Roger Miller (rock musician)

Roger Miller is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for co-founding the groups Mission of Burma and Birdsongs of the Mesozoic.

His main instruments are guitar and piano. Guitar Player magazine describes Miller's guitar playing as balancing rock energy with cerebral experimentation,Guitar Player, January 1997 while his keyboard work has earned comparisons to Béla Bartók and even Cecil Taylor.

Biography

Born in Boston, Miller was 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; their recordings were collected and released in 1992 as With Magnetic Fields Disrupted. Miller played bass guitar and was the primary singer and songwriter, and the ongoing collaboration 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......
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