“Other” Art:

Artist Joeseph Wardwell created a gigantic mural titled “Hello America” for the new wing at Mass MoCA, based on selections from Miller’s Mission of Burma song “Fame and Fortune.” In layers of smaller letters are quotes from Abraham Lincoln, Patti Smith, Burroughs, etc..

“Hello America” at MassMoCA. By Joeseph Wardwell.

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Alloy Orchestra Upcoming shows:

June 23 and 24: Wilco’s Solid Sound Music and Arts Festival at Mass MoCA
June 30: 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH
July 30: Traverse City Film Festival, Traverse City, Michigan.
Sept: Texas swing likely early on, then Midwest tour begins.

The ensemble’s new film for the fall is the silent Japanese Avant-masterpiece A PAGE OF MADNESS. Set entirely in an insane asylum, half the time one is viewing the world from the inmates’ point of view. This is a perfect vehicle for Alloy’s improvisational mayhem. Truly psychedelic. The BluRay with Alloy’s score is available at their on-line store.

Page of Madness with score by Alloy Orchestra. Flicker Alley.

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Trinary System:

Upcoming shows:

Wed., July 12: Midway Cafe, Jamaica Plain. With the amazingly high-energy Fully Celebrated Orchestra.
This is Trinary System’s last show before they go into the studio to record their first full-length the end of July. Makin’ sure they are lubed up for the sessions.

It’s hard to explain how things move in a band that plays so rarely (the first release was recorded after a total of 6 gigs). But because the band plays so rarely, each gig is a landmark. As such, the show at Midway Cafe in J.P. on March 8 was where the band reached a new level of relaxed confidence, and this was obvious in the following shows. By the time Trinary System hit the Sinclair stage in April (where Burma played 5 years earlier) there was no concern at all – they just played because they knew what they were up to. Now it’s time for an album.

Noise Floor, May 2017, review of Apr.28 Sinclair show:
“Trinary System, a power trio led by Roger Miller, was on first with an excellent set of jams that fell somewhere between Marquee Moon and a more experimentally-minded deconstruction of Miller’s work in the venerable Boston art-punk unit Mission of Burma.”

Trinary System at the Sinclair, April 2017. Photo by Tim Bugbee.

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Guitar Lessons:

Tonereport: 9 Essential Post-punk Guitarists.
Mr. Miller is listed at number two.

Guitar Lessons continue, mostly via Skype. If interested, click here.

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As a Composer:

Miller has begun a Viola Sonata inspired by hearing the RAHA piano/viola duo perform his “In Natura” in April. As is his mode these days, he is utilizing natural phenomena for organizational purposes. Two photographs of lighting (thanks Tom Sholz!) and one of clouds he took in Vermont form the basic structural form. Audio peaks in recordings of a camp fire and a fountain tumbling into a pond form some of the basic rhythmic gestures of the piano pulses and viola melodies.

Miller’s Davis Square Symphony, which received an Awesome Foundation award earlier this year, is on-going and nearing completion.

Viola Sonata Part I (Lightning Music), first page.

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Anecdotes:

In the summer of 1975 I was sequestered in the Bay City area of Michigan, trying to make a living as performing musician (still working on that…). I played bass guitar in a quartet I did not start. We started out as a jazz-rock fusion band, performing covers and originals the guitarist wrote. During my 3-week stint in the band we morphed from that into a quite good Top-40 cover band. I quit shortly after we were offered a set of “stage costumes” to choose from, after which we’d make “really good money.”

The most interesting and terrifying moment in this band was as follows:
We played one venue almost every night, 3 sets. On one particular occasion, a biker club/gang from this part of Michigan hired out the venue as a memorial for one of their members who died in a crash the previous week. We were on-stage with 300 leather-clad bikers in the audience, definitely not the friendliest bunch. At one point, they “requested” we sing a song about death. We decided to do a blues, and it fell to me to do the singing. As the song got going, I made up some cliched lines about death: “no one wants to die”, that sort of thing. Almost immediately, the entire group of 300 leather-clad bikers was bawling in each others’ arms, sobbing uncontrollably. We were both terrified and amazed. We had to complete the song of course, and the bawling did not stop until it was over. That was quite possibly the strongest reaction I ever got to a song I made up on the spot.

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Epilogue:

Five Lady Slippers and Deb (Maidstone Park, VT).

