Nothing speaks to him more than letting loose with music.

Mr. David Milavickas has been teaching at Mount Carmel for over seven years now and is also a retired football coach. He teaches math but also guitar classes for students who are learning to play or have already been experienced with playing.
He started playing the guitar at age six. His father bought his mom a guitar as a gift, but his mom never really played as much as she liked to, so Mr. Milavickas would take any chance he could get to fiddle around with it and practice.
“My mom took me for lessons, and I liked it so I stuck with it,” he says. “She brought me to a guy that taught classical style stuff. I got to a point where I was in seventh grade and I didn’t want to play that type of music anymore. I wanted to be in a rock band.”
Mr. Milavickas was a huge fan of the band Rush. He would listen to Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Ted Nugent as well. As he started to grow older he found his true passion for blues, with Steve Ray Vaughan being one of his favorite artists.
As a kid Milavickas had a buddy that played guitar with him, but nothing ever really materialized out of it. From freshman through junior year, Milavickas would get with different groups of people to try and form a band, but nothing ever really stuck. As a senior Milavickas found a group known as The Vagabonds.
“We played at a lot of parties, at school, and a couple times a month,” he says. “Now I’m just more or less working on my own sound. It’s funny, I’ve been playing for a long time and I’m still learning.”
Milavickas started to play on a professional level when he got out of college. Eventually, he would get married, have kids, and become a football coach. “I went for a couple of years where I didn’t even touch my guitar. Now I play every day.”

Mr. Milavickas also faced having his finger damaged from football. Although this was a contributing factor to him not being able to play he still found a way to work around the obstacle.
As soon as Milavickas got done coaching football, he immediately joined a band. He goes by the stage name “Big Mili.” As of now, their lead singer has quit because of Covid, and the band has no choice but to look for a new front man. Milavickas plays lead guitar and is capable of singing to fill in that position. The band plays multiple genres. “We play classic rock, but we’ve also had some country in there.”
Mr. Milavickas sees playing guitar as a creative outlet. He’s able to express himself whether it be a sad song or a happy song. Playing on stage opens a new door for his thoughts to run free while he lets the music speak for itself. Nothing makes Mr. Milavickas happier than getting on stage and playing his heart out, and for a guitarist that’s all that matters.