Dream Interpretations/Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble
MOJO Magazine, March 2023:
Mission of Burma man takes multiple axes to his own subconscious: “Roger Clark Miller finds plenty of room to operate fruitfully in the terrain between the more challenging Fripp-led instrumental segments of a King Crimson live show and a lost American Primitive classic from 1971.”
Fear and Loathing (UK).
“The music at times recalls legendary guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Syd Barrett, both at the heights of their psychedelic imagination, while the use of sound loops create percussion and bass rhythms to hold things together in an almost rock-style… This gives Roger the space to really explore and expand the sounds he creates with the guitars and this is what’s so impressive about this record. At the same time that it seeks to create something new and unique, it also presents the music in a way that could find itself appealing to a wider audience.”
Upcoming Shows:
A fresh round of composing has begun, continuing this direction. While the music remains based on dreams, there will be new sounds to drive the music in new directions.
The Anvil Orchestra
Apr.20: Roger Ebert Film Festival, Champagne, IL
2:00 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Apr.27: The Milwaukee Film Festival, Milwaukee, WI
7:30 Metropolis
The group was quite excited by the success of their improvisational score to “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (two shows last fall, two standing ovations). So with a new direction under their belt, and tapping their long-duration skills at silent film accompaniment, they are happy to keep this music going.
Photo: Joanne Kaliontzis.
Trinary System
At the end of March Trinary System will be working hard to complete their third record at the amazing Guilford Sound studio. Vocals, a few final overdubs, then the ongoing mixing to bring out the maximum essence of each song. This is proving to have a very deep sound and tap into a wide variety of interests and skill-sets the band has. As has been mentioned elsewhere, the two secret weapons on this album are mellotron and cornet: who woulda thought? Mixing will likely continue into later spring.
Modified Vinyl
In early December 2022, after the fall Anvil Orchestra and Dream Interpretation shows, I was able to unplug a bit. On Dec.6 I had a profound dream where I was etching onto a gigantic outdoor ice-skating rink with stone plates from our (real-life) kitchen. The rink was circular and I kept going around and around, gradually moving to the center. Somehow color remained from the plates and this created very interesting geometric shapes and subtle tonalities. It was to be an art installation, so I was debating creating a glass-bottom walk-way that went over the ice-rink so viewers could view the work from above.
It wasn’t until the next day that I realized this was a metaphor for Modified Vinyl: The ice-rink really is a round record, and even the walk-way relates to a problem I have with an uncompleted piece (A/V/A). Totally inspired by this information from somewhere inside me, I have since gathered a multiplicity of ideas, etching and engraving tools, various paints, dub plates and discarded LPs (to be re-worked). The unleashing of ideas based on this dream has been almost overwhelming. Two other dreams since then have continued giving me new information (one is a piece to be titled “Recipe for a Dream”). The work has just begun, but the promise of a new and different direction for my Modified Vinyl work is pretty deep.
And Living Life
And I hope everyone is surviving these very odd times!