I wanted to write this piece about Phil and the way he pulled funny faces when he was playing.
He was teased mercilessly about it from the beginning of of his career. I’ve watched Matching Mole performances on Utube where some punter has commented along the lines of “What’s wrong with the guitar player? Why is he pulling such awful faces – is he in pain or something?”
He was teased relentlessly when he was in Hatfield and the North where the other players referred to it as “gurning” and accused him (jokingly) of frightening the audience! It wasn’t something that Phil had any control over and a lot of the time on stage you could find him trying to hide away when he was playing.
He did gradually manage, over the years, to control it, to a degree. I thought it was a shame because it was so expressive and enabled one to get a glimpse into a part of Phil’s soul that was normally hidden.
Richard Sinclair had once told Phil that he should be able to sing every note he played and for a long time I used to think that Phil was trying to silently sing the notes – and it does look a bit like that – as if he is straining to reach notes that are way out of his range.
In this fragment of film that somebody took of In Cahoots playing in the Dunois in Paris 1984, you can catch glimpses of Phil soloing on Nowadays A Silhouette, completely taken over by what he is playing, so wrapped up in the music, so caught up in his solo, he is oblivious to the fact that people are watching him, so concentrated is he, and so one with what he is playing. It is so expressive and not confined to the contortions of his face. His whole body is gripped emotionally by every note he plays. Not exactly dancing but writhing expressively with intense feeling. Not so much Lything and Gracing as Writhing and Grimacing!
I found it incredibly moving. Sadly the cameraman/woman seemed to be more interested in filming the back of Pete Lemer’s head than following this amazing soloist and we only get fleeting glances of Phil’s mesmerising performance.
In every day life, although Phil was a warm and friendly person, he was very shy. He was not flamboyant in any way and had an introverted rather than extroverted personality. He was reserved and dignified. He had never been known to dance. Seeing him behaving as he appears in the film is quite an eye opener and more importantly is in no way an act.
All these years later, now that we know so much about synaesthesia, it’s obvious to me that Phil had a form of this condition, Apparently a lot of musicians have it – seeing notes as colours etc, although I have never read about anyone having exactly this form.
Here is an excerpt from one of the websites about this condition:
Synaesthesia is a phenomenon that causes sensory crossovers, such as tasting coulors or feeling sounds. Some people describe it as having “wires crossed” in their brain because it activates two or more senses when there’s only a reason for one sense to activate.
People with synaesthesia experience the processing step differently. Their brains process the same information through two or more brain areas at once.
Phil wrote Nowadays A Silhouette for Alan Gowen. It was first performed by National Health when Alan re-joined the group in 1979 on their extensive European tour of The Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Italy and France and also their USA tour the same year. In 1982 it appeared on the album Before A Word Is Said with Alan Gowen, Phil, Richard Sinclair and Trevor Tomkins and became part of In Cahoots’ repertoire in 1983-84, and was later part of Short Wave’s repertoire.
SCORES
PDFs
VIDEOS
1984 Le Dunois Paris, France. In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Elton Dean alto sax / saxello, Pete Lemer keyboards, Richard Sinclair bass, Pip Pyle drums.
2019 The Phil Miller Tribute Concert, Vortex,London, 6th January 2019
Pete Lemer keyboards, John Etheridge guitar, Fred Baker bass guitar, Simon Picard soprano sax, Paul Dufour drums.
AUDIO FILES
1979 National Health: Phil Miller guitar, Alan Gowen keyboards, John Greaves bass, Pip Pyle drums.
Toberbal Club, Maassluis. 29 March 1979.
1979 National Health: Phil Miller guitar, Alan Gowen keyboards, John Greaves bass, Pip Pyle drums.
Opera House, Lawrence, KS. USA. 19 November 1979.
1979 National Health: Phil Miller guitar, Alan Gowen keyboards, John Greaves bass, Pip Pyle drums.
Garage Demos, Lawrence, KS. USA. November 1979.
1991 Short Wave: Phil Miller guitar, Didier Malherbe sax, Hugh Hopper bass, Pip Pyle drums.
A L’Ouest de la Grosne, Bresse-sur-Grosne. 8 November 1991
1984 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Elton Dean alto sax/saxello, Peter Lemer keyboards, Richard Sinclair bass/vocals, Pip Pyle drums.
De Trucker, Pijnacker. Netherlands. 13 May 1984 track 6
1979 National Health: Phil Miller guitar, John Greaves bass/vocals, Alan Gowen keyboards, Pip Pyle drums.
Washington DC 28 November 1979
1985 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Elton Dean alto sax/saxello, Peter Lemer keyboards, Hugh Hopper bass, Pip Pyle drums.
Wilhelmina, Eindhoven, Netherlands 25 March 1985
1984 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Elton Dean altosax/saxello, Peter Lemer keyboards, Richard Sinclair bass/vocals, Pip Pyle drums.
De Vrije Vloer, Utrecht, Netherlands. AVRO Radio broadcast.8 May 1984.
1984 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Richard Sinclair bass, Elton Dean sax, Peter Lemer keyboards, Pip Pyle drums.
Université Villeneuve, Lille, France. 2 May 1984
1991 Miller/Baker Duo: Phil Miller guitar, Fred Baker bass with guests Pip Pyle drums, Elton Dean sax and some Japanese friends.
Roppongi Pit Inn, Tokyo, Japan. 21 December 1991
1979 early show National Health: Phil Miller guitar, Alan Gowen electric piano/synth, John Greaves bass.
Squat Theatre, New York City, USA. 30 November 1979
1979 late show National Health: Phil Miller guitar, Alan Gowen electric piano/synth, John Greaves bass, Pip Pyle drums, special guest: Peter Blegvad recitation.
Squat Theatre, New York City, USA. 30 November 1979
1981 Phil Miller guitar, Richard Sinclair bass, Alan Gowen keyboards, Trevor Tomkins drums.
Alan Gowan’s front room, London, April/May 1981. Engineered by Peter Ball.
2019 A Life In Music. 1st Concert: John Etheridge guitar. Simon Picard tenor sax. Fred Baker bass guitar. Peter Lemer keyboards. Paul Dufour drums.
Phil Miller Tribute Concert. Vortex, London. 6 January 2019. Engineer Benjamin LeFevre.
1979 National Health: Phil Miller guitar, Alan Gowen electric piano, synth, John Greaves bass, crooning, Pip Pyle drums.
The Edge, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 11th November 1979
1984 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Elton Dean alto sax, saxello, Richard Sinclair bass, Pete Lemer keyboards, Pip Pyle drums.
Le Dunois Paris France 29th April 1984
1983 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Richard Sinclair bass, Pete Lemer keyboards, Pip Pyle drums.
Bull & Gate London 27th April 1983
1991 Shortwave: Phil Miller guitar, synth guitar, Hugh Hopper bass, Didier Malherbe tenor & soprano sax, flute, Pip Pyle drums.
New Morning Paris France 6th November 1991
1984 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Elton Dean alto sax & saxello, Peter Lemer Keyboards, Richard Sinclair bass, Pip Pyle drums.
Le Dunoir, Paris 29th April 1984.