GRANDSTANDS, NORTHAMPTON,  MA,  July,  2002

Cargo May Shift member bio's

Name: Jon Miller

Instrument: Drums & Percussion & Words

Band Related Bio: "I've been playing drums since i was 12, but I quit after about 4 years. When I was 18, heather and I decided that we wanted to start a band. I picked up my drums sticks for the first time in two years and retought myself. At first I could barely do anything but keep a steady beat, but over time it all started to come back to me. My viewpoint on drumming is this: i have no interest in becoming an amazing drummer. I don't think that is what this is all about. I make music because i love it, and loud furious drum solos just don't fit into that idea for me. I want to rock out, but i don't feel as though I need to out rock any other drummer, that's just stupid."

Major Musical Influences (and why): "I have to say (and this may come as a shock to some of you) that the band which was most important and influential to me as a musician (and music enthusiast) was Letters To Cleo. The first album I ever bought (which was in sixth grade) was "Wholesale Meats and Fish". At the time (as it still does today) it completely blew me away. It made me fall in love with rock, and in many ways was forshadowing of what was to come in my musical taste. It also sparked the flame of pation I have for the sound of the female voice, It gave me the respect of women musicians ( and woman of all walks of life) that stills lives inside of me today. When I listen to that album I still feel like the wide eyed young boy I was then, amazed at how beautiful, powerful, moving, and angry music could be. Letters To Cleo were a gateway for me, and i owe so much of who I am today to what they gave to me then. Not only did they start a domino effect in my musical taste, but they also helped teach me that i had a voice and that I could be a strong intelligent person. A lot of you probably think that that is cheezy, but it's just the way it is. As time went on, I discover what I still consider to be the most amazing band of all time , The Patti Smith Group. I've never loved any music as much as I do there's. There music is my favorite art, plain and simple. If you haven't heard them, stop reading and go buy a copy of Radio Ethiopia or Horses. You'll see what I mean. As far as current direct influence on the way I play drums, I'de have to say that the drumming of Janet Wiess (of Sleater-Kinney) has played a big part. I think that this is most obvious in songs such as "Moving". When we wrote that, the first thing Heather said to me is that it sounded Wiessian. so yeah"

People who I respect and have had a huge influence on my life (but I've never met):

Sharon Olds: She's my favorite writer. As far as the way I write goes, she's played a big role. Read her books "The Dead and the Living"

Cindy Sherman: She's my favorite artist/photographer. Her photos move me. In addition to writing and playing drums, I am also a photographer. The way i take photos has been directly influenced bar her to the point where sometimes I fear I am copying her.

Patti Smith: She is my favorite musician, she makes me think more than almost anyone. When i listen to her I feel passion and power.

Bands I am currently very interested in:
Mecca Normal
The Mendoza Line
The Raincoats (though this one has kind of been intrueging me for years)

Favorite book: "Life After God" by Douglas Coupland

Favorite Song: "Ain't it Strange" by The Patti Smith Group

Political Cause that's I've been into as of late: Intersex Rights

I started playing guitar when i was 13 in my eighth grade music class.  i taught myself a whole bunch of simple songs like puff the magic dragon, sunshine on my shoulder, and runaway train.  these songs bored me, so i started writing my own.  a few months later i aquired a bright red fender squire and decided i wanted to be courtney love.  i began taking guitar lessons and learned how to play 'live through this' in its entirety.  i always had the secret dream of being the 'frontwoman' of a rock band, but i wouldn't dare sing in front of anyone.  so when no one was home i would secretly scream hole and nirvana songs in my bedroom.  at the age of 15 i discovered bikini kill followed soon after by sleater-kinney and i never looked back.  at 16 i sold the fender squire and bought the black statocaster that i still play today.  i only listend to grrrl fronted bands for about a year.  corin tucker became my new vocal role influence.  i had no vibrato (i didn't really want it anyway…i didn't want to be her, just belt it out like her), but i taught myself a whole bunch of heavens to betsy songs.  my senior year of highschool i was given the final push that made me decide if anyone was going to sing my songs it was going to be me.  so i dug out my father's tape deck from the 1970s and recorded a few songs for a friend.  she was impressed.  this gave me confidence and i kept working on my singing, driving around listening to cadallaca, i always say 'your one wish' is the song that taught me how to sing.  i played three songs solo on my radio show and that was the end of my fear of singing.  i played an endless amount of open mics, angry that a few people had the nerve to call me a folk singer.  my roots were in riot grrrl, and i was playing rock with a punk edge…it just happened to be on acoustic guitar because it was an open mic after all.  i met jon a few months after my highschool radio debut.  i wanted to start a band, he mentioned that he used to play drums, and about a year later (after my endless attempts at starting bands that never worked out) cargo may shift was born.

musical influences
the band that made me want to pick up a guitar and scream was hole.  although i soon discovered bands that would influence my music much more than hole ever could, 'live through this' will always hold sentimental value for me.  it taught me to bang the hell out of my cheap little fender squire and scream until i could barely talk.  it makes me sad there's nothing that accessible that compares today.  there are no angsty girl role models in mainstream rock, and i think there should always be one, just to serve as a gateway to the amazing music being made outside the mainstream.
my very favorite band in the entire world is sleater-kinney.  so it is obvious that i also like, heavens to betsy, excuse 17, and cadallaca, and i might as well include team dresch, bikini kill, and the third sex while i'm listing influeces.  i listen to a much wider array of music than that, but i would say these bands are the ones that made me want to be in a band and i guess got me through highschool while they were at it.  i do like it when boys sing, despite popular belief.