Roger Miller

Latest Articles

Interview: Talking with Mission of Burma's Roger Miller

Reformation
This weekend (January 20-21) brings a two-night stand at Brighton Music Hall for post-punk godfathers Mission of Burma, who have somehow morphed into a band that's equal parts internationally renowned throwbacks and prolific local underdogs.
By MATT PARISH | January 18, 2012

Mission of Burma's sonic fury still burns

Evolver
It already seems like ages ago when Mission of Burma announced their reunion.
By MATT PARISH | January 18, 2012

Lyric Stage navigates Big River

Finn tuning
Compared to the mighty Mississippi, Big River is just a Tony-winning tributary. But to borrow a lyric from its composer, Roger Miller, the show climbs on the river's back and rides.
By CAROLYN CLAY | September 13, 2011

Tribute: Friends remember Billy Ruane

The heart of Boston rock
Billy Ruane died on a Tuesday night.
By PHOENIX STAFF | November 24, 2010

Sick sense

There's a madness to Bunnies' method
We've been told there's no such thing as a new idea, but that may well be bullshit. The new ideas are out there, they just need bands like Bunnies to root them out.
By BARRY THOMPSON | January 12, 2010

Birdsongs on the road

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic enjoyed a curiously successful career from their very first show, a release party at Kenmore Square's deceased Rat for the Modern Method label's local comp A Wicked Good Time .
By MATT PARISH | July 22, 2009

Re-geeing

Birdsongs go back to the drawing board
Birdsongs go back to the drawing board
By MATT PARISH | July 22, 2009

Psalms For The Deaf

Jared Paul Unleashes Prayers For Atheists
Sage Francis addressed the densely-populated crowd at Rock the Bells at Comcast Center last weekend: "This song helped get a friend of mine out of jail. Thank you to all who donated. This song is called 'Conspiracy to Riot.' Strange Famous fucking Records, Providence."
By CHRIS CONTI | July 21, 2009

The old is new

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic bring back Roger Miller
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic bring back Roger
By MATT PARISH | July 22, 2009

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Wendy gets Bad

A little history on the ties between Wendy Lewis and the Bad Plus
Wendy Lewis's association with the Bad Plus goes back to her shared Minneapolis roots with David King and Reid Anderson.
By JON GARELICK | March 09, 2009

Accidental purist

Stephen Drury takes on Stockhausen
In one of Karlheinz Stockhausen's weirdest creations, the ensemble is instructed to "play a sound with the certainty that you have an infinite amount of time and space." Stephen Drury doesn't mind that so much. But fasting for four days? "No."
By MATT PARISH | February 18, 2009

Review: The Bad Plus's For All I Care

Heads Up (2009)
On each of their previous albums, the Bad Plus let it be known they owed as much to classic rock and pop as to prog jazz.
By JEFF TAMARKIN | January 27, 2009

The ignorami

Getting hip to Mission of Burma, 30 years later
Mission of Burma formed in Boston 30 years ago — the year Joy Division, Gang of Four, and the Pop Group released notorious post-punk releases in the UK.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | January 21, 2009

Idol hands

Mission Of Burma at Pitchfork Music Fest, Union Park, Chicago, July 18, 2008
The band, as always, sounded fantastic, especially if you’d been listening to the record all week in preparation.
By DEVIN KING | July 22, 2008

Remasters of the universe

The ‘definitive’ Mission of Burma
The adage “All things come to those who wait” tends not to find too many useful applications in rock and roll.
By MATT ASHARE | June 09, 2008

Fusion forms

Lorraine Chapman, Kinodance, Black Grace
Modern dancers who aren’t tethered to a specific technique can forage the whole world for useful movement and effects. We saw three completely different examples recently.
By MARCIA B. SIEGEL | April 23, 2008

Bouncement 3

. . . and other singular beats
Lately it’s seemed like Old Home Days for Toneburst, the influential artcore junglist collective that was a locus of Boston’s underground dance scene in the mid ’90s.
By SUSANNA BOLLE | April 08, 2008

Mexico City abuzz with Beantowners

A report from the International Mexico City Festival of Contemporary Cinema
Where’s New York? Where’s LA?
By GERALD PEARY | April 07, 2008

Alloy Orchestra

The Alloy does the Underworld at the Somerville
If it weren’t for Alloy Orchestra, it’s doubtful Boston would ever get to see silents like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Josef von Sternberg’s Underworld.
By JEFFREY GANTZ | March 17, 2008

Back in print

The return of Big Dipper
In a quiet basement in suburban Concord, singers/guitarists Gary Waleik and Bill Goffrier and drummer Jeff Oliphant are about to turn back into Big Dipper.
By BRETT MILANO | March 05, 2008

Mission completed

The break-up of Mission of Burma
This article originally appeared in the January 18, 1983 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
By DOUG SIMMONS | January 17, 2008

Home for the holiday

Mission of Burma's Roger Miller does his part for Tibet
The Middle East corner is not exactly where you’d expect to find Mission of Burma guitarist Roger Miller performing on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
By JIM SULLIVAN | December 09, 2007

Anxiety of influence

A.K.A.C.O.D. come out of Morphine’s shadow
The sound on A.K.A.C.O.D.’s new Happiness CD is going to make many Boston listeners think one word: Morphine.
By JON GARELICK | November 27, 2007

Boston music news, November 9, 2007

Notes on the 20th anniversary of the Middle East
"If you don’t have the flowers, the bees won’t come for the nectar.”
By JIM SULLIVAN | November 05, 2007

In with the new

Mission of Burma, Institute of Contemporary Art, September 23, 2007
Mission of Burma left the building last Sunday without playing the “hits.”
By JIM SULLIVAN | September 24, 2007

Boston music news: March 30, 2007

Notes on the Everyday Visuals and Brett Rosenberg
Drummer Billy Beard saw a young band called the Everyday Visuals at the Lizard Lounge last year and was knocked out.
By JIM SULLIVAN | March 27, 2007

Porn in the USA

Boston Underground Film Festival, Brattle Theatre, March 22, 2007
What’s the last time you went to a theater to see a porn movie?
By JIM SULLIVAN | March 26, 2007

Damned good

Levine’s Berlioz and Wuorinen, Garrick Ohlsson’s Beethoven, the Borromeo’s Shostakovich, the Alloy’s Eagle
James Levine returned from his winter break with one of the most thrilling BSO concerts of his tenure: Berlioz’s “dramatic legend,” La damnation de Faust.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 20, 2007

Survivor: Portland

Jake Roche returns with a solo debut
When Jeremiah Freed decided in early 2005 to depart Portland for the sunny climes and cutthroat industry of Los Angeles, guitarist Jake Roche didn’t make the trip.
By SAM PFEIFLE | January 31, 2007