Solo Performance at Foxhall Studios 12/

Hey friends, I’m SO excited to announce that I’ll be playing a solo concert at Foxhall Studios in Logan Square (Chicago) on 12/4! The music will consist of mostly original material from my forthcoming full band record, Old Door Phantoms, with a few surprises thrown in. To attend the concert, RSVP is required at serlahc@gmail.com.

The image above was created by my new friend, Wes Douglas. He sketched this while I was playing with Chris Weller’s Open Forum Project at Fulton Street Collective for their Jazz Occurrence series. It was a powerful night – the night of the terrorist attacks in Paris – and we (Weller, Russ Johnson, Albert Wildeman, Marcus Evans, and me) improvised for two sets while many of the audience members did live painting. Community. It was great.

MUSIC

As always, you can head over to my Soundcloud and Bandcamp pages for boatloads of streamable, pay-what-you-want, or very affordable sweet music! Thanks for your support!

Also – my performance page is newly updated – check it!

Chicago – come see Old Door Phantoms this Saturday at Martyrs’!

We go on at 9:30. Todd Clouser’s A Love Electric is also on the bill. Should be a great night! Get your tickets HERE.

photo by Rebecca Ciprus

Old Door Phantoms debut record complete!

Old Door Phantoms
Dave Miller (Algernon, Ted Sirota’s Rebel Souls) – guitar, mellotron
Ben Boye (Ryley Walker, Bonnie Prince Billy, Angel Olsen) – pianet, mellotron
Matt Ulery (Loom, Grazyna Auguscik) – fender bass
Quin Kirchner (Wild Belle, In Tall Buildings) – drums, percussion

Combining major stints in both New York City and Chicago and numerous tours abroad, Dave Miller has cultivated a truly unique, exciting, and inviting approach to songwriting, improvisation, and the guitar. After releasing three albums to wide acclaim with his experimental rock band, Algernon (Cuneiform Records), Miller has once again redefined his parameters and formed Old Door Phantoms with some of the most creative musical minds in Chicago, yielding fascinating results. This time around, Miller has drawn influence from the elegant melodicism of The Beatles, the psychedelic folk of Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and the raw power and improvisational spirit of guitarists Link Wray, Gabor Szabo, and Charlie Christian. The music, although fresh, forward thinking, and avant garde, is grounded in the art of classic songwriting. The melodies linger and the sounds are warm. The songs play out as mind-expanding textures, but always with an air of compassion and familiarity.

Tracked live at Steve Albini’s famed studio, Electrical Audio, the album has the sound and feel of being in the same room as the band. At times, this off the cuff quality to the recordings recalls the instrumental swagger of The Band or Booker T & the MGs, while juxtaposing this element with the pulsing experimentalism of Sonic Youth and ambient textures of Brian Eno.

I’m really excited about this album and can’t wait to share it with you all! SOON…

Recollections of Doha, new gigs, Whistler residency/new album in Dec!

Hey there everybody,

Performing at the Virgin Megastore in Doha, Qatar for Jazz at Lincoln Center Doha.

Time moves fast! It’s been a minute. I just returned home after performing at Jazz at Lincoln Center Doha with Clarice Assad for the past two months. What an incredible experience! The music was challenging and fun, and I met so many great people from all over the world. It was an time I’ll never forget – we played six nights a week and rehearsed almost every day. It was quite an intense run and I learned a lot of new things about music and the art of performance.

I just arrived back in Chicago for the time being and will be here until the end of the year. I’ll be playing the Bedford in Wicker Park wednesday night with the great drummer, Jeremy Cunningham, and his quartet. I’ll also be at the Hungry Brain this sunday with fantastic saxophonist, Chris Weller, and his band, Hanging Hearts.

After that, I’m going to eat lots of turkey and re-emerge in December for a residency with my band (with Ben Boye (keys), Matt Ulery (bass), and Quin Kirchner (drums)) at The Whistler for the tuesday night Relax Attack Jazz Series! We’ll be playing 12/2, 12/9, and 12/16 and will be debuting lots of new material which we will then record at my favorite studio in the world, Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio, on 12/18-19! There will be lots of great music and surprises at the residency, so please don’t miss out!

