEASE THE GODS OF ROCK!
Bryan Hall Aka "Whiesenheimer" - Bass
Bryan Hall is the “outside the box” bass player. His playing is nothing less than eccentric, artistic but mostly brilliant. He will be graduating the University of West Georgia in December of 2008 with a degree in music. During his college career he has played in many bands including the UWG jazz band. Bryan has been a part of the music scene at West Georgia sense he arrived. He has played in almost every style of band ranging from jazz to rock. Bryan’s father Jack has been a big inspiration ever since Bryan first saw him play with his Uncle Jimmy in Wet Willie. Along with Mile Train Bryan also plays in a progressive rock band called “We Are Something And Nothing”. They are a wonderful mix of Americana, jazz and hard rock. They're a pleasure to listen to and put on a great show
Todd Farmer Aka "The Mad Man" - Drums
Todd is the newest member of the band and has already played a handful of shows with us. We first saw him playing with a group called homemade jam and he instantly became one of our favorites. He is an extreme talent on the drums and over all musically gifted. His stage presence will have you mesmerized with the first stick toss. We decided to ask Todd to play with us the moment we heard that he was no longer playing with Homemade Jam. Reddish was unable to play shows during the week so Todd was the perfect solution. He stepped in with amazing professionalism. He learned all the songs immediately and our first show went off without a hitch. If the music world had half as many people as talented and professional as Todd Farmer, musicians would not have the less than perfect reputation that we do.
Just some covers we do
Mile Train Covers
The Allman Brothers Band
• Jessica
• One Way Out
• Whipping Post
• Elizabeth Reed
• You Don’t Love Me
• Melissa
• Midnight Rider
Robert Johnson
• Me and The Devil Blues
• Stop Breakin Down
• When You Got a Good Thang
• Cross Roads
The Band
• Cripple Creek
CCR
• Born On The Bayou
B.B. King
• How Blue Can You Get
• Sweet Little Angel
Freddie King
• Going Down
• Five Long Years
Muddy Waters
• I Got My Mojo Working
The Black Crowes
• Remedy
• She Talks To Angels
• Hard To Handle
Gov’t Mule
• Soul Shine
Sublime
• What I Got
The Greatful Dead
• Franklins Tower
Mile Train Covers Continued…..
Led Zeppellin
• Ocean
• Hey Hey
Joe Cocker
• Feeling Alright
Marshal Tucker
• Can’t You See
Jimi Hendrix
• All Along The Watch Tower (Dylan)
• Purple Haze
• Voodoo Chile
Bob Dylan
• Knocking on Heaven’s Door
The Rolling Stones
• Gimme Shelter
• Sympathy for the Devil
Dick Dale
• Miserlou
Cream
• Sunshine of Your Love
• Cross Roads (revised)
SRV
• The House Is a Rocking
• Pride and Joy
Johnny Cash
• Folsom Prison Blues
Herby Hancock
• Chameleon
Jazz Standards done with an edge
• Foot Prints
• Afro-Blue
• So What