The year was 1985 and the time was Hard Rock and Roll. The ?Techno? scene was still elite and underground, the ?Punk? scene was very small but present, and ?Country? hadn?t seen Garth Brooks yet. The stage was set for up-and-coming musicians to be drawn to providing what their own Rock and Roll heroes had for them, a rock show experience for the masses. This became Redline?s goal that was eventually realized, to a good degree, during the band?s nine-year existence.
Where it all began . . It all started with a couple of P.K. Young students that were best friends and started jamming together with a variety of different musicians. While almost out of high school, Brad Burns and Geoff Dunnam had recruited Mark Lowe to sing lead vocals for them but they needed more members to complete the line-up. Enter two transplants from New Jersey, brothers and musicians Mike and Matt Terreri.
Matt is an excellent drummer who inquired about a band forming in Gainesville, from a small plastic ?gig-box? containing index cards with scrawlings from musicians or bands looking for match ups that was at Lipam Music Store. He found one filled out by Brad and Geoff that stated that they were looking for a Rock Drummer. He was invited to ?audition? at a huge empty house out in the country. They all hit it off really well from the beginning and they all seem to have many similar interests, especially musically speaking. I would show up at future practices and had recently switched my talents from playing bass guitar for years, to playing the six-string electric. I found new friends in my new surroundings at a young age. I would tag-along while my brother was adjusting to the band. After practicing together and a couple of gigs, Mark Lowe had to bow out for ?other reasons?
At this point, the band actually ?stole? Steve Combs (Lead Vocalist) from a Gainesville High School band, Glass Hammer. Steve agreed to commit to us, the band wanted to try me out as a second guitarist, and we were off and running. Our first gig was at a P.K. Young homecoming; we did O.K. I guess. Steve had a beautiful voice, was a great guy, and his hero was Robert Plant. Practices would eventually turn into practice/party sessions, with many friends in attendance. Unfortunately, Steve felt the need to move up north, out of state to live near his mother. Tragedy seemed to follow Redline in the Lead Vocalist department for the duration of the band?s existence. Steve was deceased at a young age due to complications from an automobile accident that occurred while he was visiting on vacation back in Gainesville.
Finding and keeping a good lead vocalist proved to be a challenge that consumed a lot of the band?s resources. Remember this was at a time before there was any ?Internet.? After auditioning about twenty singers over a ten-month period, from all over the US, an ad was answered by Jeff Mullins who had just moved to Gainesville from Ohio and was a couple of years older than us. Jeff seemed to have a ?professional? attitude about him that made us feel that as long as this guy can sing, he?s in! Jeff caught on quick, developed a stage presence, and focused on being a team player for the band. About this time, we had graduated from just playing parties to getting legitimate gig bookings at night clubs, our first being what was ?First And Main? (formerly Panama Jacks, The Crab House, Gruv, Element). Getting a booking at the old, infamous ?Dubs? nightclub was a short-term goal of ours. The pounding sound permeating the brick walls outside, and the lines of attendees lined up, down the sidewalk waiting to get in to see the rock show and party with other people; this was the scene that was becoming attractive at the time. After we achieved that, we wanted more. The twin guitar work, the stage show, large music repertoire, odd and cool happenings that we experienced together, the fans, and our camaraderie, coupled with our new-found musical tightness, had us definitely experiencing a purpose to be involved in. We did not stop holding the parties, despite our increasingly busy nightclub schedule. At one of the popular ?West Farms? parties, we sold over 3,000 entry tickets and had a person count (with an odometer) over a mile of cars lined on both sides of Archer road. The [!@#$%&*!] Sheriff?s Office was becoming more intolerant of what they considered excessive under-aged drinking and disturbance of the peace. The more parties we held, the earlier the cops would shut us down. After a while, we would play on the other side of Archer road at the famous Mark McConnell Jam events. Mark was from Mr. Whoopie, Axe, Blazers, Madame X, and Sebastian Bach fame. When it got to the point of the cops ?mowing down? the audience with K-9 units, we slowed down on the parties; Harvest Fest was still years off. We even tried to out-smart the law by holding parties at rented-out American Legion Halls, serving only non-alcaholic beverages. They even managed to shut us down there too! As for the club scene, we took it as far as a local band could go with it, including opening act gigs for Foghat, Molly Hatchet, Humble Pie, Madame X, Stranger, and probably hundreds of other local bands.
Now we had differences with Jeff Mullins and we were setting new and bigger goals. We had the experience of hooking up with Mark Seager, a UF Gator first-string defensive linebacker with about a four-octave voice! We immediately clicked and utilized Mark?s Queensryche-like vocals to concoct a harder-edged show. With pyrotechnics, lasers, and dry ice, we took out loans, bought more equipment, had copy-written original songs, shot a video, hired a sound man (Butch Wise), light man (Paul Campbell), band manager (Dave ?Vern? Campbell), bought a 26-foot used U-Haul truck and, through three different booking agents, hit the road, traveling up and down the east coast gigging all the way. There?s even an inside story (one of many) of the way we got framed in Georgia in an auto accident. After returning from months and months of gigging on the road, Mark decided he was too stressed to continue. I then left the band to pursue other endeavors, and they continued on-and-off-again with Mark Seager as the lead vocalist. My brother Matt continued for about a year with the band after I quit. He became acquainted with Stan Lynch of Tom Petty?s Heartbreakers and moved to L.A. to join a signed band that Stan had laid the drums down for. I should mention here that the list is too long to list everyone that I am grateful for helping us, but particularly Mark Pinske (of Frank Zappa fame), Jeff Sims (Dixie Desperados, Sims Music and Sound), and all of the parents of the band members, HERE?S A SPECIAL THANKS TO YOU! Unfortunately, the second tragedy struck when vocalist Mark Seager was killed in an automobile accident in Jacksonville, FL at a young age.
I have very cool memories about my experiences with this project and all the people, parents, friends, and others involved that helped keep the wheels greased and rolling. This motivated me enough to write this article because I was there and can tell you how it was in a way that the newspapers and the fliers couldn?t. This band was how I basically ?cut my teeth? in the school of Rock and Roll and has kept the fire alive and well within me. Maybe it?s just me, but it seemed music was really active and important in Gainesville during those years. Someday you might see me out there again I hope. Until then thanks for enduring the article and being interested in keeping music alive.
Written by Mike Terreri December, 2001