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American singer-songwriter and instrumentalist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roger Clark Miller (born February 24, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for co-founding Mission of Burma and performing in Alloy Orchestra/The Anvil Orchestra.
Roger Clark Miller | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Born | February 24, 1952 Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | rogerclarkmiller |
His main instruments are guitar and piano. Guitar Player magazine describes Miller's guitar playing as balancing rock energy with cerebral experimentation.[1] He also plays cornet, bass guitar and percussion.
Miller was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on February 24, 1952. His father was a professor of ichthyology, which prompted frequent travel to the Western United States during summers—in search of fish in isolated springs in the desert for comparison with the fossil record—in which he brought his son along. These expeditions informed his later artistic outlook, which incorporates themes of nature, harsh environments, the passage of time, and self-reliance.[2]
Miller began piano lessons at the age of 6. In middle school, he studied the french horn in band class, and at age 13, he picked up the guitar.[2]
Inspired by Jimi Hendrix and Detroit-area bands like the Stooges, the SRC, and the MC5, Miller formed several garage bands in his teens, starting with the Sky High Purple Band in 1967. With brothers Benjamin (Ben) Miller and Laurence B. (Larry) Miller, he formed Sproton Layer in the fall of 1969; Miller played bass guitar and was the primary singer and songwriter. They recorded a demo for an album in 1970; these recordings were collected and released in 1992 and again in 2011 as With Magnetic Fields Disrupted.[3] 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 dropped out of college in favor of punk rock.
Relocating to Boston, Massachusetts, Miller was a member of the short-lived Moving Parts before co-founding Mission of Burma in 1979.
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.[4]
During the Burma years, Miller worked as a freelance piano tuner.[5]
After Burma broke up, Miller turned his attention to playing piano with the more experimental, instrumental group Birdsongs of the Mesozoic,[6] 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:
Mission of Burma reunited in 2002[8] with Bob Weston replacing Swope. On stage, Miller had 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 released four albums since reforming; the latest is Unsound, July 2012, on Fire Records.
Many bands have cited Burma as an inspiration, including Nirvana,[9] Pearl Jam,[10] Foo Fighters,[11] 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[12]), Sonic Youth,[13] Drive Like Jehu, Throwing Muses, Yo La Tengo,[14] Fugazi,[15] 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".[16] 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.[17]
Miller has created soundtrack scores for animation, documentaries (Big Ideas for a Small Planet, 2007), and commercials. Four of the films he has scored have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, which included 500 Years (2016) and Granito: How to Nail a Dictator (2011).
Miller's work, “Transmuting the Prosaic”, was shown at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center in Brattleboro, VT, March 15 – October 15, 2020. Five of Miller’s Modified Vinyl works (with turn-tables and listening stations) and his film, “The Davis Square Symphony”. The first edition of “Transmuting the Prosaic” was sold to the New England Art Museum in Burlington, VT.
"Transmuting the Prosiac" was shown again at 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH, from December 2, 2022 - January 22, 2023, featuring Modified Vinyl and The Davis Square Symphony. During opening night, Miller also performed excerpts from his new LP, Eight Dream Interpretations for Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble.
Miller's compositions have been performed by:
Miller has blogged for Slate[18] and HuffPost,[19] and written a review about Mike Goldsmith's book Discord for The Wall Street Journal.[20] His short story "Insect Futures" was published in Penny Ante III.[21] 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),[22] Mass MoCA (North Adams, MA),[23] the Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, MA),[24] Real Art Ways (Hartford, CT), 3S Artspace (Portsmouth, NH),[25] Portsmouth Book & Bar (Portsmouth, NH),[26] Brattleboro Museum and Art Center (Brattleboro, VT),[27] 118 Elliot Gallery (Brattleboro, VT), [23] and Epsilon Spires (Brattleboro, VT).[28] He has shown his Surrealist drawings in solo and group exhibitions.[29]
With Roger Miller and Larry Dersch:
With Dredd Foole, Roger Miller, Clint Conley, Pete Prescott, Martin Swope:
With Roger Miller, Benjamin Miller:
With Roger Miller, Ben Miller, Larry Miller:
With William Hooker, Roger Miller, Lee Ranaldo:
With Roger Miller, Ben Miller, and Larry Miller:
With Roger Miller, Larry Dersch, and P. Andrew Willis:
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