band membership

1987: Trash Matinee (with Danny Sidlow, Phillip Sidlow, Matt Gillis)  
?-1989: The 45's (with Barrie Maguire and Luther Russell)  
1989-1991: The Apples 
1991-1995: The Wallflowers 
1995(?)-1999: Maypole (with Hans Hitner, Miiko Watanabe, Hugh Mangum, Chris (Evan) Frankfort)  

personal/professional history

Tobi Miller met Jakob Dylan in when they were in the 5th grade. As their newfound friendship grew, a shared facination for music, especially British punk bands such as The Clash and The Jam, inspired them to begin playing music together. The friendship and their facination for music would prove be lasting.

By the late '80s Tobi was part of a group called “Trash Matinee”, a band that centered around the brothers, Danny and Phillip Sidlow. Tobi Miller and Matt Gillis rounded out the group. In 1987 they put out a self-titled EP (which also featured Jakob Dylan co-writing one tune and playing guitar on another). The album was produced by Mark Nine, a local musician/producer/promoter who taught guitar to the Sidlow brothers, as well as Jakob and several of the Dylan siblings.

It wasn't long until Jakob and Tobi formed their own band. "The Bootheels", as they called themselves, consisted of 17-year-old Tobi Miller on guitar, Jakob Dylan on guitar, Luther Russell on bass and vocals (who would later go on to form The Freewheelers) and Aaron Brooks on drums. The group stuck mainly to the garage but did have a few gigs in west Hollywood clubs in 1988.

When Jakob Dylan left for College in the fall of 1988, Tobi formed a group called “The 45's” along with former Bootheel Luther Russell . One night at a bar in West Hollywood he met Barrie Maguire (who would become the Wallflowers first bass player), a guitar player who had moved to L.A. from Philadelphia, looking to join a band. Barrie had recently bought a bass to experiment with, so when Tobi told him The 45's were looking for a bass player, Barrie took the challenge.

Later that year, Jakob Dylan contacted Tobi from New York. College wasn't working out as he had planned and they talked about him returning to Los Angeles and forming a new band. When the 45's broke up in 1989, Tobi hooked up with Jakob again. With the addition of Barrie Maguire playing bass, Peter Yanowitz on drums and Rami Jaffee, a local and much sought-after organ/piano player, the band was complete. They called themselves the Apples.

It wasn't long before Virgin Records took interest in the band and they were signed to the label, putting out their self-titled debut in August 1992. Tobi played lead guitar on the album and is credited with co-writing on the song “After the Blackbird Sings”. Rolling Stone reviewed the album and noted Tobi's contributions, “With a guitar-organ-piano attack echoing the Band and a production recalling The Basement Tapes, the album's rootsy sensibility, in this age of MIDI, seems almost classical in its purity--and the expert offhandedness of the young guns, especially keyboardist Rami Jaffee and guitarist Tobi Miller, rivals that of veterans.” (Rolling Stone 10.92)

The band set out on tour to promote the album for most of 1992 and into the Spring of 1993, opening for acts such as 10,000 Maniacs, The Spin Doctors and Cracker. They also headlined some shows on their own.

Tobi explained his experience of the early incarnation of The Wallflowers and the group dynamics to Album Network 9/11/92.

On Peter Yanowitz joining the band:
“We played with maybe 15,000 drummers before we met Peter. At least 15,000! He was definitely the most solid, and personality-wise, he fit right in with the band. He's always got a smile on his face. But let me just say right now that we fight a lot, too – the whole band. Me and Peter hated each other for a long time, and that kept the band from coming together for a few months, but now we're like brothers – we fight like cats and dogs."

Tobi also complimented Barrie's talents:
"Barrie's got a really great sense of arrangement and he works off the melody very well, which is all you can hope for in a bass player, he's pretty amazing at that.”

And, Tobi noted that Rami's talents inspired him:
"I find it hard sometimes to actually play with this band. Everything sounds so good, I'm not sure I should play at all. But then I'll look at Rami (keyboard player Rami Jaffee) and he'll inspire me and something great will come out."

