Boston, Massachusetts based Experimental Art Rock act Trinary System have unveiled the official video for “Monkeys (on Your Back)” taken from their new album, “The Hard Machine,” released on October 31, 2025 via Cuneiform Records.
Watch the video for “Monkeys (on Your Back)” via the YouTube player below:
Trinary System is Roger Miller’s current Rock band. He plays guitar, sings and composes, accompanied by Larry Dersch (Binary System, A.K.A.C.O.D., etc.) on drums and P. Andrew Willis (the Web, Crappy Nightmareville, etc.) on bass, vocals and electronics.
Roger Clark Miller was born in 1952 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He began studying piano at age 6. Inspired in 6th grade by seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, he picked up guitar and bass guitar in middle school, and played french horn in the orchestra to avoid study hall. He was profoundly affected by the Psychedelic movement which was full-blown by 1967 — here was real mind-altering music. Miller found his voice as a song-writer, composer and improviser in 11th grade (1969/ Sproton Layer).
Disillusioned with the conservative state of Rock Music in the 1970’s, Miller studied composition at CalArts and Thomas Jefferson College (see Cuneiform Records’ release of 1975 by The Fourth World Quartet). There he accompanied dance classes on piano. Adapting his musical skills for dance paved the way for his later soundtrack work (four films at Sundance, multiple silent film scores premiering with Alloy Orchestra at the Telluride Film Festival).
In 1978, Miller moved to Boston, where he co-formed the highly influential Post-Punk Rock band Mission of Burma on guitar and voice in 1979. He continued playing keyboards and other instruments during and after Mission of Burma, starting with Birdsongs of the Mesozoic.
Under his band leadership, Miller has recorded over 60 albums, all of which push various envelopes and have generally received high praise.
When Mission of Burma inexplicably reformed in 2002, things took an amazing turn. But by 2012, Miller was looking for a way to free his guitar playing from the confines of a Post-Punk environment and conceived of Trinary System. He had played with Larry Dersch in Binary System, and knew that Dersch’s drumming would keep him on his toes. Miller met multi-instrumentalist P. Andrew Willis while Willis was engineering an Alloy Orchestra (now Anvil Orchestra) score. He found his comments intriguing, and, never having seen him play a note, asked him to join Trinary System on bass and synthesizer. It was the right decision. Trinary System began loosely based on previous non-Burma Miller compositions, but covering Miles Davis‘ “Black Satin” and Can‘s “You Doo Right” were turning points. Once the value of each player became clear, Miller began composing for the group in earnest.
And this brings us to Cuneiform Records’ release of The Hard Machine where Trinary System is in full maturity mode, full-throttle, do or die. What else is there?
Larry Dersch played in bands in his hometown of St. Louis, MO, before moving to Boston in 1986. He played on Miller’s 1988 album “Win! Instantly!,” and then in Miller’s Binary System (1995-2002). He is currently the second percussionist in Miller‘s silent film accompanying ensemble The Anvil Orchestra. He has collaborated with Mark Sandman of Morphine, and toured Europe in the acclaimed A.K.A.C.O.D with Morphine sax player Dana Colley. He remains active in the Boston scene and in high demand, and he has won “Best Drummer” awards from the influential local zine The Noise three times.
P. Andrew Willis is “an ex-pat from the Louisville sub-underground” (Byron Coley, 2019), playing in the Web, Azuza Inkh and other Improv/Noise bands there. He moved to Boston in 1998 to study film scoring. There, he saw Binary System — and knew he’d be playing with them one day. When Miller began putting together Trinary System in 2012, Willis was the only person auditioned. The Hard Machine is a result of those decisions. Willis remains active as a soundtrack composer and improviser in Boston.
Purchase “The Hard Machine” on Bandcamp: https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-hard-machine
Tracklist:
01. Monkeys (on Your Back) 04:41
02. Late Bloomer 04:35
03. Pop! 02:43
04. The Golem 04:38
05. The Green Wall 04:43
06. Upending Time 03:24
07. On the Ground (Complete the Circle) 07:21
08. Sometimes the Rain Fall in Your Favor 06:01
Lineup:
Roger C Miller / Guitars, Vocals, Mellotron, Cornet, Piano
P. Andrew Willis / Basses, Micro-Synths, Vocals
Larry Dersch / Drums, Whisky Flask