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Trinary System 

Upcoming shows:
March 28:  Pipeline – live radio broadcast on WMBR
March 30:  Once Somerville (w/Black Helicopter and Boston Typewriter Orchestra)
Apr.28:  The Sinclair, with Boss Hog
April 29:  Aurora, Providence, RI (w/Minibeast)
May 20:  On the Ground, Townsend, VT

2017 Reviews for AMPLIFY THE AMPLIFIERS (Listen HERE and buy if so inclined!):

Mojo Magazine:
Their EP Amplify the Amplifiers opens with a snarling garage nod to the younger Kink’s influence on MoB’s razored-amp electric fizz (“He kinda helped me go crazy”).  

Delusions of Adequacy (UK):
The threesome’s promising self-released debut download/seven-inch combo EP, Amplify The Amplifiers, which appeared to not enough fanfare last year, extends upon Miller’s blistering psych-infused solo-traded “Big Steam” b/w “Dream Interpretation” 7” from 2012.

The band is planning to record their first full-length album in the late spring. Their newest song, “Hovering”, is based on two dreams from the same night. As Miller was waking up, he had a drum riff in his head that he kept perfecting for Trinary System. When he awoke, he wrote down this unusual drum beat. Later he wrote the main guitar riff around the drum beat and put together the lyrics from that night’s dreams. It is turning out to be one of the band’s more interesting songs.

Trinary System at Store 54. Photo: Margot Edwards.

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As a Composer

Sun., April 30:  Third Life Studio in Union Square, Somerville, MA.
The Elaine Rombola Ensemble will perform Miller’s composition In Natura (2011, for clarinet, viola, prepared piano and modified nature ambiences). Elaine Rombola prepared piano, who played on Miller’s Gilgamesh at Jordan Hall in 2016; Rane Moore clarinet, who helped with the extended techniques used on this piece; and Amelia Hollander Ames viola. Other compositions on the bill include a piece for toy piano and amplified viola as well as a Beethoven Cello Sonata adapted for viola.

“In Natura” continues Miller’s interest in concrete sounds, this time entirely from nature: wind, water, insects, storms. The 9’30” collage of natural ambiences is in 3 continuous movements and directs the entire composition. The clarinet and viola  parts are based on Miller’s bird-whistling improvisations, incorporating numerous extended techniques, and the sound of very slowed down crickets. The prepared piano serves as commentary.  As in “Vines for Music”, Miller has eliminated “concert pitch”, creating a score which mimics nature’s tuning: sounds co-mingled but do not form “chords” or have an over-arching tonal center.

Miller’s Davis Square Symphony was awarded a grant from The Awesome Foundation in March. Miller is close to completing this time-consuming work for film and orchestral score, with the aim of getting it into film festivals and shown as an art installation.

After performance of Snakes Dream Sky at New England Conservatory in 2010. Photo Bill T. Miller.

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Alloy Orchestra

Alloy Orchestra has prepared two new films for our next season
1.  A new version of the classic Dinosaur film, LOST WORLD.
2.  The 1927 Japanese masterpiece PAGE OF MADNESS. The film is set entirely in an insane asylum and is a perfect vehicle for Alloy Orchestra’s more improvisatory work. One of our very favorite silent films!

Upcoming Shows:
Lincoln Center, NYC.
Academy of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles.
Roger Ebert film Festival, Champagne, IL.
AFI Silver Theater, Silver Spring, MD
Maryland Film festival, Baltimore, MD.
Beverly, MA
Castro Theater, San Francisco Silent Film Festival: Premier of LOST WORLD and PAGE OF MADNESS.
Mass MOCA Wilco Festival, North Adams, MA

Alloy Orchestra setting up in Albuquerque.

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Guitar Lessons

I continue teaching guitar lessons, mostly through Skype. I can be contacted at the link above.

2002? Photo: rthenadey.

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Three quotes about my music that amused me:



1. The Noise (Boston). Nov.’95, regarding my Elemental Guitar CD:
“The album as a whole makes you feel like you’ve just been lectured to by someone who is a genius, but in a subject that you never thought was important.”

2. From an NPR piece on The Binary System, my piano/drum duo with Larry Dersch, in the late ’90’s:
“Roger writes complicated music. They learn it. Then they play it like it’s Louie Louie” – Russ Gershon, Either/Orchestra

3. I played one of my compositions for my teacher at CalArts in 1976. When it was over, he looked up at me and said:
“That shouldn’t have made sense.”

Maximum Electric Piano, Chicago 1987? Photo Russ Smith.

SOUNDTRACKS 

Miller completed the documentary “500 Years”, his fourth film for Skylight.  It will premier at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan.24, 2017.  The music was produced by long-standing associate, Michael Bierylo.  This is the third film Miller has done with Skylight that has premiered at Sundance, and it is the third film that he has done with Skylight regarding the genocide in Guatemala in the early ’80’s (supported by the Reagan administration).  Click HERE for more information on this film.

At the genocide trial of Guatemalan Dictator Rios Montt.

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COMPOSER

Miller began his “Solar System Sonata” for piano and string quartet late summer 2016, and worked on it during Alloy’s relentless fall touring.  He will complete the score by the end of 2016.

“Solar System Sonata” for piano and string quartet, pg.2

Here is a recording of the first movement to Miller’s composition “Scream, Gilgamesh, Scream”, from the premier on Feb. 2016 in Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory.  Miller played the guitar part with the Callithumpian Consort conducted by Stephen Drury.  Miller was pleasantly surprised to feel that even though the musicians were all reading music, it felt like he was in a band, just a different type.  The score blends his interest in Varese and Messiaen with his interest in rock music.
——–Clinton Conley: “(the musicians) were clearly diggin’ in!”

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TRINARY SYSTEM

The band is working on new songs (the epic “Press the Button” and the more pop/rock “When the Dust Settles”), aiming to get enough material for a full album in 2017.  Trinary System couldn’t play shows this fall due to Alloy Orchestra’s dense touring schedule, but will be back in action in 2017:
Feb.11:  Plough and Stars, Cambridge, MA. With Audrey Harrer, harp and vocals with loops, electronics.
Mar.8:  Midway Cafe, Jamaica Plain, MA.  With Fully Celebrated Orchestra.

You can buy our 7″ 45 (with 5-song EP download card) at shows or on Bandcamp.

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ALLOY ORCHESTRA

Alloy’s fall touring was relentless, but even films they hadn’t played in a long time came off remarkably well.  Even they were surprised!  And now there is not a single gig until the Spring.  That’s kind of a relief…

Somewhere out west flying home.

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MISSION OF BURMA

Mission of Burma contributed one of Miller’s unrecorded songs, “Panic is No Option”, to the “30 songs in 30 days: A playlist of Songs that Trump will Hate.“
Miller was interviewed by The Guardian for an article about protest music in the age of Reagan and potentially the age of Trump (god help us…)

And the band made it in at #36 for POP MATTERS top-50 best post-punk albums ever.

Trying to make sense of “The Obliterati Cards.”  Clint and Bob just plain gave up!  Photo:  Kelly Davidson Savage

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AND IN CONCLUSION:

“Super-Moon”, Nov.14, 2016, over our backyard.  Photo: Debra McLaughlin.

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Here are my three claims to fame:

1.  I played drums in Destroy All Monsters (with my brothers Laurence and Benjamin) in Ann Arbor spring/summer 1977 until they got a full-time drummer.  After Ron Ashton joined the band, Scott “Rock” Action came to see us rehearse.  He told the Monsters’ manager, DB Keeps, that they should keep the drummer because “he’s rock solid.”

2.  Alloy Orchestra was playing Buster Keaton’s great film “The General” at Washington University in St. Louis.  Because there was no stage, I was in the aisle by the wall.  The promoter’s daughter was at her very first movie (3 years old?), and her seat seat was at the end of the row.  When the film was over and we were taking our bows, I saw this little girl point at me (a few feet away) and heard her say “Is that Buster Keaton?”

3.  My son’s name is Chance, and he was born the night after one of John Cage’s Norton Poetry lectures at Harvard in 1989.  At the next lecture, 2 months later, we brought him backstage.  I was introduced to John Cage, by the gentleman who put on the event, as “The Father of Chance.”

Lilly, Billy, Chance and Me     Photo: Wayne Valdez.

Alloy Orchestra:

Midwest Fall Tour starts in Detroit – first time playing there in quite a few years and the band is glad to be back.  The tour goes as far West as  Bismark, South Dakota (my first ever gig in S.D.)  then turns east and ends in Nashville, TN.  In between we hit Chicago, Milwaukee, Iowa City, Des Moines, St. Louis and other suitable urban centers.
After that tour there are many more gigs, from Gloucester to Providence to Boston to many upstate New York towns, then on to Atlanta and San Francisco and surrounding areas.  All Fall All Alloy Touring All The Time.

For more information about Alloy’s fall touring.

