THE MILE TRAIN FAMILY
Mile Train has been mesmerizing and captivating audiences all over the southeast for over a year now. The Mile Train family has grown to an unexpected size that spans from northeast Tennessee to South Florida. Their special home brew of Blues Rock and Jazz has allowed them to reach a wide demographic of listeners. From college crowds and the young hippie movement to the die hard blues fans that frequent the smoky, rustic music halls, Mile Train has had some wonderful success over the past year and a half. They have just finished their second album "Lifted" which is the follow up to their celebrated first album "I'd Rather Feel Bad". Their first album has had great success all over the world selling out at shows and having to send for more stock multiple times to their on-line distributor (cdbaby.com). The venues where they have been playing are no longer considered simple bar and band relationships but home away from home with a built-in family. Here are a list of the clubs were Mile Train is on a regular booking schedule. If you have any questions about the performance or professionalism of the band, please feel free to contact any of the following clubs.
• Pub 280 – Americus, GA
• Bomba’s – Jacksonville, FL
• Fat Daddy’s-Athens, GA
• Calendar’s – MacClenny, FL
• The Swamp- MacClenny, FL
• Rivalry’s – Macon, GA
• Tailgaters-Green Cove Springs, FL
• Jekyll and Hydes-Newnan, GA
• Plates – Carrollton, GA
• New Boy’s Bar and Grill – Tifton, GA
• Darwin’s – Atlanta, GA
• Luby’s – Lawrenceville, GA
• Soho’s – Columbus, GA
• The Shore House - Jacksonville, FL
• Spudz Tavern-Atlanta,GA
• Stix Bar and Grill-Villa Rica, GA
• Sharky’s – Orange Park, FL
• Chill’s – Thomaston, GA
…Just to name a few. You can go on line to our website for a list of more Mile Train bookings at miletrainband.com or visit our myspace page at myspace.com/miletrain
Mile Train: Bio
CHAPTER ONE........ 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.
CHAPTER TWO......... A New Feel
Playing in a Rock Band has its dramatic turns and dynamics. As you may or may not know Mile Trains drummer David Reddish had to give up his position for personal reasons in the winter of 2008. They started to audition new players by late December. And when I say audition I mean “Hello we are Mile Train the gig starts at 9pm tomorrow. I hope you can make it. By the way what is you name again.” After a few good drummers realizing that they could not keep up with Mile Trains extenive schedule Bryan told Pippin about a guy who could “play anything”. So they called him up and like most of there gigs at that time Pippin and Bryan through him in without the first practice. He did a good job but David was looking for perfect which was very unreasonable (like he can be). They did one week of practice after that and played the next week and realized that the new guy was in fact a perfect fit. His name was Kelley Warner and he could play the unholy hell out of the drums. Like Reddish, Kelleys influences were anchored in the progressive metal scene which worked nicely for the band. Kelley started to become not just a replacement but a pivotal moment in Mile Trains sound. They have written new songs, learned new songs and refurbished old songs. Mile Train has evolved into a new animal with no bounds of genre, rhythm, dynamics or melody.
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 of The Atlanta Institute of Music. "I will not die regretful" David Pippin
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
Kelley Warner - Drums
Kelley Warner was raised in a musical family in Douglasville, Georgia,
located thirty miles west of Atlanta. Kelley, along with his father,
brother, and sister, also excels at guitar but, however, remains the sole
percussionist in the Warner household. Kelley, having begun at age seven,
possesses sixteen years of experience in playing the drums. At age eleven
he started to drum in rock groups that lead to his first real gig at the
Darkhorse Tavern in Atlanta at age fourteen. Throughout high school, Kelley
continued to shine in marching band mastering bass, tenor, snare, and
developing his trademark showmanship. He then carried on his evolvement with
percussion at a colligate level as a music major and as a snare drummer on
the University of Georgia Redcoat Drumline. Recently, Kelley embarked on a
Southeastern tour with the heavy metal group End of Days and has also
circuited the south drumming for numerous other bands such as Dead Rites,
and Torrent. Kelley has also recorded with Chicago-based folk artist, Adam
Seltzer and the Revolving Door All-Stars. Currently, when not performing
with the blues rock band, Mile Train, Kelley dedicates his time to private
lessons for drum, guitar, and high school marching band instruction,
possessing six years teaching experience. Kelley’s further interests include:
art, literature, film, martial arts, longboarding, travel, and taking every
opportunity to experience life at its fullest.
Previous Drummers For Mile Train
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!
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.