Miles Merrill
Born in Chicago, Miles Merrill is the son of a Black Panther father and a mother whose family tree dates back to British-American Colonialism. His mother’s ancestors enslaved his father’s. The tension of embattled generations twists it’s way through the work of
this one man. The hit of Sydney Festival 2005 with his show Slamming and guest of this year’s Sydney Writers Festival, Miles Merrill is Australia’s spoken-word tour de force. Miles combines elements of theatre, hip-hop, slam poetry and music, flinging words in a rapid fire onslaught of versified emotion. His CD What Night Knows, can be heard on JJJ, ABC Radio National, and Sydney’ s FBI Radio.
Thanks to Token Word I’ve seen quite a bit of good quality spoken word over the years, but Miles seemed to bring it to the next level. He uses everything he’s got to tell a good story - drama, timing, volume, sound effects and sometime a little music.
When he opened for Saul Williams in Jan 2007 I was expecting a decent set from Miles, and it turned out to be way more than decent. He was on fire! Each piece was a wild, tongue twisting, spit laden adventure. You almost feel like the words are being forcefully squeezed out of his guts, rather than recited from memory.
Since I saw him last he’s been working with kids in the outback, and it seems like he picked up a few tricks from them. We were treated to the one the weird and wonderful products of this adventure “Why you always pickin’ at your booty?”. The original audience may have been school kids, but nasty habits have comic appeal to big kids too.
Miles has also been collaborating with legendary Sydney hip-hop artist Morganics to flesh out the musical side of things, and the tracks they worked on together sound fantastic.
Seems like Miles has a knack for taking whatever is at hand and weaving into a handful of sizzling spoken word treats. Can’t wait to see where he takes things over the next few years…
Random Flickr pics: