{"id":833,"date":"2010-08-27T01:45:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-27T01:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=833"},"modified":"2026-06-27T01:46:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T01:46:38","slug":"mission-of-burma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=833","title":{"rendered":"Mission of Burma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

August 2010, 40 Watt, Athens, Ga.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLast time we were at the 40 Watt the only light was a light bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling,\u201d said Roger Miller, guitarist for the legendary Mission of Burma. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot more light now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last time a simple 40-watt bulb lit the club was nearly three decades ago \u2014 but it was that image and Mission of Burma was one of those bands which have allowed the 40 Watt to become what it has. Thirty years later both are thriving like never before.<\/p>\n

Mission of Burma ended the 2010 edition of Popfest with a powerful flourish, blowing up the Watt with a stunning display of fast guitar and pounding bass to the delight of the packed house. Roger, joined onstage by bassist Clint Conley and drummer Peter Prescott, showcased songs from their entire catalog during the hour and 15-minute set \u2014 playing old classics \u201cThis is Not a Photograph\u201d (from 1981\u2019s Signals, Calls, and Marches<\/em>) with new ones such as \u201c1,2,3 Partyy!\u201d (from 2009\u2019s The Sound the Speed the Light<\/em>). \u201cIf you look there\u2019s pop in there somewhere,\u201d Clint said referring to the band\u2019s inclusion in Popfest. \u201cIt\u2019s under a lot of layers.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never seen MOB before, and I never thought I\u2019d get the chance. Vs<\/em>., the band\u2019s 1982 album, is one of the best albums of the era, and when the three played \u201cSecrets,\u201d \u201cMica,\u201d \u201cEinstein\u2019s Day\u201d and the amazing \u201cThat\u2019s How I Escaped My Certain Fate,\u201d it was all I could do from leaping out of my skin in joy. Songs almost 30 years old should sound dated, but these didn\u2019t \u2014 and that goes to the depth and importance of Mission of Burma. The albums of the past meld so well with the ones from the present (ONoffON<\/em> and The Obliterati<\/em>), you sometimes wonder if the band invented a time machine in 1981 to see what people in 2009 were listening to.<\/p>\n

Onstage the guys are relentless. Roger is a whirlwind with the guitar, while Clint plays the bass with passion and fervor, it becomes a part of his body. Peter, who added humorous remarks between songs, is a rock behind the set, perfectly melding the sound in front of them.<\/p>\n

As for the sound \u2014 the thunderous, roaring, magnificent sound \u2014 the last time I heard the Watt shudder like that was when The Buzzcocks took the stage. I guess birds of a feather \u2026<\/p>\n

When it couldn\u2019t get any better, it did. The guys ended the set with \u201cAcademy Fight Song,\u201d one of those songs I hoped to see live during my lifetime and never did. \u201cThat one was for Peter Buck,\u201d Roger said when it was over.<\/p>\n

No Roger, that was for me \u2014 I\u2019m sure Peter\u2019s seen you play that one live before.<\/p>\n

Dammit that was good stuff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 2010, 40 Watt, Athens, Ga. \u201cLast time we were at the 40 Watt the only light was a light bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling,\u201d said Roger Miller, guitarist for the legendary Mission of Burma. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot more light now.\u201d The last time a simple 40-watt bulb lit the club was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[45,106],"class_list":["post-833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concerts","tag-40-watt","tag-mission-of-burma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=833"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":834,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833\/revisions\/834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}