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The Miller Brothers, Roger (Mission of Burma, etc. etc. etc.), Laurence (Destroy All Monsters, etc. etc. etc.) and Benjamin (Destroy All Monsters, etc. etc. etc.) grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan in a musical family. When the Beatles hit in 1964 Roger was 12 and Laurence and Benjamin were 10, all three ready to rock. Their first band, which covered 13th Floor Elevators, Love, Kinks, Yardbirds, etc., performed two shows summer 1967 (ages 15 and 13). In 1969, their spontaneous improv. session "Freak Trio Electric" sealed the fate towards Sproton Layer. With a complete belief in weed as the doorway to an alternate universe, Roger began a furious bout of composing that spring. There was a lull in the summer, but in the fall, with the addition of Harold Kirchen (brother of Bill Kirchen, Commander Cody, etc. etc. etc.) on trumpet, they were off and running again. A few recordings were made in 1969 with one mic on the ping-pong table, and Mark Brahce (who recorded "With Magnetic Fields Disrupted" eight months later), set up his first session with the band. The best of these recordings make up the "1969" side of "Press Your Hand and the Whole Room Fluctuates."
At the end of August 1970, Mark Brahce recorded their album "With Magnetic Fields Disrupted" in the Miller family recreation room, and the band promptly folded when they got no notice or response. Their brand of psychedelia was on the wane. They reformed briefly in 1971 as an instrumental trio (see the "1971" side of "Press Your Hand and the Whole Room Fluctuates") but played only two shows before disbanding in that incarnation.
Strangely enough, With Magnetic Fields Disrupted' was released in 1991 on New Alliance Records, and, in 2013 to much greater notice on World in Sound Records. They reformed for a series of 5 shows in 2013 with Steve Smith on trumpet.
The "1969" side of "Press Your Hand and the Whole Room Fluctuates" consists of songs that didn't make it onto 'With Magnetic Fields Disrupted', and the "1971" side are all spontaneous Free Rock/Space Jams, with their very unique take on this matter.
After Sproton Layer folded, all brothers kept extremely active and continue creating music to this very day. In chronological order, after the demise of Sproton Layer: The Fourth World Quartet, Empool, Destroy All Monsters, Mission of Burma, Nonfiction, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, GKW, M3, Larynx Zillion's Novelty Shop, No Man, Mister Laurence and his Play Money Band, The Alloy/Anvil Orchestra, Solo Multiphonic Guitar, Binary System, The Mister Laurence Experience, Third Border, M2, Transistor, Trinary System, The Sensorium Saxophone Ensemble, Exploded View, Porcelain Hammer, The Sensorium Chamber Ensemble, Tinn Parrow and his Clapfold Platune, Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble, and many many more. All these bands have releases.
rogerclarkmiller.com
laurencebondmiller.yolasite.com
benmiller.info
Roger Miller : Bass guitar, vocals
Ben Miller : Guitar, vocals
Larry Miller : Drums (vocals in improvs)
Harold Kirchen : Trumpet on "Ozonic Temple"
RACKS 1, 2 recorded in 1117 basement with one microphone. “Heavy in the Basement” session, November 1969.
TRACK 3 recorded in 1117 basement with one microphone. “Christmas Trees” session, December1969, Collective Improvisation.
TRACK 4 recorded live at The First Congregational Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan, with one microphone. December 1969.
TRACKS 5-7 recorded sound-on-sound by Mark Brahce (Session I), 1117 basement and his bedroom.
TRACK 8 recorded in 1117 basement with one microphone. “Storm” session, Fall 1971. Collective Improvisation based
on a painting.
TRACKS 9-11 recorded in 1117 basement with one microphone. “Pull Down the Force” session, Fall 1971. Collective Improvisations.
COVER DESIGN: Joanne Kaliontzis, with original art by Arnold Lelis, Roger C. Miller and Benjamin Miller