Tales from the Caravan of Experience

An IMperfect Bio

Somewhere on a US highway a high-tech gleaming tour bus rolls through the night. Somewhere on the great river Thames as it flows up through South West London a house boat ebbs and flows against the current. Trying to summarise the world of IMperfect was never going to be easy.

Let's start with the name: imperfect / I'm perfect? Perhaps both are right, perhaps it's a conundrum, perhaps it's a choice. And then there's the metaphor: a Caravan of Experience. An image that conjures up olden travelling bands of players and musicians relating their collective stories as others relate to them, constantly changing as the old players leave and new players join. It's a great metaphor for the shared musical experience. That bus and that boat, well, they're just wagons on the Caravan and IMperfect just one set of stories being told.

The stories belong to one Mike Miller, resident of the aforementioned houseboat. He might have joined the caravan in Cape Town where he entered the world, or perhaps later in London putting bands on at the Windmill theatre above the Raymond Revue Bar. Or was it earlier in his first band with school friends? It's safe to say that at whatever point, Imperfect's telling of Mike's tales doesn't start until '92 in New York City. Somewhere between the two Sohos there's been a marriage, a split, two kids and Florida. Six years later and we're in California where story number two draws a difficult breath before crossing back over the Atlantic. That's a lot of ground covered, a lot of stories to tell.

The early days of IMperfect's recording life were complicated by distance and disintegrating friendships and relationships. Since then, and anchored (if you'll pardon the pun) on the river, the band has grown in stature and stability, first Mike working mostly solo, then Ewan J Shotter now really part of the core combo coming in on bass, then Jez Buzzing(guitar), Laurence Pendrous(keys) and the others all appearing with more increasing consistency on both record and on stage. And he still uses his son's vocal skills; Ben appeared on the first album as a kid but is now better known as celebrated Miami wrapper Wreckonize and that's him with !Mayday! On the bus. There's the connection at last.

But IMperfect remains very much Mike's voice, much in the style of the old school cinematic auteurs – a comparison of which I think he'd appreciate. He writes and produces in his floating home studio; like the one Dave Gilmour used to have further down the river only scaled down from the millionaire income. He sings and the shining tones of his old Guild 12 string form the melodic heart of his music. If you asked him whether he was a singer, producer, writer or guitarist I think he'd tell you he was just a storyteller with his stories set to music.

It wouldn't be surprising to say that the music's not that easy to pigeon-hole either. Warm jazzy tunes fuse into ambience then trip hop, then rock. Traditional pop forms are inverted, tunes take unexpected turns, choruses aren't where they should be and if they need a little longer than three minutes thirty to work themselves through, then they're given the time and space to do so. As you listen to the last three albums you can hear the musician growing comfortable with his craft without becoming complacent in his art. There's always a great little melodic hook in there, and there are always layers to explore; it's music to actively listen to.

Which just leaves the tales themselves. Mike's experience, shared experience, tales told of others, tales tied together with a world view that still looks on the human experience with a great sense of hope. Or as Mike himself would say: Peace!
The Scribe(Mark Merifield)