vs.

Mission of Burma created converts with the angular atmospheric angst of this post punk art rock landmark.  After the powerful promise of their debut EP 'Signals, Calls and Marches', the Boston-based band went into the studio to record a full length album.  'Vs.' was recorded at Normandy Sound in Warren, Rhode Island and produced by Rick Harte, owner of Ace of Hearts Records.  The sessions featured Martin Swope on tape manipulations, loops, and percussion; Clint Conley on bass, vocals, and percussion; Roger Miller on guitar, vocals, piano, trumpet, and percussion; and Peter Prescott on drums, vocals, percussion.  

It was Swope's editing that provided an experimental edge to the sound of the punkish trio.  Conley remembers:  "He started mixing us at live performances, did a few things in the studio, and then started showing up in our photographs. I can't remember any sort of ceremony where we slit our fingers and traded blood, or anything like that."

Miller quips:  "When we first started, the joke in Boston was, `They'd be pretty good if they could all play the same song at the same time.' Our songs were so complex sometimes, and we'd all be doing completely different things in the same song. Martin just added another element of that very organized embracing of the chaos of the moment."

Prescott considers:  "What Martin did was tape something that was going on live, manipulate it, and send it back in [via the soundboard] as a sort of new instrument. You couldn't predict exactly how it would sound, and that got to be the really fun thing I think we all liked. We wanted to play this hammer-down drony noise stuff, but we also wanted another sound in there."

The album never charted; but it was an influence on many bands that followed.  Miller reflects:  "The main thing I think of when we play a show is the visceral physicality of it — just the raw sounds. After you're hit by that, then you might think, 'Well that structure was really interesting there — no wonder I couldn't follow it.' It's more complicated than your average rock song. But the first thing you get is just a physical band. And I agree with you in that sense — it keeps us from being too pompous. I mean we could be pompous if we wanted to be, but none of us seemed to really have it in us...The model shifted because punk was a very DIY thing. It wasn't that you put out a hit and you kept putting hits out so you're huge. The model was that if you could keep playing and you could make a living, that's good. I think that's the main part of it. I can't explain it any more than that...And psychedelia was like that also, but the punk thing had to do with not caring what people thought of them — 'We're going to stick by our guns.' A lot of bands didn't, but whatever. That kind of model and that kind of thing did sink in to a certain degree. There could be a tier — like there are certain bands that Bob called "hobby rock." I mean, Mission of Burma is not a hobby for me, but you can call it whatever you want."

Conley says:  "The first couple of Burma...Burma 2.0 recordings were all tape. I think. With a little bit of additional recording onto ProTools...But other than that, it’s all pretty old bastard punk rock recording for the most part. We’re still very old school in our approach and how we do it. Perfection of sound is really never what we’ve been about anyway...I mean if anything we were a little more insecure back then and so we worked hard at getting really good takes. And really...I think they sound overly-worked...when I heard those recordings now they sound too pristine and blemish-free. Whereas now it’s kind of...I don’t know, I hear...ugliness more...I mean, but--it’s hardly...you know...lyrics are sensitive. I don’t like talking about them much, but yeah, I certainly never want to come off as preachy, that’s true. But there’s not that much overtly political aspect in my songs other than just the whole mentality." 

Mission of Burma would break up the following year, only to reunite nineteen years later without Swope.  Prescott recalls:  "When we broke up, we weren’t enemies, we weren’t drug addicts, we hadn’t burned out on each other. There were a few reasons, one of them being Roger’s tinnitus. He was having hearing problems that were really getting in the way of him playing music. Clint had kind of gotten ready to move on and it was just logical for us to break up. I don’t think we ever looked back, we just moved on and did other things."









http://missionofburma.com/







"Trem Two"



"Einstein's Day"  








'Vs.'
full album:




All tracks written by Roger Miller, except as noted. 

Side A
1. "Secrets"   3:22
2. "Train"   Clint Conley 3:31
3. "Trem Two"   4:10
4. "New Nails"   3:00
5. "Dead Pool"   Conley 4:05
6. "Learn How"   Peter Prescott 3:56
Side B
1. "Mica"   Conley, Holly Anderson 3:34
2. "Weatherbox"   3:29
3. "The Ballad of Johnny Burma"   2:00
4. "Einstein's Day"   4:34
5. "Fun World"   3:40
6. "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate"   Conley 2:04