If you ask Farley Miller, the mind behind CANNOT BE STOPPED, about what makes working alone so effective, his answer is surprisingly utilitarian. "It's so cost-effective to tour by yourself." Stuffing his drum kit into his mom's station wagon, he managed to hit five cities from Portland to Philadelphia and still make a profit - a modest one of $50.
| Assistant Music Editor Michael Richardson interviews College of Arts and Sciences senior and experimental drummer Farley Miller (aka, one-man-band CANNOT BE STOPPED). |
CANNOT BE STOPPED is Miller's main project. It consists of him on drums along with swirling electronic rhythms that are played in real-time, thanks to electronic instrumentation hooked up directly to his drum kit. Alone on the drums, Miller can manage to created sounds rife with a layered simplicity that speaks more of a three-piece band than a single mind. All of the music comes from Miller alone, which gives him a creative freedom that results in a free-reign approach to song writing, for better or for worse.
"Being in a one-man band is both a blessing and a curse at the same time because logistically it makes everything easy," he said. "But you only have the resources of one person. There's no one there to censor me."
Miller has been playing the drums since he was eight years old, when his father, a guitarist, urged him to pick up the instrument in the hopes of forming a family power trio with Miller's older brother on bass guitar. While those plans ultimately faltered, the time spent on the drums stuck with Miller. After private lessons for 10 years and a stint at Berklee College of Music, he came to AU to try to distill his unique sound. Influenced from such diverse sound as post-hardcore to early 8-bit videogames, CANNOT BE STOPPED represents to Miller a sort of middle ground between his traditional drum training and his more avant-garde tendencies for song arrangement.
| "Maximalism," from the Mountain EP by CANNOT BE STOPPED |
| "Northern Lights/Southern Cross," from the Mountain EP by CANNOT BE STOPPED |
| "Crystals," from the Mountain EP by CANNOT BE STOPPED |
"A lot of people have come to understand that experimental music is almost synonymous with 'unlistenable,'" he said. "While what I'm doing might be called experimental, the drums provide sort of a rhythmic basis that a lot of people really enjoy."
Miller considers this accessibility one of the biggest benefits of his drum-focused style, as opposed to the droning guitars and quirky sounds that emanate from the typical Casio keyboard.
"People want to hear melodies and notes, and even if experimental music doesn't present notes in a way that's easily listenable, it's something very recognizable," he said.
When Miller came to D.C. there were a few changes he wanted the see in the local music scene. While the experimental music scene in the District was welcoming enough, he wanted to see it expand to form a bigger, more welcoming tent. Compared to other cities where he played, Miller sees the scene in D.C. as too insular, rarely willing to tolerate anything too close to the edge.
"I came into D.C., and I really tried to do something different, and I think in a lot of ways I've been frustrated that D.C. doesn't embrace experimental music more than it does," he said. "As much as I love the city, I'm looking forward to going somewhere else."
Where that might be is still up in the air, but Miller points to Baltimore and New York City as more welcoming environments for creativity - breeding grounds for new strains of sound.
Miller will be leaving D.C. after graduation for a while in the hopes of finding a bigger market share for his sound. But he's still content with what he did here in the city. In response to the conservatism in the local music culture, Miller looked to organize local acts to get them more exposure.
Through his work with WVAU and Capitol Punishment, he managed to bring local and groundbreaking acts to the attention of both students and the community at large. He's played with a number of different acts around the city, including his other band Four Fins of the Rocket, in which he gets the opportunity to experience a more traditional band set-up. Through these projects, Miller feels he made enough of a difference to be proud of.
"I've tried to put something into D.C. that was not there before, and I think it's been good, and [my efforts] worked and offered new things to D.C.," he said.
Much of that work will be on display at 7 p.m. Friday in Katzen. After a career mostly defined by basement shows and manageable crowds, Miller is looking forward to playing in an actual concert hall and exploring how that will affect his music.
"I've never heard it before, so nobody else has either," he said. "And everybody I've talked to is really excited that it's going to be in this giant concert hall ... It's just about everything I've ever done, in a really cool setting to be playing in."
And while this show marks the culmination of Miller's work to date, it's certainly not the end of CANNOT BE STOPPED and the frantic, frenetic percussion he's known for.
You can reach this staff writer at mrichardson@theeagleonline.com.
