Bones by Millerd Meyers

BONES / MILLERD MEYERS

Post-Rock Ambient Improv

An Art Punk & an Euro-Jazzer walk into a room, sit at a piano, pick up a guitar, & play.


Chuck Foster, The Big Takeover: “This trilogy of tracks opens with More, where guitar & piano deliver a Rhys Chatham-like minimalist groove before devolving into rock ’n’ roll mutations. The trumpet genius is revealed on Flare,... a more avant-garde affair; the duo sound like isolated tracks from a lost Miles Davis electric session. Bones is a 30-minute sonic exploration that is simultaneously beautiful & sinister.” 

“Beautiful Stuff. You should put it out.” Peter Aaron, Chrome Cranks/Stabbing Jabs

In 1976 Andy Meyers burst out of high school seeking musical adventure & formed the Scenics with Ken Badger. (“Brainy crackpot artpop with an ear for off-kilter melody, a headful of magic & twitchy grooves to burn” Toronto Star).

Flash forward to 2000. Andy’s young family fled urban noise & congestion, & landed on Saltspring Island, where he opened Allowed Sound recording studio. While taping the local high school music program, Andy could hear that young jazz trumpeter Simon Millerd’s reputation as a phenom was well deserved.



Simon went on to the McGill University Jazz program, forming Nomad, a jazz septet featuring young lions from around the world. Nomad’s 2016 album As We Are, & Simon’s 2017 Lessons and Fairytales, followed. (“His compositions foreground a sensuous beauty while offering plenty of opportunities for engaged improvisation.” mqs.link) Andy saw Nomad live & came away impressed by Simon’s trumpet, piano, & compositions.


In 2007 The Scenics reformed with original members. They released albums of vintage (In the Summer) & new (Dead Man Walks Down Bayview) music, & did some touring in Canada and the United States.

By 2019 Simon was back on Saltspring. He & Andy decided to do some free improv. (They had never played together.) Andy had loved improv in his Scenic years-- it ran through everything they did. In those days he had sat in with CCMC, & played with UK guitar legend Derek Bailey. In 2003 Andy had released an improv album with Vancouver’s ace drummer Buff Allen.

The music Simon and Andy made surprised them both. It wasn’t jazz, it wasn’t a wild blowing session. It was music made by two composers, minimalists (more Booker T or Ahmad Jamal than Phillip Glass) who were keen listeners. Creating extended spontaneous compositions, & responding quickly/precisely to shifts each other made. Andy says “It’s like we are climbing a sheer mountain face together, both responding intently to small shifts in terrain & our mutual responsibility in covering it together.”

The music unfolds over rhythmic triads, not dense jazz chords. Andy: “It felt like Post Rock... But rock is aggressive. This music is from time to time, but often isn’t. “Post Yacht Rock” was funny, but not right. So--”Post-Rock Ambient Improv”.

The way the pieces follow an organic journey reminds me of the wandering Simon and I did to end up as an Art Punk and a Euro-Jazzer sitting down in a room, to find out what it would sound like.”

Bones: limited run CD/Digital in recycled jewel case with 4 collages (Made by Andy & Artist/Vocalist Susheela Dawne) included. An indie art project. Release date Nov 26, 2021.
Dream Tower Records DT11. andymeyers.bandcamp.com For more info: creating@allowedsound.com

Co-founded artpunks The Scenics at 19. (“NYC had Talking Heads, here was their equal in Toronto” B Mersereau). thescenics.bandcamp.com
Composed for dance, theatre &, the celebrated film "Dosed" (2019). Have played with Derek Bailey, sang Mozart with the CBC Orch, & loaned John Cale my guitar. I arrange/produce for artists, teach songwriting @ allowedsound.com. Noise, harmony, song, sound, music!