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Roger (Clark) Miller is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for co-founding Mission of Burma and performing in Alloy Orchestra.

Roger (Clark) Miller
Background information
OriginBoston, Massachusetts, U.S.
GenresPost-punk
Indie rock
Years active1968–present
LabelsFire Records
Ace of Hearts
Matador
New Alliance
SST
World in Sound
Feeding Tube
Atavistic
Websiteofficial homepage

His main instruments are guitar and piano. Guitar Player magazine describes Miller's guitar playing as balancing rock energy with cerebral experimentation.[1]


Biography


Miller was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix and Detroit-area bands like the Stooges and the MC5, Miller formed several garage bands in his teens. With brothers Benjamin (Ben) Miller and Laurence B. (Larry) Miller, he formed Sproton Layer; Miller played bass guitar and was the primary singer and songwriter. Their recordings were collected and released in 1992 and again in 2011 as With Magnetic Fields Disrupted. The Miller brothers have an occasional ongoing collaboration called M3.

Attending CalArts in 1976, majoring in composition, Miller also studied piano and French Horn, and studied music by 20th century experimental composers like John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He would eventually drop out of college in favor of punk rock.


Mission of Burma years


Relocating to Boston, Massachusetts, Miller was a member of the short-lived Moving Parts before co-founding Mission of Burma in 1979. The group was popular in and around Boston but was unable to expand their audience. Miller played guitar and sang, and slightly edged out bassist/singer Clint Conley as the more productive songwriter. It was also Miller's idea to invite Martin Swope to join the group and add tape loop effects, giving the group an unusual, experimental sound.

Mission of Burma disbanded in 1983 due in large part to Miller's worsening tinnitus, attributed in large part to their notoriously loud live performances. In subsequent years, Mission of Burma's small body of recordings grew to be regarded as important and influential.[2]

During the Burma years, Miller worked as a freelance piano tuner.[3] He has composed numerous film soundtracks, including the documentary TV series Big Ideas for a Small Planet. In 2008 he began composing in a more formal fashion and has had numerous compositions performed at the New England Conservatory, many featuring Prepared piano. Miller's current rock trio, Trinary System, released a 5-song EP in 2016 and an LP in 2019. A new album is forthcoming later in 2022.


Non-musical activities


Miller creates frottage drawings, using a technique developed by the surrealist Max Ernst, and is a writer. He has blogged for Slate[4] and HuffPost,[5] and written a review about Mike Goldsmith's book Discord for The Wall Street Journal.[6] His short story "Insect Futures" was published in Penny Ante III.[7] His drawings have appeared in numerous shows since 2003.

Miller also has conducted "A Night of Surrealist Games" at Arts at the Armory (Somerville, MA),[8] Mass MoCA (North Adams, MA),[9] the Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, MA),[10] Real Art Ways (Hartford, CT.), 3S Artspace (Portsmouth, N.H.),[11] Portsmouth Book & Bar (Portsmouth, N.H),[12] Brattleboro Museum and Art Center (Brattleboro, VT),[13] and 118 Elliot Gallery (Brattleboro, VT).[9] He has shown his Surrealist drawings in solo and group exhibitions.[14]


Soundtrack work


Miller has also successfully created soundtrack scores for animation, documentary, and commercials since 1992. Four of the films he has scored have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, which has included "500 Years" (2016) and "Granito: How to Nail a Dictator" (2011).


Other musical projects


After Burma broke up, Miller turned his attention to playing piano with the more experimental, instrumental group Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, which he left in 1987.

Afterward, Miller had several collaborations, solo efforts, and film scores; many of these post-Burma albums were released by SST Records:


Discography


Solo albums

Alloy Orchestra

Binary System (Roger Miller and Larry Dersch)

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic

Dredd Foole and the Din (Dredd Foole, Roger Miller, Clint Conley, Pete Prescott)

M2 (Roger Miller, Benjamin Miller)

M-3 (Roger Miller, Ben Miller, Larry Miller)

Roger Miller 45s

No Man

Out Trios Volume One (William Hooker, Roger Miller, Lee Ranaldo)

Roger Miller's Exquisite Corpse

Sproton Layer (Roger Miller, Ben Miller, Larry Miller)

Trinary System (Roger Miller, Larry Dersch, P. Andrew Willis)


Mission of Burma reform and legacy


Mission of Burma reunited in 2002, with Bob Weston replacing Swope. On stage, Miller has his Marshall amplifier at the edge of the stage on his right, with the speakers facing away from him (as seen in the reunion footage in the M0B documentary Not A Photograph). The band has released four albums since reforming, the latest is UNSOUND, July 2012, on FIRE Records.