Also, my extremely talented friend, Tim Venchus, just directed a new video for my electronic project with Tom Perona, Lonesome Limos. See the video for “Urban Penguin” HERE. Download/stream Lonesome Limos EP for free HERE.

Lots of great things happening, MUSIC!

Love,
Dave

May – gigs in NYC and Chicago coming up!

Happy spring!

I’ve really been enjoying this breath of fresh air in Brooklyn. April has been a great month. It started off with a trip to Chicago to do some gigs playing my music with some of my old buddies, Jeremy Cunningham, Matt Ulery, and Jake Vinsel. I had so much fun playing with these guys again. It had been way too long, and they brought so much energy to the music! I also did a super fun gig with WW Lowman for Bill Lowman’s birthday. Craziness ensued, as to be expected. What a great trip!

After that, I came back to NYC and did a handful of gigs with Lena Bloch’s quartet to celebrate the release of our new album, “Feathery”. Lena knows how to put great bands together, and we had some amazing music with Billy Mintz, Cameron Brown, Putter Smith, and Russ Lossing. Cameron, Putter, and Russ, all played on different gigs, and each brought something beautiful and unique to the sound.

May is shaping up to be busy and rewarding, as well. I’m extremely excited to be playing my new music with a new band featuring Will Graefe (guitar), John Tate (bass), and Jason Nazary (drums). We’ll be playing Shapeshifter Lab on 5/5 and Branded Saloon on 5/11. These will be great, I hope you can make it!

After that, I’ll be playing a weekend (5/16-17) at the Jazz Gallery with Greg Ward and his new large ensemble. Greg was commissioned by the Jazz Gallery to do a residency there and write a set of new music. I can’t wait to dive into this stuff – Greg is an incredible composer and his music is always fun and challenging. Not to mention that he’s one of the best saxophonists on the planet right now!

Finally, I’ll be running back to Chicago (5/19-23) to do some gigs with the inimitable drummer, Dana Hall. I’ll be playing with Dana’s Black Fire band, which performs the music of Andrew Hill, at Andy’s. The next night, Dana has put together a band with John Wojciechowski, Clark Sommers, and me to perform Charles Lloyd’s classic album, “Of Course, Of Course”, at the Jazz Record Art Collective series. This record has been an inspiration to me for many years now, so I jumped at the opportunity to play it live. After that, I’ll be playing with my trio (Dana Hall/Matt Ulery) at The Lighthouse doing a bunch of new music I’ve written over the past year.

*** Just click on PERFORMANCES to get more details about these upcoming  gigs.

Fun times! Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you OUT AND ABOUT!

Chicago/NYC gigs coming up!

Hey y’all,

First, if you missed the Lonesome Limos EP, it’s still available HERE for free!

Second, I have a bunch of new gigs that I just put up on the PERFORMANCES page. There are lots of appearances in NYC, and I’ll also be back in Chicago from 4/1-4/6 doing a handful of gigs there. If you are in NYC tonight, I’ll be playing at the Salmagundi Club with Lena Bloch, Frank Carlberg, and Billy Mintz at 7:30pm. Hope to see you around soon!

Love,

Dave

Lonesome Limos s/t debut EP is out today and it’s FREE!

get it HERE.

or HERE.

Lonesome Limos is the new, psychedelic electro hip hop project of frequent collaborators Dave Miller (Brooklyn) and Tom Perona (Chicago). Among other bands they participated in together, Dave and Tom were the founding members of experimental rock band, Algernon (Cuneiform Records, ears&eyes Records). After Algernon went on hiatus, Dave and Tom once again decided to collaborate, this time sculpting beats, samples, and sounds from October to December of 2013. While retaining much of the experimentalism, eclecticism, and memorable melodicism of Algernon, Lonesome Limos is decidedly more beat-driven, danceable, and concise. The music is ripe with excitement and enthusiasm, and takes the listener through many unexpected shifts in texture. Influences include Madlib, Four Tet, Talking Heads, Parliament/Funkadelic, Q Tip, LCD Soundsystem, Daphni, Flying Lotus, Boards of Canada, and J Dilla. Put Lonesome Limos on at your next house party and get on the dance floor.

