ARTIST PROFILE: MILLER “SUMMER WILL COME - HAIGHT ASHBURY EDITION”
“Summer Will Come” was written during the darkest time in life. Misfortunes never come singly. When Miller’s injured right hand didn’t heal for months, his musical life seemed over when the band parted ways as his body was getting weaker and weaker. Trapped in a dead-end job, and it kept raining during the best time of the year. Life was at a crossroads, deemed for a change; however, to understand something clearly, at last, one must go through the tunnel of darkness.
Dwelling on hopelessness, loneliness, pain, and the rain, Miller curled into the back of his studio. “Although I thought my musical career was over, I started playing guitar again, and the lyrics just happened,” he said, “they somehow described my situation at that moment: ‘things are not getting better...’ but I quickly realized there was a deeper, more extensive message in all that.” At that moment, words turned into lyrics: “I found something that has a deeper and universal meaning.”
Even in darkness, the light will eventually come, just as every frozen winter is followed by spring. Summer will come. The song that was poured out of Miller was the subconscious expression comes for rescue. It has allowed Miller to take a step back and reflect on his situation from a different perspective. At that moment, he rekindled the inner light of courage that has transformed his life through crisis and inspired him creatively.
When the global pandemic hit last year, Miller decided to bring back “Summer Will Come” with a music video. “I felt that there was a need in the world for something that can give a little hope without ignoring the seriousness of the situation,” he commented.
Miller recorded the video in a one-person live band setting and layered it with moody sound arrangements. “I decided to try recording in a very 60’s way. Doing this creates a special sound you cannot imitate with modern technologies,” said Miller, “music becomes much livelier and also a bit chaotic.”
From a vast collection of U.S. historical films and documentations on cultural history in the public domain, Miller stumbled upon two vintage documentaries rooted in hippy culture in the early 70s. The films documented the journey of drug addicts fighting their way back to society and searched for freedom and profound emotional moments. From daily activities, therapy sessions, and dialogs, he chose the scenes that reflected freedom, happiness, and hope. As a social worker, he has worked with drug addicts in resocialization programs for a few years. “It’s never easy. Sometimes, it’s so hard to get along with hopelessness. But it helps when you focus on the positive things, like activities with friends, families, sport, and even music,” he said.
Miller’s deep-rooted fascination with the 60s started in young and intertwined with his life journey. His first impressions of musicians were those he saw on television in the early years, “I can’t remember who they were, but they looked so happy and free. They sang lyrics about big emotions and told important stories. Some were sad, and some were thoughtful. Their audiences were always listening so carefully to every single word they sang,” said Miller.
Those initial moments had a significant impact on him. Later, he fell in love with four nice guys who became political and cultural icons. They were the Beatles. “They opened the door to 60s music and counterculture,” he said, “then one evening when I was about 16 years old, I saw the film ‘The Great Rock’n’roll Swindle,’ it absolutely blew my mind. I started playing in bands, composing rock songs inspired by both countercultures, the 60s hippie music, and the raw sound of the late seventies punk.”
Behind rock n roll, punk, and political movements were the thriving energy after a dark time of war. “The 60s has always impressed me. It was the first time in modern history when young people stood up and decided to go their own way to create a new culture with new, positive values. Most of them were born during or shortly after the war. Some of them had lost parents or uncles in the war, and they couldn’t just get back to the normal again,” Miller commented, “Their will to change society was so strong and was so omnipresent in art, writing, and music. You can still feel the strength nowadays. Aside from being so powerful, 60s’ counterculture had a playful element in it – always trying to find a new way to solve a problem and always be creative.”
This thriving energy that grows between the gap of a cliff is the connection of all. “Without the cruelties of WWII, the hippie movement and the rejection of Vietnam would probably not have happened, such as ‘Summer Will Come’ wouldn’t exist without my crisis,” said Miller, “it’s not about hope. It’s always about courage.”
To Miller, being a musician means more than making music. “I always feel a social responsibility in my music and my behavior as an artistic person,” he said. Besides being a musician and social worker, Miller is dedicated to promoting other artists and raising public awareness of their struggles. All sales generated will be donated to the Künstlersoforthilfe Stuttgart organization, providing financial relief to artists influenced by covid-19.