This summer Alloy scored their new film for the fall, VARIETE, and premiered it at the Telluride Film Festvial in early Sept.  The resulting standing ovation was a good sign.  Drama in a circus/trapeze setting.  Suitable for the band.

This summer the band also scored the crazily inventive Japanese film (silent of course, until Alloy gets their hands on it) A PAGE OF MADNESS.  Set entirely in an insane asylum, this film is right up Alloy’s alley: moody, emotive, dark, and completely insane.  This will be released on BluRay later this fall.

Alloy in action in Milwaukee at the Oriental Theater some years back.

As a Composer:

Miller is excited about, and working steadily on, his “Sonata for Piano and String Quartet”.  He is using this image of Frozen Oceans on Europa (one of Jupiter’s moons) to structure Movement II, the classic “slow middle movement”, but in this case without a beat, any pulse, any melody, harmony, or concert pitch.
Movement I, structured less severely by a photo taken on Mars by one of the Mars Rovers, will generally have an on-again/off-again rhythmic thing going.  Movement III is based solely on intuition and feel, with the struggling forward-motion of Miller’s 1976 CalArts composition “24:24”.  Movement I and III have similarities to Scream, Gilgamesh, Scream which premiered at Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory on Feb. 2016.  Movement II has similarities in style to Vines for Music, which premiered at N.E.C.’s SICPP festival in June 2014 (and got a nice write-up in New Music Box Review).

For more information about Miller’s composing.

Ice Oceans of Europa, courtesy NASA.

Trinary System:

Due to Alloy Orchestra and Soundtrack work dominating the summer and fall, Trinary System won’t be playing much in the near future.   But the band continues to work on new material.  PRESS THE BUTTON is complex and pursues what in 1969 Miller called “Warp Riffs”, but now might bear some similarity to the later style called “Prog-Rock”, if you believe what certain individuals have to say on the topic.   WHEN THE DUST SETTLES is more on the pop/rock side with even a full-on chorus.  Top-40 here they come….

For more information about Trinary System.

Trinary System at ONCE BALLROOM.  Photo: Blowfish.

As a Soundtracker:

Over the summer, Miller composed 40+  cues for the feature-length documentary “500 Years”.  This is the second film he’s done with Skylight Pictures on the Genocide in Guatemala which began in 1982 (with the graces of Ronald Reagan).  Two films Miller scored with Skylight Pictures premiered at Sundance.  Mixing will happen in later October (after the first round of Alloy shows) with long-time producer/partner Michael Bierylo.

For more information about Miller’s Soundtrack work.

Skylight in Action.  Proud to be associated with these folks.

Mission of Burma:

Generally, we’re not workin’ too hard.  But in Paste’s Top-50 Post Punk LPs, Vs. came in at #44.  Musta done something right at some point (as if these lists are “truth”).

Some time in 1980. Miller ponders his next move, any move…  Clint and Jimmy remain unconcerned.  Photo via Clint.

And as a Normal Person:

Our living-room in Vermont when the weather is good.  (my foot always manages to find a way into these photos).

Friday, July 2:  Trinary System at ONCE Lounge

165 Highland Ave., Somerville, MA.  Minibeast headlines, Miller will join ’em on horn, Trinary System on second (around 10 pm) and Oceans on the Moon opens.  The band continues to kick out the jams after our first release, a 45 with the 5-song EP: AMPLIFY THE AMPLIFIERS.

L to R: Andrew Willis, Larry Dersch, Roger Miller. Photo: Debra McLaughlin

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Thurs., June 23:  Surrealist Games at 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH.

This is Miller’s second Surrealist Games Night at 3S Artspace – the first Games in February 2016 were so successful they wanted to do it again.   The venue is wonderful.  The Surrealist Games Night at the Brattleboro Art Museum on June 10 was a total blast – everyone was actively engaged and having a wonderful time.

One of many, many Exquisite Corpses created. Photo by John Hessian.

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Alloy Orchestra upcoming shows:

June 21:  Lincoln Center, NYC.  L’Inhumaine.
July 6 and 7:  Coolidge Corner Theater, Brookline, MA.  2 nights of METROPOLIS!  25th Anniversary of the band starting, and it started with METROPOLIS at the Coolidge Corner Theater.
July 31:  Traverse City Film Festival, Traverse City, MI.  L’Inhumaine.
Aug. 13:  AFI Silver Theater, Silver Spring, MD.
Aug.31-Sept.6:  Telluride Film Festival, Telluride, CO.
Sept.22: Three week Midwest Tour Starts.

