The members of Pitts and the Vipers have made music together before. Ryan Pitts, Nick Frye, David Miklos and Kevin Sanders began making music together in junior high as Bonneville. Eventually the celebrated Dayton group disbanded and the individual members went on to college, jobs and families.
For Ryan Pitts, that meant a 13-year hiatus from playing music, but that changed in 2020 during the pandemic.
"I started making, like, acoustic cover videos for fun and started posting those. I started writing some songs, and I wanted to make another video, but I wanted it to be an original song. So I texted Nick and was like, 'Hey, man, would you want to play some drums in this video?' And, you know, then it turned into, 'Well, let's get David on the bass,'" said Pitts.
The result is a reunion of sorts, but under a new name. Pitts and the Vipers are based in Columbus and released their self-titled album at the start of 2025.
"I feel like it just kind of has fallen into place," said Miklos. "When we started playing together, it was kind of like riding a bicycle. We played together for so long, you know."
"We grew up together. None of us have brothers, and we all just have that connection. And there's just something different when the four of us are in a room together, on stage together. It's just a different energy. And I feel like it just takes us right back to where we were," said Frye.
Pitts and the Vipers are using both their longterm musical bonds and what they've learned separately as adults as they forge ahead as a band.
"I feel like we're definitely more intentional in the songwriting process," said Pitts. "You know, obviously I wrote the ten songs, the basics of them, but we structured them as a band and critiqued them and, you know, having the whole band is what really made each song, I think, great."
"We didn't really settle. I feel like in the past with Bonneville sometimes we would. You know, just somebody would bring an idea to practice and we wanted to have a song so bad that we would just kind of like structure it without really giving it as much thought as maybe we should have. And now, you know, we're just focusing on the songs a lot more and trying to hone our craft in that regard," said Miklos.
"I don't take it for granted as much," said Frye. "Just being able to have the opportunity to play again while we're still able to. We've all had a lot of things happen in recent years that have just been really difficult. So I think it kind of shows up with how we're playing our music, how we're writing music."
Pitts and the Vipers will perform at A&R Music bar in Columbus on February 20 with Susto and Rose Hotel.
