The Boston art-punk band Mission Of Burma got started in 1979. With their live shows and their early records, the 1981 EP Signals, Calls And Marches and the 1982 album Vs., they left an indelible stamp on indie rock history. Mission Of Burma first broke up in 1983 because of frontman Roger Miller's tinnitus. They got back together in the '00s and released a series of absolutely sick reunion records, really setting the bar for what a legendary band could do if they all got back on the same page. Mission Of Burma have been inactive in recent years, but they recently played a surprise reunion set, and Miller is getting ready to release a new album of his own.
Misson Of Burma's last album was 2012's Unsound, and they haven't toured since 2016. Earlier this year, they played a four-song set at the Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The show was a benefit for their friend Jeff "Monoman" Conolly, former frontman of garage-punk legends the Lyres, who was suffering from cancer at the time. Connolly joined the band for one of those songs, a cover of the Stooges classic "1970."
Last week, Burma once again reassembled to play a short surprise set, which included a tribute to Conolly, who passed away on July 31 at the age of 69. Last Friday, Mission Of Burma played together as a trio at Brighton Music Hall in Brighton, Massachusetts. This time, the show was a 25th-anniversary celebration for local label Fenway Records, and Mission Of Burma's set was a surprise, though apparently not a well-kept one. Roger Miller, Clint Conley, and Peter Prescott played four of their classics, and they sounded great. Then, as The Arts Fuse reports, Consonant's Chris Brokaw and Minibeast's Keith Seidel joined them for a cover of "Don't Jump Me Mother," a song from Conolly's band DMZ. You can watch that full set below.
In addition to his time in Mission Of Burma, Roger Miller has been in a ton of bands, including his current group Trinary System, and he has put out a number of solo records. If you'll let me tell an indulgent story really quick: I met Miller at a Lungfish show in Baltimore in maybe 2004. He was in town because he had some kind of film-festival gig, and he went to check out Lungfish by himself. I didn't recognize Miller or anything. He just bummed a cigarette from me, and we got to talking, and I was like, "Holy shit, what the fuck, this is the guy from Mission Of Burma?" He was cool as hell. That's it. That's my story. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Anyway. Yesterday, Roger Miller announced plans to release The Green Man, which appears to be his first non-instrumental solo LP in decades. (He's releasing it as Roger Clark Miller, his full name, presumably so that nobody confuses him with the other Roger Miller, the late country great who made hits like "King Of The Road.") Album opener "I Live In A Forest" is an idiosyncratic, psychedelic track that makes me wonder if Miller has been listening to Neutral Milk Hotel lately. Here's what Miller says about it:
"I Live in A Forest" continues my interest in songs that are minimalist-based and use unorthodox chord patterns. It's basically a snapshot of my life at present, perhaps stream of consciousness, or perhaps merely musings on being alive? Like most of the songs on The Green Man, it is guitar and vocal-driven, with words a primary focus. Language translates the world for us.
Below, check out "I Live In A Forest," the tracklist for The Green Man, and Miller's upcoming tour dates.
TRACKLIST:
01 "I Live In A Forest"
02 "The Queendom Of Heaven"
03 "Partly Eternal"
04 "Evidence-Based Reality"
05 "Our House Is A Boat"
06 "Golden Hair"
07 "Be Longer"
08 "Lizard Mind"
09 "The Play"
10 "Recipe For A Dream"
TOUR DATES:
9/17 - Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Foufs *
9/18 - Hamilton, ON @ Mills Hardware *
9/19 - Windsor, ON @ Phog *
9/20 - Toronto, ON @ BSMT254 *
9/21 - Ithaca, NY @ Angry Mom
10/02 - Keene, NH @ Nova Arts
10/08 - Providence, RI @ Myrtle
10/11 - Bellow’s Falls, VT @ Stage 33
10/14 - Boston, MA @ Deep Cuts
10/15 - Ridgewood, NY @ TV Eye
10/16 - New Haven, CT @ House Party
*with Storey Littleton
The Green Man is out 9/18 on Don Giovanni.
