Knoxville group readies its debut ahead of March release
By Sam Hastings
In order for a band to be significant, immense effort must be demonstrated by all of its collective members. If done correctly, listeners should be able to grasp a feeling that only those members could produce through their own specific catalog of music.
And that’s exactly what Knoxville’s Milk Man & The Big Band is trying to do. The 16-piece band has an impact on those who listen to them, as that was the original goal bandleader Dino Nassios, aka Milk Man, had in mind when he formed this group. His dream and overall goal were to make a record. When he saw Paul McCartney play live in 2017, he was inspired to do just that by writing songs and having recordings including complex instrumentation.
“The original idea of forming this group was to use it as a vehicle for finding people to play on my music in the studio,” explains Nassios. “Then I realized, by turning the concept into a full-on band with a mission, it’d be far easier to get people to stick around to record an entire album.”
This concept proceeded into an interesting open-mic gig with friends at The Open Chord on Kingston Pike in June 2021. “We played one show as a gag,” Nassios recalls. “I didn’t think I could be a live performer, but we decided to be a band then and there.
“By keeping a band together under a name,” he adds, “it’d be far easier to pull off recording my solo project.”
Now, Milk Man & The Big Band are soon to release their first record. “Let Me Tell You,” the group’s 13-song debut LP, will be released on all streaming platforms, as well as on CD and vinyl, on Friday, March 22.
“I really wanted to do CD and vinyl because that’s how ‘real’ albums, by my heroes, were distributed,” Nassios says regarding the mediums through which listeners can access the album. “There’s something special about sitting down and reading the liner notes while the record spins. I think it’ll be especially special for people in Knoxville to know they’re listening to something made in their backyard. This needs to be heard by people because there’s a lot of love in it.”
The group’s first single, “Hammurabi’s Pad,” was released in January 2023, followed by “Tired” in September and “Nothing Seems to Bother Me” the next month. All three singles and some live material received extensive plays on local college radio station WUTK 90.3, which gave the band members proper time to simmer with local listeners. “The fact that they reached out to us and showed interest and wanted to support us in any way they could meant a lot,” says Nassios about his relationship with the station and those who tune in to it. “I’m just happy that my hometown has my back.”
Nassios hints that his Milk Man persona has been in development for some time now, and it is not just an idealized representation of an individual who probably has much stronger bones than everyone else. “I always imagine it as a Donald Fagen persona,” Nassios says. “Cool, calm and in control of the ensemble. Bandleader.”
Despite not being classically trained, Nassios is fully immersed in the world of his favorite bands and musical heroes.
“I’m the weakest link, classically speaking,” he acknowledges. “I can’t really read notation other than rhythms. When I started this, I would take anybody I could find. Now I’m to the point where I’m fortunate to be able to pick and choose who I want to involve myself with.
“Some of these guys are at UT, and they want to be professional musicians. Despite being on a higher musical level than me, they understand that I have something to offer. We’re doing something different from everybody else, and we have the skills to do it. We’ve got good songs and good people.”
Nassios was attending Pellissippi State Technical Community College when he met Rion Tabor, his main collaborator and arranger of the band’s orchestration. “He contacted me and asked if I wanted to come play some music with him, so I went,” Tabor says. “We played some music and have just been partners ever since. When COVID hit, we had nothing else to do but write music, so that’s all we did.”
Tabor creates the horn and string parts around Nassios’ music. “Sometimes, Dino will send me audio files of him singing of what he wants the horns or strings to play in a specific section of a song,” he explains. “I take that audio and transcribe it as close as possible, and then I harmonize it to make the idea sound more full and complete.”
With Nassios, Tabor hit the ground running, and he could enjoy the process of creating music with a friend. The addition of Kyle Brooks on electric bass guitar and Sydney Warren on alto and tenor saxophone brought about some fresh changes to the ensemble. Nassios met Brooks at the group’s third show ever. Brooks, who is in another local group called Red Zephyr with Warren, helped connect the two.
“A lot of different people have joined this band for a lot of different reasons,” Brooks says. “Especially being in this group compared to other groups where there’s not as many people. We have to find a middle ground because of that. Communicating with each other and making sure that we all have the same cohesive goal.”
Warren had own his reasoning for why he wanted to join.
“They were looking for a saxophone player,” he says. “And I needed some more music outlets at the time. It seemed like a decent way to blow off some steam and play my horn. I was also trying to expand my experience with music mixing and editing and helping with overall production on an album. That was something that I figured out I could do there, as well. So, I agreed to play saxophone in the band but also help Dino start recording a record. Dino and I both discovered that was something that we could do.”
While Warren managed the mixing and mastering of the record, drummer Paul Coley oversaw the live aspect, the group’s in-ear monitor mixes. “It can be kind of hectic at times, getting that dialed in,” he says. “It’s something I wasn’t doing a lot before I joined this group. As far as drumming goes, I just like to sit in the pocket. I get a little rowdy sometimes.”
Everyone in the lineup contributes. Guest musicians are called up from time to time. One such guest is guitarist Aiden Lamb, also known as The Analog Kid from his own local musical ventures, as well as from his time spent on bass with Connor Kelly & The Time Warp.
“I come in and offer my stylistic characteristics and traits, having to meet somewhere in the middle with Dino and the rest of the band,” Lamb explains. “I think just the collective fusion of everybody’s personalities, all sort of underneath this umbrella of, obviously, Dino kind of driving the boat. He does a really good job of putting people where they need to be. It all comes together in sort of a good homogeneous mix. He’s like the maker of the puzzle, and all I have to do is just be the best piece of that puzzle that I can be.”
Another guest is guitarist David Alan, frontman of his own group, The Shaydes, as well as the rhythm guitarist for SkyWay 61. He offers his take on what makes this group different.
“Dino is a perfectionist, and it’s something that I really respect as a musician,” he says. “Getting all these people in the room at once, doing it consecutively. I mean, I’ve been in other bands where I can’t do that with three or four people.
“So the fact that he’s able to do this with all of these people is amazing. I was there when they were writing it, and we made those parts together. I’m very happy to be there in support and also be able to go and play whatever I’m playing.”
Milk Man & The Big Band will release their first studio record, “Let Me Tell You,” on Friday, March 22. A week later on March 29, Yee-Haw Brewing Co. will host a release show sponsored by WUTK. After that, a full slate of shows, including appearances at the Tennessee Theatre, Maryville’s Capitol Theatre, The Concourse and Hey Bear Café, will follow. The band also has a couple live radio appearances lined up at Barley’s for WUTK’s “The Six O’Clock Swerve” and WDVX’s “The Big Plate Special.”
For more information on these shows and the upcoming record, or if you would just like to reach out, visit www.milkmanbigband.com, or find the group on social media @milkmanbigband.
