Roger Miller (rock musician)


Roger Miller is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for co-founding Mission of Burma and performing in Alloy Orchestra.
His main instruments are guitar and piano. Guitar Player magazine describes Miller's guitar playing as balancing rock energy with cerebral experimentation.

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 Miller and Laurence B. 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.
During the Burma years, Miller worked as a freelance piano tuner.
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.

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 and , and written a about Mike Goldsmith's book "Discord" for The Wall Street Journal. His short story "Insect Futures" was published in Penny Ante III.
His drawings have appeared in numerous shows since 2003.
Miller also has conducted "A Night of Surrealist Games" at , , the , Real Art Ways, , , , and . He has his Surrealist drawings in solo and group exhibitions.

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" and "Granito: How to Nail a Dictator".

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:
Solo albums
Alloy Orchestra
Binary System
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic
dredd foole and the din
M2
M-3
Roger Miller 45s
No Man
Out Trios Volume One
Roger Miller's Exquisite Corpse
Sproton Layer
Trinary System
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. 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, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Superchunk, Jawbox, The Grifters, R.E.M., Miracle Legion, Sonic Youth, Drive Like Jehu, Throwing Muses, Yo La Tengo, Fugazi, 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". 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.