Rack of Junk, yep. Photo: Ken Winokur.

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Soundtrack Work:  500 Years, a film by Skylight Productions.

500 Years, a feature-length documentary film, is Miller’s biggest work this summer.  The film continues Skylight’s focus on the genocide in Guatemala,  the case against the dictator Rios Montt, and how things are developing in the aftermath.  Previous films Miller has scored with Skylight include GRANITO, DISRUPTION, and THE RECKONING.  Two of these films premiered at Sundance.

Jubilation at Rios Montt’s downfall.

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7 Haiku from camping at Half-Moon Pond, June 13-16:

I rambled one of these accidentally and Deb said “Write that down!”  So I did, and kept it up…..

The fire is started.
Shrimp, gnocchi, asparagus!
Where’s the scotch?  By me.

Why no mosquitoes?
Could be we are wearing coats.
Chilly advantage.

The lake’s wind patterns
Ten turtles on a big log
What a fucking hoot!

Sunlight shines through leaves
There’s nothing I have to do
That’s a way to be.

Now that was a hike!
The fire is so hypnotic…
We talked for two hours.

Why is that book wet?
It’s right next to the tea cup.
Chipmunks like tea bags?

When you are camping
Simple life is all there is.
That is a virtue.

Half-Moon Pond

TRINARY SYSTEM:
 

Dave Davies b/w This House 7″ 45

Apr.15 release date on Fun World Records!
AMPLIFY THE AMPLIFIERS 5-Song EP download card will be included in the package.  Records (and downloads) will be available at shows and via online sales.

May Record Release shows!
Fri., May 13 at Lizard Lounge, Cambridge, MA.  With Gymnasium and Soft Gang (from NYC).
Sat., May 14 at 13th Floor Music Lounge in Florence, MA.  With Bunnies and Dust Witch.

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   MISSION OF BURMA:

European Tour April 17-25 based around two ATP festivals in England.  Always fun driving over European terrain.

Bradford Theater, 1983, performing “See My Friends”.  Photo: Vernon Doucette.

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SURREALIST GAMES:

Miller will be hosting his Surrealist Games Night at the Brattleboro Museum of Art on Friday, June 10.

Miller will be hosting his Surrealist Games Night at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth, NH, on Thurs., June 23.

NHPR interview for 3S Artspace show here.

Surrealist Games held at 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH in February were very successful and Miller has been asked to hold the Games there on a regular basis.
“Fantastic night — a hilarious, creative, and healthy mix of mind-bend, head-clearing and humor-refraction. And met great new people — thank you to esteemed host Roger Clark Miller for coming up to Portsmouth to throw an unconventional good time.”
Cliff Lazenby.

3S Artspace Surrealist Games.  Everyone here is bearing down on the topic.  (Can’t find photographer’s name – my apologies).

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GUITAR LESSONS VIA SKYPE: 

Miller’s craigslist lesson posts were picked up by the Onion’s AV department.  Amusing as always.     One of his current lessons lives in Tokyo: this lesson is drinking coffee while the sun is setting outside Miller’s window.

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AS A COMPOSER:

NOTE:  A large enough orchestra was not able to be procured to perform to this film, so there will be no live performance.  Instead, Miller is afixing the score to the film and will show the film with pre-recorded music.  The premier has not been set.

The Davis Square Symphony is based on traffic patterns in Davis Square.  Miller has filmed Davis Square from 5 different locations, one time per each season.  Each season has its own harmony.  Analysis of the vehicles, color, size, etc., will indicate which string instrument will perform that particular vehicle and what note they will play as it travels across the visual field onscreen.  People, bicycles, and pets will be performed by wind instruments and percussion.  The resultant composition, 23 minutes in length, will be based entirely on the edited film footage.
The Davis Square Symphony has been funded by the Somerville Arts Council and is slated to be performed by the Somerville City Orchestra including high school students in the Somerville area.  The film will be shown while the orchestra performs the music, so there will be a direct relationship between what is seen and heard.  Despite being built upon the ideas of John Cage, it is a populist work.  People will see their every-day life transformed into music.

