Meet the Band!
Dave Hughes (bass & vocals) is a 1980 graduate of Berklee College of Music. He has played in several Baltimore-area bands since 1972, including the electric fusion act, Jazz Happens, in the 1990s. Dave was also a member of the celebrated American progressive rock group, Oblivion Sun (formerly Happy The Man) from 2009 until disbandment in 2015. Dave lives in Glyndon, MD, and plays with model trains to his heart’s content.
Originally from Queens NY, Sean Myers (vocals & guitar) is a veteran of the NY and MD band scene. “When I was six,” Sean says, “I stole a broken guitar out of the back of my big brother’s closet and nothing’s been the same since….” Sean is an award-winning songwriter who sings with soul and feeling. His previous band, “Junkyard Blonde,” was a regular player on the Annapolis circuit. The album Sean penned, “Stripped For Parts,” is still being streamed by loyal fans. In his real life, Sean is a master Electrician and runs his own contracting company. In his free time, he builds acoustic guitars in a ridiculously small workshop.
Topher Sisson (guitar) is a native son of Baltimore. After studying classical guitar at Towson University for a couple semesters, he was contemplating transferring to the Peabody Conservatory when he attended a Pink Floyd concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion, (Dark Side of the Moon Tour). Of this experience, he says, “When I heard David Gilmour play the guitar solo on ‘Money’ I pretty much decided to move to California and play Rock and Roll instead.”
For 12 years, Topher did studio work and performed with various bands in California’s Bay Area and in Los Angeles. He returned to Baltimore in 1989 and resumed his musical life, playing locally with Angie Miller, Harry Traynham, and others. At the same time, he developed a career as a cabinet maker. He continues to work with wood when not working out with his Stratocaster.
In his twenties, Ron Tanner was a professional drummer on the California honky-tonk and the Nevada casino circuits. He also performed with the all-originals rock band, Indiscreet. He left drumming for grad school in 1984 but returned to music years later, founding Jazz Caravan, a popular, straight-ahead jazz band that has been performing in the Baltimore metro area since 1997. When not drumming, he runs an educational non-profit writer’s retreat.
Whether it's a piano, Fender Rhodes, synthesizer, or a church organ, if it has a keyboard, there's a good chance that Chris Warrington (vocals & keys) has played it. "Amps211 is the first band I've played in since the late 1980s,” he observes, “and I'm just loving every minute of it. These guys are top-notch musicians, and all-around good people." Chris's biggest piano influences are Bruce Hornsby, Elton John, and the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel, but he strives to bring an authenticity to whatever the song needs whether it's Hammond organ or a horn section. Chris lives in Reisterstown, MD, with his wife, Melissa, and works full-time as a music director at a church in Bethesda, MD.