Shortly after Rami joined the group, the band changed its name to “The Wallflowers”. Tobi explains: “We're pretty much shy people –this interview is pretty hard to deal with right now. Also, it's a name that's not in anyone's face, and there's something to be said about that. It's a subtle name." ( Album Network 9.11.92)

When they returned home there was a shakeup at Virgin and they lost the two contacts that had originally been interested in the band's talent. The album wasn't a huge seller and the band soon felt that Virgin had lost interest in them. In addition, Virgin began trying to use the Dylan name to sell records— a tactic the band, refused to cater to. Eventually they asked to be let out of their contract. Virgin agreed, and they left in the summer of 1993. Unfortunately, the word got around that the band was “difficult” which led to almost a year of disinterest from the record companies. The uncertainty of the situation also led to original band members leaving for other pursuits.

Finally, in 1994 the Wallflowers were signed to Interscope Records and the band assembled in the recording studio once again. But before the album was completed, Tobi left the band. It was a blow to the group. Jakob commented about Tobi's departure:

“It was kind of a drag, especially when Tobi left. He was who I'd originally started the group with. When Tobi left, it changed the center point of the group for me a little bit. We actually considered changing the name because it was not the same group anymore. But I didn't want to let go of anything I had gained from that first record, even though it wasn't that much.” (San Francisco Chronicle 5.26.96)

Tobi went on to join up with bassist Miiko, drummer Hugh Mangum and eventually Evan (Chris) Frankfort, to form Slue Foot Sue, an instrumental group that would soon evolve into Maypole. Later, Tobi was given a tape by a friend of singer/songwriter Hans Hitner from Tucson. He was so impressed with it that he called Hans immediately and asked him to move to L.A. to join the band. The newly formed band, with Hans as vocalist/songwriter, set out to record their first album.

The bands of Tobi's youth, The Stones, The Replacements, The Clash, and Rocket from the Crypt, coupled with Hans' punk background helped to achieve Maypole's unique sound. But it wasn't until Tobi asked Patrick Warren to play the chamberlain on the record (an early version of the sampler) that the sound he was looking for was complete.

The album Product was released in July of 1997. The band set out on the road to promote it, opening for The Wallflowers for dates in November, December and May 1997. Credits on the album include Wallflower's bassist Greg Richling (bass) and Wallflowers' manager Andrew Slater (Executive Producer). Tobi played guitar as well as produced and engineered the album.

In March 1999 the band changed their name to New Low and made some changes to their line up. Dave Dyas (guitar) and John Lacques (drums) joined original members Miiko Watanabe (bass) and Hans Hitner (guitar, lead vocals), while Tobi Miller focused on production, recording and mixing for several tracks on their new EP "Love, Misery and Guitars". Visit the New Low website for more info: newlow.com

The switch to the production chair would become a comfortable one for Tobi. In the next few years he would have credits for engineering, mixing and production with bands such as Korn, George Thorogood, The Martinis, Colony and Tony Iommi. In addition, Tobi worked with the band Adema in the role of co-producer (with his production partner Bill Appleberry). Adema's album hit the shelves in August 2001 to rave reviews from the post-grunge/punk market. Visit Adema Online for more info

In 2001 things came full circle when Tobi had the chance to work with his old friend Jakob again, this time in the role of co-producer on the Wallflowers' latest recording. Along with his partner Bill Appleberry, Tobi and the Wallflowers are currently in the studio working on The Wallflowers' 4th release. In a recent fan Q & A on the band's official website, drummer Mario Calire had this to say about Tobi and Bill's involvement. "Tobi and Bill are really great guys to work with and they really care about making this album as great as it can possibly be. They work as a team and take turns engineering, recording, and producing. They also share the same house and Tobi has a small hairless dog named Mr. Foo. Bill used to be in the Marines, so don't mess with him. We are really enjoying the process and getting a lot done."