Many bands have cited Burma as an inspiration, including Nirvana,[15] Pearl Jam,[16] Foo Fighters,[17] Superchunk, Jawbox, The Grifters, R.E.M., Miracle Legion (the last two have even covered "Academy Fight Song": the former on their Green tour and the latter on their debut[18]), Sonic Youth,[19] Drive Like Jehu, Throwing Muses, Yo La Tengo,[20] Fugazi,[21] Pixies, Sugar, Guided by Voices, Shellac, Catherine Wheel, Graham Coxon, Pegboy, Moby and Down by Law - the last five of which have covered Conley's "That's When I Reach for My Revolver".[22] In 2009 the city of Boston declared October 4 to be "Mission of Burma Day" in honor of the band's work in a ceremony held at the MIT East Campus Courtyard.[23]


References


  1. Guitar Player, January 1997
  2. Sullivan, Jim (June 19, 2020). "Bidding A Quiet Adieu To Cacophonous Post-Punk Band Mission Of Burma". WBUR-FM. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  3. Azerrad, Michael. Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991. Little Brown and Company, 2001. ISBN 0-316-78753-1
  4. Miller, Roger (May 10, 2004). "Entry 1". Slate. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  5. Miller, Roger (October 25, 2005). "Mission of Burma". HuffPost. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  6. Miller, Roger (February 16, 2013). "When the Noise Becomes Too Much". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  7. Lorenz, Jon (July 21, 2009). "Thurston Moore, Robert Pollard, Jad Fair, Roger Miller Contribute to Third Penny-Ante Book, Three; Phil Elverum, Growing, Lucky Dragons on Complimentary CD". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  8. Anderman, Joan (January 22, 2010). "Songs for Surrealists". The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  9. Levy, Wendy M. (October 31, 2018). "We're all mad here". The Commons. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  10. "ICA First Fridays: Play". The Boston Calendar. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  11. "1.26.16: Dangerous Fashion, Surrealist Games, & Song Exploder". New Hampshire Public Radio. January 26, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  12. Hislop, Christopher (May 15, 2014). "Roger Miller brings Surrealistic game night to Book & Bar". The Portsmouth Herald. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  13. Levy, Wendy M. (July 13, 2016). "Stop making sense". The Commons. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  14. "Surrealist Frottage/Drawing". Roger Miller. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  15. Nugent, Benjamin (July 31, 2001). "The Bands That Made Nirvana". Time. New York City: Meredith Corporation. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  16. Fantano, Anthony (October 2, 2009). "Mission Of Burma: The Story Begins Again". NPR. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  17. Gottlieb, Jed (July 17, 2015). "Foo on Boston". Boston Herald. Boston, Massachusetts: GateHouse Media. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  18. "Cover versions of Academy Fight Song by Mission of Burma - SecondHandSongs". Secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  19. Drozdowski, Ted (January 10–17, 2002). "Burmese days". Boston Phoenix. Boston, Massachusetts: The Portland News Club. Archived from the original on October 10, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  20. Joyce, Colin (August 26, 2015). "A Revisionist History: Yo La Tengo Pick Their All-Time Favorite Covers". Spin. San Francisco, California: SpinMedia. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  21. "Mission of Burma : Vs". Treble. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  22. "Cover versions of That's When I Reach for My Revolver by Clint Conley". Second Hand Songs. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  23. Peters, Bill (October 5, 2009). "Sunday was officially declared Mission of Burma Day in Boston". The Republican. Springfield, Massachusetts: Advance Publications. Retrieved May 25, 2016.




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