The premier of Scream, Gilgamesh, Scream on Feb.18 at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall came off quite well.  Once everyone got aligned to the unusual direction of the piece, it really came together.  Great ensemble (Callithumpian Consort).  Miller was on electric guitar and at one point couldn’t stop grinning as the ensemble hammered a “one-pulse” chord over and over.  He hid his face but then looked up and saw that Stephen Drury, the conductor, had the same grin on his face.  It worked.  Thanks to everyone who came to the show and thanks to the Callithumpian Consort – as Clint said “they were really diggin’ in.”

Miller bowing after Gilgamesh performance at Jordan Hall.  Photo: Debra McLaughlin.

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ALLOY ORCHESTRA:

Spring Shows:
March 26:  Somerville Theater.
April 15: Roger Ebert Film Festival.
May 8:  Maryland Film Festival.
June 21:  Lincoln Center, NYC.
New releases:
1.  L’Inhumaine Blu-Ray.   French avant-garde film from 1927 with sets designed by the artists Ferdinand Leger.  Alloy Orchestra premiered their score last fall at Telluride Film Festival to a standing ovation.
2.  Phantom of the Opera DVD, starring the amazing Lon Chaney.  Previously this was only available via Blu-Ray.

Surrealist Games:

Thurs., Feb.4: 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH.
Miller will be hosting his Surrealist Games Night at the wonderful 3S Artspace (Burma played there in 2015 and loved it).  Everyone becomes creative in this setting – there is literally nothing you can do about it.  Drawing and Word Games create previously unheard of Proverbs, charms, and warnings.  Drawings produce beings that Darwin could not possibly have anticipated.  A splendid time is guaranteed for all (based on previous experience at the ICA Boston, Mass MoCA, First Night Boston, and many many nights with friends in homes).

Interview with Miller on New Hampshire Public Radio.
Interview starts at 21:24

Photo by Bridget Toner

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As A Composer:

Thursday, Feb.18, SCREAM, GILGAMESH, SCREAM (commissioned by the Callithumpian Consort) will be performed at Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory by The Callithumpian Consort, with Miller playing the electric guitar part. 
Miller completed the last four bars to his take on the Epic of Gilgamesh in October 2015, and will be honing the final details of the score into early January.  The composition is for Baritone and Soprano voice, piano, two percussionists, electric guitar, synthesizer bass, alto saxophone, French Horn, Bass Clarinet, two violins, viola, ‘cello.  Rock smashes into classical music and Edgard Varese would likely be amused.
Miller is simultaneously working on The Davis Square Symphony.  The Fall season footage was re-shot this November, and editing 4/5 hours worth of video down to 25 minutes has begun.  Once the editing is complete the next step is composing and orchestration for full orchestra.   Performance will happen mid-June in Hodgkins-Curtin Park in Davis Square, Somerville.
                                                                                              Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay Humbaba.

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Trinary System:

The band continues working on their 5-song EP with Andrew Willis (bass, vocals) engineering.  The focus is on layering things sonically without diluting the energy of the band.  Two songs, THIS HOUSE and CHEMICAL STEW, are nearly mixed and plans are for a 7″ 45 in spring 2016, with a 5-song EP download card inside.

Trinary System at 13th Floor in Florence, MA

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Unusual Vinyl Releases:

This has been an unusually prolific year for Miller and vinyl.
1.  FARMERS (Feeding Tube Records) features Daved Hild (vocals, accordion) of the Boston art-punk band The Girls with Miller backing him on guitar, cornet, piano, drum, recorded live in 1984.  Outsider neo-Americana art-music somewhere between Pere Ubu, Nick Cave and Capt. Beefheart, but sounding completely unlike any of them.
2.  ROGER MILLER? OH. (Feeding Tube Records) is Miller’s 1988 LP for Forced Exposure, recorded on a 4-track cassette deck.  This record exhibits Miller’s most complete lack of concern for commerciality to date, which may account for it being released by three different labels over the years (second was a CD on New Alliance 1995).  It was very favorably reviewed in the NY Times as “The Miller Experiment: Avant-Garde Record of the Week.”

  1989 N.Y.Times review of “Roger Miller: Oh.”

Even more unusual than those two releases, two songs Miller recorded in 1977 under the moniker F.U.K., “Road Kill” and “Fire in My Head”, will be released mid-2016 as a 45 on HoZac Records.  “Road Kill” sounds like a prototype for XRay Spex and “Fire in My Head” was written while listening to the first Ramones album.

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Alloy Orchestra:

Feb.14: Northampton Academy of Music Theater.  Son of the Sheik.  Rudolph Valentino on Valentines Day!
Feb.28: Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA.

Alloy Orchestra Smites Again!

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