Produced by Dave Miller and Tom Perona

Guests:
James Scott/Shauna Regan – extra snaps and claps

Mixed and mastered by James Scott at Populist Recording.

First single released off the Lonesome Limos EP! Complete EP t be released on 2/17

“Replicator”, the first single off of the Lonesome Limos (Dave Miller/Tom Perona) debut EP is now available on Soundcloud!

Lonesome Limos is the new, psychedelic electro hip hop project of frequent collaborators Dave Miller (Brooklyn) and Tom Perona (Chicago). Among other bands they participated in together, Dave and Tom were the founding members of experimental rock band, Algernon (Cuneiform Records, ears&eyes Records). After Algernon went on hiatus, Dave and Tom once again decided to collaborate, this time sculpting beats, samples, and sounds from October to December of 2013. While retaining much of the experimentalism, eclecticism, and memorable melodicism of Algernon, Lonesome Limos is decidedly more beat-driven, danceable, and concise. The music is ripe with excitement and enthusiasm, and takes the listener through many unexpected shifts in texture. Influences include Madlib, Four Tet, Talking Heads, Parliament/Funkadelic, Q Tip, LCD Soundsystem, Daphni, Flying Lotus, Boards of Canada, and J Dilla. Put Lonesome Limos on at your next house party and get on the dance floor.

Produced by Dave Miller and Tom Perona

Guests:
James Scott/Shauna Regan – extra snaps and claps

Mixed and mastered by James Scott at Populist Recording.

@davemillerguitar
tomperona.com
davemiller.bandcamp.com
davemillerguitar.wordpress.com

 

What’s on the horizon for 2014, you ask? New EPs, LPs, etc.

Woah, it’s been a minute…

OK, contrary to what my blog’s activity might suggest, I haven’t been in complete hibernation in my new apartment in south Brooklyn. Oh wait, I kind of have, but the product of attempting to avoid the crazy and expensive reality that is New York City is something really cool. More on that in a minute…

First – awesome things about 2013:

I traveled for music a lot this year. In february, I did a week-long residency in Marseille, France with Bill Lowman, Cory Healey, and Stephane Milochevitch where we wrote and recorded a new album. I also played some great gigs around the country with Hot Club of Detroit. These guys are awesome musicians and even better dudes – check them out.

I wrote a brand new book of music for a new trio I formed with Shawn Conley (bass) and Shawn Baltazor (drums). We’ve already played a couple of gigs, and I’m really excited about this! More gigs to come. See below.

There were many other unexpected and crazy twists and turns in 2013, but let’s move forward…

Here’s what I’m excited about for 2014:

I’ll be releasing a new EP of all electronic music. For much of the latter part of this year, I actually have been hibernating in my bedroom, staring at a computer screen…listening to the same songs over and over…and over again. I’m collaborating with Tom Perona, of Algernon, and I’m extremely excited about the results! We’ll be putting the finishing touches and mixing the record at James Scott’s Populist Recording in Wheaton, IL over christmas.

The album we recorded in Marseille will be released early in the new year, as well, on Arbouse Recordings digitally and through a short run of LPs. The making of this album was such a great experience and I can’t wait to get it out into the world to see what you all think.

The next gig for my trio will be fun fun fun – we’ll be playing on 1/23 at LaunchPad in Crown Heights, Brooklyn with our special guest, guitarist Will Graefe, joining us for the set. If you haven’t heard Will, you should! His band, Star Rover, is one of my favorites right now, and he also has a great new solo guitar release.

Well, I’m probably missing some other stuff to be excited about. Maybe I’ll just add it in the comments section. Anyways, thanks for stopping by, and make sure to enjoy yourselves this holiday season. See you in the new year!