Roger Clark Miller

Roger at the MC Escher Museum in Amsterdam.

1. THE TRINARY SYSTEM:  May 8 at TT the Bear’s Place, Cambridge, MA. 
The Trinary System was formed to draw attention to Miller’s BIG STEAM 45.  That song plus new and older material (and a few covers) will complete the set.  They are preparing for a next recording session.  (No Mission of Burma songs will be performed…)
Miller on guitar and vocal, Larry Dersch (Binary System/Big Steam) on drums, and P. Andrew Willis on bass and vocal .
The band plans to take no prisoners.  What would be the fun of that?
Video for Big Steam, featuring Larry Dersch on drums.

The Band EULA will be opening for the Trinary System.  They’ve opened for Burma a number of times.

2.  Sproton Layer, the Miller Brothers’ band from 1969-1971, has added three more shows.
Sproton Layer is not neo-psychedelic – they are psychedelic.  Roger on bass and vocals, Benjamin on guitar and vocals, and Laurence on drums.  Trumpeter Steve Smith (just off a couple gigs blowing w/Burma) will handle the trumpet duties.  The band’s last concert was 43 years ago.
Their album “With Magnetic Fields Disrupted”, recorded in 1970 and released in 2010 on World in Sound Records, has garnered high reviews from psych-heads who’ve listened.
           Michael Azerrad described their recordings in his book OUR BAND COULD BE YOUR LIFE: “…a valuable document of an amazing band that sounded like Syd Barrett fronting Cream.”
          June 2013 Michigan dates confirmed:

Fri., June 14: The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor.
Sat., June 15: PJs Lager House, Detroit
          July 2013 East Coast dates confirmed:

Thurs., July 25: TT the Bear’s, Cambridge, MA
Fri., July 26: Mercury Lounge, NYC
Sat., July 27: Flywheel, Northampton, MA

3.  Mission of Burma‘s recent 3-day jaunt southward was good American fun.  First time we ever played Baltimore – and worth every second!  The band is currently solidifying an 8-day European trip for early July.

4.  Alloy Orchestra, the silent film accompanying trio with Miller on keyboard and two junk-metal percussionists, is performing all over the map as usual.  Special notice goes for our 7-day visit to the Ukraine in May.  See you there!

Moonrise over White Sands National Monument, New Mexico.

In January 2013 Miller was asked to review the book DISCORD: A HISTORY OF NOISE for the Wall Street Journal.  On Sat., Feb.16 his review appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

Even more curious, SPROTON LAYER (1969-1970) will REFORM this June in Michigan!   Three original members with the roving 4th member replaced.  (Sound familiar?)

Fri., June 14: The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Sat., June 15: PJs Lager House, Detroit, Michigan
Boston and New York shows planned for July.

The band will most likely play a healthy dose of “With Magnetic Fields Disrupted” as well as material from their next album, “Press Your Hand and the Whole Room Fluctuates”, due on World in Sound Records in early 2014.  Their last gig was 43 years ago.

We just finished the Burma UK/Euro tour, and it was more successful than I anticipated (which is good, I’m pretty sure).  Sure, every day had astounding tedium in the van, but it also had moments of transcendence, such as the hills leading out of Zagreb into the Czech Republic, etc. etc. etc.  And of course, the reason one really does this is to play the shows, almost all of which went really well.

A very nice interview with me, covering a lot of territory and Mission of Burma is here in The Quietus:

http://thequietus.com/articles/10882-mission-of-burma-roger-miller-interview

The BLOG I wrote on the Mission of Burma facebook site covers the entire tour:

http://www.facebook.com/BurmaBoston?ref=ts&fref=ts

Burma at Birthdays, London.  Photo by Valerio Berdini.

Alloy Orchestra mid-west tour going just fine – sunny and warm in Omaha, Nebraska and Lawrence, KS.  The mid=west tour of course started in NYC and ends next door to Wash. DC.

In the downtime of driving (and other many many downtimes) I have been inputting my score to “Vines 4 Music”, which incorporates the way vines spread over my garage door.  The way I have interpreted the vines, the composition follows an (definitely!) organic pattern.  This is one of many of my “Nature/Organic” compositions.  Definitely a tip of the hat to John Cage, but I believe that my technique is more about the actual organic order of things than pure randomness.

Of course, I’ve gotten as far as I can on that piece until I print it out at home and look at it, and now I am back to work on my newest composition “Scream Gilgamesh, Scream (Punk Rock Piano Concerto)” for a 12-piece chamber ensemble including soprano and baritone voice as well as electric guitar and synthesizer, besides more usual orchestral instruments.  Over the summer I read 2 or 3 different versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh (and read 2 or 3 versions earlier) to deduce the text/libretto to use.  It’s tricky, of course.  Whether this is too grand of an idea, or will actually kick ass, remains to be seen.  But currently, in the van and hotel lobbies, it is keeping me quite engaged with ideas.

Having an Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout as I wait for the theater to open in Lawrence so we can load in and sound-check.  NOSFERATU tonight, a twisted film.

Big Steam 45 Cover

BIG STEAM b/w DREAM INTERPRETATION, Miller’s second “solo rock 45″, is now out on GOOD ROAD Records.  Copies can be ordered at GOOD ROAD, and the songs can be listened to there as well.  This is GOOD ROAD’s first release, but we can expect many more to come!

The BIG STEAM VIDEO was posted in mid-September, 2012.

Excellent recent interview w/Miller on VICE.com.

Just tweaked a bunch of the pages, getting ready for a big fall touring season.  Sept. it’s Mission of Burma US; Oct./Nov. it’s Alloy Orchestra US; Dec. it’s Burma in Europe.  Heh – then I finish a soundtrack up by early January.  So……. trying to tidy things up in preparation.

I’ve been really happy with the releases I’ve been involved with this year.  UNSOUND is my favorite Burma album since the reformation, by a long shot.  I’ve listened to it more than once start to finish and always end up with a silly grin on my face….  The M2 album is completely different, yet just as satisfying to my ears – more so in some ways because it is so unusual.  Ben and I hope to record another M2 album next year.  And I have a 45 coming out in early Sept. on a new Boston label: GOOD ROAD.  The two tracks feature me on guitar/bass/vocals, with Binary System drummer Larry Dersch holding me in place.  That makes 3 pieces of vinyl this summer, and they all sound great to me on the turntable.  That’s kind of amazing.

I am also working on new compositions in the New England Conservatory direction (see Composer Page).  I am following two different wings of thought in this work: one is rockishly intense, and the other utilizes natural phenomenon to organize music – much more abstract, with a tip of the hat to John Cage.  Exciting.

Alloy learned two new scores this summer and will be performing them all over the US of A this fall.  You might see me in the back of the van with headphones on, composing in my laptop.

Sproton Layer has begun work on our next album titled PRESS YOUR HAND AND THE WHOLE ROOM FLUCTUATES.  Material is from 1969-1971.  Hoping to get it out in 2013.

And the rain is falling gently here in VT while there’s a tornado watch in Boston.  In that respect, I’d kind of like to be in Boston!  Clearly, I am a fan of Action.

Flag Whorl

Mission of Burma’s new album UNSOUND, has just been released on FIRE Records. Reviews have been rather chipper.