Easy Riders
Easy Rider creator, front man, and lead guitarist is Mike Miller. While he is a little younger than most in his field, he is not lacking in his extensive knowledge of roots music. He has been rocking his brand of Soul, strong vocals, slide guitar, and Jerry Garcia licks since 2008 and has adapted it to his own style and tone which is rarely emulated. Mike lives every day inundated in music. He has also become a hired gun in the music scene. He works as a hired sub for bands or studio work that needs to be done. He has become one of the most hard working local musicians in the area, playing in 6 different projects and touring all over the country from coast to coast each year. He also hosts a weekly open stage that has successfully been running for many years. Through the years he has covered Legend guitar players such as Jerry Garcia, Frank Zappa, Duane Allman, Jimmy Page, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, John Lennon, George Harrison, and many more.
Aaron Miller (Bass/Vox) is a seasoned veteran of many styles of music and has been a staple in the Peoria scene for years. Performing in groups such as The Creek Road Ramblers and Brainchild, not to mention hosting multiple open stages, Aaron is one of the busiest and most in demand musicians in the area and is a bit of a local legend!
Nick Fairley (Drums) comes from a diverse musical background, having played in Classical, Jazz, Latin, Rock, and Blues ensembles over the years. He’s been steadily backing a number of great projects around the area, catching the eye of all of the heavy hitters on the scene. He frequently performs around Central Illinois as a freelance drummer and percussionist and is also available for private drum instruction.
We are a well rounded and versatile band that can and has played to any setting. We play anything from traditional blues, jazz, bluegrass, gospel, acoustic music, rock, Reggae, Funk, and original music. We host open mics and back bands twice a week back home so we have a laundry list of songs and styles we can perform. With great vocal harmonies, commanding Guitar Slide playing, and Vintage styles from early rock & roll and hall of fame blues to Jerry Garcia. It is music for the Soul!
Notable Achievements:
The Easy Riders have successfully hit the road and played over 100 shows in 2019 and two 30 day tours, including but not limited to:
Being the house band for the VIP tent at their 10th appearance at Summer Camp Music Festival; playing three to four sets over three nights and rubbing elbows with some top touring musicians. Mike, Kid, and Aaron were lucky enough the last three years to play an improvisational one hour set with Victor Wooten and Roosevelt C (The Lee Boys).
The band also spends time touring twice a year. We recently just got back from our Mountains & the Moon tour. We played through Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, & Iowa. Easy Riders played a variety of places from 5 star restaurants to popular local music venues, Brewery’s Hot Springs, Coffee spots, and Historic downtown venues. Things look really promising and and the band has been gaining a lot of traction the past couple of years.
Easy Riders has played events such as Blues Fest in the past, Summer Camp Music Festival (10 years in a row), and have also opened for The Marshall Tucker Band, John Kadlecik Band (Further with members of Grateful Dead). They have also shared the same bill as MOE, Bob Weir, Umphrey’s McGee, Victor Wooten, Oteil Burbridge (Allman Brothers Band & Dead & Co.), The Wailers, and Buddy Guy.
The Easy Riders have continued to be represented on WTIP radio station in Grand Marais, MN. During Spring tour 2019, we made our Roadhouse debut and performed a Live set in studio and an on-air interview.
Years back, Easy Riders were hand selected from this region to represent Peoria, IL for The International Blues Challenge, “Road To Memphis,” and shared a bill with The Johnny Winter Band. In 2016, they were invited to play again at the Peoria Blues & Heritage Music Festival.
In past years for Halloween events, the band has covered The Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia Band, Warren Haynes, Allman Brothers Band, Derek Trucks Band, B.B. King, Joe Cocker, The Beatles, and The Band & Dr. John!
On September 8th, 2017, Easy Riders released their second album “Mountains & the Moon.” This is a 9-track album consisting of new original music. Track 1 “Takin’ the Show on the Road” was featured on 99.9WWCT Local Music Showcase. You can find both albums on Apple iTunes and on Spotify and all streaming sites!
In October of 2019, On the road again Fall tour. Easy Riders recorded a live disc in Idaho called the “Yellowstone Cabin Sessions.” Most songs were recorded live with a few takes and a handful were tracked out. This bootleg album was released in December of 2019 and is available now on iTunes and streaming sites!
We are very proud that we just finished up our US Virgin Island Winter tour in February 2020. We played close to 20 shows from full band, solo, and duo to mashing up a local band (Poet Lounge) with Easy Riders, making us Easy Lounge! We played shows between STT and STJ island. We also contributed money back to the local school with a portion of our merchandise sales. We made a name for ourselves on the islands and will be returning one to two times through peak season!
The Easy Riders hope to see you on the road in 2020!
For questions of booking email: easyridersmusic@gmail.com
Peoria Music Live Photos
