Adam Miller — co-founder of the erstwhile Chromatics and one of the nicest people in rock — played two inaugural solo gigs late last week with his new band, Inner Magic, to showcase cuts from his Rotherian and Ashra-infused debut solo LP, Gateway. The kickoff gig was at Zebulon in Los Angeles, which he followed up with a gig in San Diego with Boy Harsher and Troller.
At Zebulon, Miller ended up doing some of his vocoder-laced, lead-vocal Chromatics numbers, including “Camera” and “Dear Tommy,” albeit in the delectably guitar-centric style of his Gateway work. Notably, his fellow former Chromatics band member, Ruth Radelet, another of rock’s nicest people, joined him on stage for some more Chromatics cuts — including the Twin Peaks favorite, “Shadow” — while also performing her own awesome debut solo single, “Crimes.” I wasn’t there, regrettably, but some YouTuber named Andrew Gotthard was, and he got a great video of the whole thing (see below). Take note of how Miller has prepared the Gateway numbers for the live setting: There’s a second guitarist (Sho Nikaido) helping with the overdubs and variations, while synth player Mikal Oor layers on a drum machine to add some extra live-show punch.
Overall, this thing rules and you’ll want to watch the whole set. I’ve only scratched the surface of what you can expect.
