Phil Miller a Lifetime of Recording (original) (raw)

In Cahoots remained Phil’s band for the rest of his life. “In Cahoots play the music of Phil Miller” was the phrase used in publicity for the band which played over the years in various formats from quartet to septet. It had three changes of bass player: Richard Sinclair, Hugh Hopper and Fred Thelonius Baker. Two changes of drummer: Pip Pyle and Mark Fletcher. Two keyboardists: Peter Lemer and Steve Franklin. Three saxophonists: Elton Dean, Simon Picard and Paul Booth (with a brief interim by Theo Travis). Three trumpet players: Jim Dvorak, Simon Finch and Mark Armstrong, One trombone player, Sarah Gail Brand. And himself on guitar.
He recorded 12 albums (13 if you include the posthumous Double Up 2)
From the very beginning of In Cahoots it was Phil’s idea to write. He formed In Cahoots to play his music. He undertook all the work involved in getting tours/gigs for the band. As he said in an interview: “If you want to hear your music played you have to do all the work: make all the phone calls, chase up all he venues, arrange all the transport, book all the hotels etc.”
Recording his music was also very important to Phil. In the beginning that meant vinyl which caused a lot of headaches. The first two of his albums were on vinyl. At the end of the long involved process Phil would be presented with the test pressing for him to approve. He was always appalled with the result. There was always dropout in several places. For a perfectionist like Phil this was something he just couldn’t bring himself to accept. The trouble was that nobody would accept the blame. There were so many processes involved in producing a vinyl album that nobody could say where in those processes the dropout had occurred. Having it done all over again resulted in a product that was just as bad but with dropout in different places. Nobody else seemed to notice anything wrong. Loads of money was wasted and the final result was no improvement. Eventually Phil had to accept what he was given.
When CDs came along these small dropouts were not present. From then on Phil put out all his albums on CD. Not only was the reproduction process free from problems but CDs were so much easier to sell at gigs and much cheaper to post. Phil sold a lot of his CDs by mail order.
There were many decisions Phil had to make about his life as a musician. Some musicians really want to play more than anything else. Some do it for the buzz of playing to a live audience Some want to be famous. Phil really wanted to write. He wanted to hear his music played and he wanted his music to be recorded. His method was to spend time writing until he had enough material for an album, arrange rehearsals with the band, record the album and take the band on tour. All the members of In Cahoots were involved with other projects and therefore not dependent on Phil to earn their living, so Phil wasn’t pressurised into constantly having to find work for the band.
At the beginning Phil managed to get record deals for his first four albums:

Cutting Both Ways with Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, Pete Lemer, Pip Pyle and himself augmented with Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin. Split Second with Elton Dean, Pip Pyle, Fred Baker, Steve Franklin and himself augmented with Richard Sinclair, John Mitchell, Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin
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Live 86-89 with both previous line-ups and Digging In with Fred Baker, Pete Lemer, Pip Pyle (programming) and himself.
By this time he and Fred Baker had been doing a lot of work together, playing mainly Phil’s compositions as a duo and they decided to record an album. Rather than spend time and effort trying to interest a record company in this new project, Phil decided to form his own record company to produce his own CDs. He called the record label Crescent Discs after our address in Colvestone Crescent and used the services of Rob Ayling (Voiceprint) for distribution. He and Fred recorded the album in Phil’s own studio at home and Crescent Discs brought out Double Up 1992

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The following year Crescent Discs brought out Live In Japan using recording taken during a tour of Japan in 1991.Phil took In Cahoots to France in 1993 to the studios of Gege L’Homme, in Chennvieres-sur-Marne. Gege was the brother-in-law of Sophia Domanchich – the keyboard player for whom Pip had left his wife and children for. For this project In Cahoots played without a keyboard and the line up was 2 horns: Elton and Jim Dvorak, Pip, Fred Baker, Pete Lemer and himself. The resulting Recent Discoveries came out in 1993.

Parallel followed in 1996 with the return of Pete Lemer with Elton, Jim, Fred, Pip and himself.
Next came Out of the Blue in 2001 with Fred, Pip, Elton, Pete and Jim with Doug Boyle guesting. All That (Cuneiform) came out in 2003 with a new drummer Mark Fletcher, with Elton and Jim, Pete, Fred and himself.

Conspiracy Theories followed in 2006 with the biggest list of players: Pete, Fred, Mark, Simon Picard, Simon French, Annie Whitehead, Didier Malherbe, Doug Boyle, Richard Sinclair, Dave Stewart, Barbara Gaskin and himself. Finally Mind Over Matter was released with Fred Baker, Pete Lemer, Mark Fletcher, Paul Booth, Mark Armstrong and himself in 2011.

Crescent Discs’ final CD Double Up 2 was released posthumously in 2022