 Early version of the Jackson Wheeler Band prior to White Cap. Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Clark Mitchell and Dale Evans. |  Early version of the Jackson Wheeler Band prior to White Cap. Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Clark Mitchell. |
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 Early version of the Jackson Wheeler Band prior to White Cap. Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Clark Mitchell and Dale Evans. |  Early version of the Jackson Wheeler Band prior to White Cap. Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Clark Mitchell and Dale Evans. |
 Early version of the Jackson Wheeler Band prior to White Cap. Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Clark Mitchell and Dale Evans. |  Early version of the Jackson Wheeler Band prior to White Cap. Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell |
 Early version of the Jackson Wheeler Band prior to White Cap. Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell |  Early version of the Jackson Wheeler Band prior to White Cap. Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell |
 Early version of the Jackson Wheeler Band prior to White Cap. Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell |  White Cap Band Live early 1970's. Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Clark Mitchell, Raymond Fail and Roger Padgett. |
 White Cap Band Live early 1970's. Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Roger Padgett, Clark Mitchell and Raymond Fail. |  White Cap band live 1977. — with Jim Dreyfuss, Clark Mitchell, Roger Padgett and Raymond Fail. |
 Early days - Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Clark Mitchell. |  Early days, this is one of the very few local guitarists that I wish I could have had the opportunity to perform with! - Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Raymond Fail. |
 Roger Padgett and Raymond Fail early live performance. |  Roger Padgett and Raymond Fail camping fall of 1979 |
 Equipment - Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell |  Live performance - Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Roger Padgett and Clark Mitchell. |
 Live performance - Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Roger Padgett and Clark Mitchell. |  Live performance - Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Roger Padgett and Clark Mitchell. |
 Live performance - Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Terry Collins and Raymond Fail. |  Live performance - Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Clark Mitchell and Raymond Fail. |
 Live performance - Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Clark Mitchell and Raymond Fail. |  Live performance - Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell |
 Live performance - Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell |  White Cap early live performance. — with Clark Mitchell and Raymond Fail. |
 Recording sessions for Lost Days release. — with Roger Padgett and Clark Mitchell. |  Recording sessions for Lost Days release. — with Roger Padgett and Clark Mitchell. |
 Recording sessions for Lost Days release. — with Raymond Fail. |  2000 live performance. — with Clark Mitchell and Roger Padgett. |
 2000 live performance. — with Clark Mitchell and Roger Padgett. |  2000 live performance. — with Clark Mitchell. |
 2000 live performance. — with Christopher Herbert. |  2000 live performance. — with Christopher Herbert. |
 2000 live performance. — with Roger Padgett. |  2000 live performance. — with Christopher Herbert, Clark Mitchell, Roger Padgett and Raymond Fail. |
 2000 live performance. — with Roger Padgett, Terry Collins and Raymond Fail. |  Live performance. Christopher Herbert, Clark Mitchell, Bobby Varnadoe, Roger Padgett, Raymond Fail. |
 White Cap live. — with Bobby Varnadoe. |  White Cap live. — with Bobby Varnadoe. |
 White Cap live. — with Bobby Varnadoe. |  White Cap live. — with Christopher Herbert. |
 White Cap live. — with Raymond Fail. |  White Cap live. — with Raymond Fail. |
 White Cap live acoustic set. — with Roger Padgett, Clark Mitchell and Raymond Fail. |  White Cap late band lineup. — with Clark Mitchell, Bobby Varnadoe, Raymond Fail, Roger Padgett and Christopher Herbert. |
 Photo courtesy of Kyle Mitchell — with Roger Padgett, Clark Mitchell and Raymond Fail. |  Show poster 1998. |
 2000 release "Lost Days" |  "Lost Days" insert photo sheet. — with Clark Mitchell, Bobby Varnadoe, Christopher Herbert, Raymond Fail and Roger Padgett. |
When I first got the idea to start a Facebook page dedicated to bands I had been involved with throughout my life I had no clue it would spread to a concept of all artists and bands from our state of South Carolina. Once I had successfully arranged and posted my few personal bands the thought came a creepin’ cross’ my mind that it would be cool to also include a few other bands I had grown up with so I made myself a five band short list. One of those bands on that short list was the White Cap band who had been performing around Calhoun County since I was in High school. I remember hearing about what great players the band had in it’s ranks, the great live performances, the impressive and versatile cover song list and yes, the original songs. As time went on the White Cap band recorded, disbanded, regrouped to record again only to disband in final resolve all without me really getting to know them or acquire copies of anything representing their body of work.
Now some thirty plus years later Kyle Mitchell, the Son of founding member Clark Mitchell discovered my website and sent me an email asking the question – “why isn’t White Cap on your site?” to which I replied “would love to have them but I got nothin’ to put up for them”. Just so happens Kyle has kept copies of the original recordings and some pictures plus he has managed to provide me with some back story to the band so between the two of us we have put together a showcase for this band. We hope you enjoy it and appreciate the talent that was the White Cap band.
The original White Cap band lineup included Riley Warren on drums, Roger Padgett on rhythm guitar and vocals, Clark Mitchell on bass and vocals, Raymond Fail on lead guitar, and a female member that played the flute, probably Elizabeth Hutto at that time. At some point around 1992 or 1993 John Murray began drumming for the band and the female member left.
A cassette tape was recorded at the Jam Room in Columbia, SC to be used both as a release and as a promotional tool to acquire show bookings. With John Murray on drums, Roger Padgett on rhythm guitar and vocals, Clark Mitchell on bass and vocals, and Raymond Fail on lead guitar. A few years after that, around 1997 or 1998, (there could have been a hiatus from playing in between this point), Chris Herbert took over rhythm guitar and Roger Padgett focused more on vocals. John Murray then moved to Tega Cay, NC with his family and new drummer Bobby Varnadoe who was friends with Chris began playing with them.
This led to the “Lost Days” album which was released in 2000. Recorded and engineered by Pete Kogler at his home studio the sessions included the following line up. Bobby Varnadoe on drums, Chris Herbert on rhythm guitar, Clark Mitchell on bass and vocals, Roger Padgett on vocals, and Raymond Fail on lead guitar. The band played a few gigs here and there after the release, often times with varying lineups, until finally disbanding.
Band Members:
Clark Mitchell – Vocals, Bass
Roger Padgett – Vocals, Guitar
Raymond Fail – Guitar
Chris Herbert - Guitar
Bobby Varnadoe – Drums
Past Members:
Jim Dreyfuss - Vocals, Guitar
Jim Sharpe - Vocals, Drums
Riley Warren - Drums
John Murray - Drums