Conley is a producer at ABC affiliate WCVB in Boston and —, despite mounting one of the more successful band reunion efforts of recent years —, he has no plans to quit his day job. In his world, he’s a producer by day and, though he was quick to rebuff the title, a rock star by night.

Much like Conley’s own dual life, Mission of Burma —, which will play a show tonight at the Bowery Ballroom —, had two beginnings. Conley, guitarist and vocalist Roger Miller, drummer Peter Prescott and tape manipulator Martin Swope formed Burma in 1980, recording their own brand of sonically rich, angst-filled post-punk. Before forming Burma, Miller was diagnosed with tinnitus (a ringing in the ears) that only worsened with Burma’s penchant for turning their amps up to 11 while playing live. This forced Miller to bow out of Burma.

Conley said the band didn’t feel they could go on without Miller’s considerable presence and Burma broke up in 1983 after only one EP, Signals, Calls and Marches, and one studio album, Vs. Each member then set off on his own. Swope and Miller formed the non-touring Birdsongs of the Mesozoic and Prescott started the Volcano Suns, Kustomized and the Peer Group. Conley produced bands around the Boston area until music critic Ira Kaplan asked him to produce the debut album of his band, Yo La Tengo. Conley then dropped out of music altogether, attending Boston University to get his master’s degree in broadcast journalism.

“I just figured I had to do something,” Conley said. “A pretty typical existential crisis.”

It was at a concert for another reunited band that the boys of Burma decided it was time for a second coming. Prescott’s The Peer Group was opening for post-punk legends Wire in 2001 when Miller and Conley joined Prescott onstage for an encore —, marking the first time all three had played together since Burma broke up.

In 2002, Conley, Miller and Prescott planned two reunion shows: one in their hometown of Boston and the other in New York, with Shellac member Bob Weston filling in for Swope.

“[Swope’s] in Hawaii,” Conley said. “I like to picture him in the jungle, meditating by a waterfall. He was always a contemplative guy. We’ve really fallen out of contact —, that’s just the way things go.”

Because of high ticket demand, the one show in New York became two sold-out shows at Irving Plaza and their Boston stand expanded to four nights at different venues around the city. Before the Pixies sold out arenas after their initial breakup 11 years prior and someone decided INXS still merited a television show, a successful reunion was unheard of.

“The concept of reuniting or comeback is just an open invitation to disaster and embarrassment, if you’re a right-thinking person,” Conley said.

He cited several reasons for ultimately deciding to reunite on a grander scale. Prior to the Burma reunion, he had formed the band Consonant and started playing again after years of abstaining from music altogether. Michael Azerrad also featured Burma in his book “Our Band Could be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981-1991,” placing them alongside the likes of Sonic Youth, Fugazi and the Replacements. But, Conley said, it was honestly a mid-life crisis.

And finally in 2003, Burma went into the studio and recorded OnOffOn, their second album in 22 years. Released by Matador Records in May of 2004, OnOffOn was hailed by critics who said the band sounded like they had never left.

“Unlike 98 percent of bands, when we stopped playing, we weren’t on bad terms with each other,” Conley said. “That’s helped us in coming back. It feels very natural —, no old resentments to get over, old paradigms.”

While Burma may have sounded as if they were still playing in 1983, the band changed in the interim. Miller now performs with an arsenal of protection, including a sound muffling headset and a Plexiglas barricade between himself and Prescott’s drums, so as not to aggravate his tinnitus. Weston, who was in the Volcano Suns with Prescott, also differs greatly from the subdued Swope.

“Weston is a little more outgoing —, he puts it out a little stronger,” Conley said. “He’s apt to use humor in his tape loops, record goofy things and crack us up. He’s more extroverted.”

Weston largely remains in Swope’s old position offstage, but Conley makes sure to drag him out into the light every once in a while. In addition to being the resident master tape manipulator, Weston produced OnOffOn and The Obliterati, which is slated for a May 23 release.

“[The Obliterati] has a ferocious sound —, it’s very rocky,” Conley said. “It has some strands of humor that may not have been pronounced in our earlier records ... [The humor] is truer to our personal natures. The first records were terribly austere, I think we’ve relaxed a bit. [We] don’t take ourselves quite so seriously, I hope.”

Burma does not plan on touring extensively behind The Obliterati. Conley said no one in Burma wants to tour for a long time because they each have other commitments. Prescott’s Volcano Suns are still active, and Conley still has Consonant and his day job to think about. After the release of The Obliterati, Burma does not have a five-year plan, Conley said.

“We’ll take stock, count our fingers and toes and decide what to do then,” he said.

By Molly Eichel
http://www.nyunews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/02/10/43ec7138203ec