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Blueburst releases “Vanish,” single filled with heavy alt rock guitars and emotional angst

By Kath Galasso on March 10, 2023

Blueburst founder Craig Douglas Miller’s story is one of survival and resilience in the face of clinical depression and seemingly overwhelming odds. His powerful new debut album “Vanish” comes after a 20 year musical hibernation. But after connecting with legendary guitarist Marty Willson-Piper (The Church, Noctorum, All About Eve), Miller finally found the thing he’d been sorely missing: a trusted mentor and collaborator. Marty Willson-Piper also contributes guitars and co-produces the album.

“Vanish” is filled with heavy alternative rock guitars and a simultaneous emotional angst coupled with a newfound lust for life. As such, this is an inspired release harkening back to the days of innovative Indie, Grunge and Alternative from the 90’s underground.

Listen to “Vanish” on Bandcamp.

“I wasted 20+ years doubting myself and not finishing any music. So it’s extremely gratifying to be back now with the best music I’ve ever made. And it’s been a joy doing it with one of my favorite guitarists of all time.” – Craig Douglas Miller

“Much of today’s so-called ‘alternative’ rock seems to have become just as overproduced and slick as the pop records they are supposedly an alternative to. But most of my friends, and a lot of younger people as well, are still listening to the albums we grew up with, I think because there’s a rawness and honesty in that music. That’s what we aspired to with Blueburst.” – Craig Douglas Miller

Miller’s collaborators bring in an impressive professional pedigree: drummers Michael Jerome (Better Than Ezra, Richard Thompson) and Brian Platt (The Cads), and bassist Ryan Kelly (Dayroom). And with Willson-Piper sprinkling his inimitable brand of creative, guitar work over top of Miller’s songs, the result is dynamic intelligent music that alternately crunches, chimes, jangles and pounds.

Blurburst’s lead single and title track “Vanish” will be released on March 10, 2023 on streaming platforms. Look out for the full album to be released this Fall.

Musician Names/Instruments:
Craig Douglas Miller – guitars/bass/synth/vocals
Marty Willson-Piper – guitar
Michael Jerome Moore – drums
Producer Name(s): Craig Douglas Miller & Marty Willson-Piper
Mixer: Ben Etter

Websites:
Official Website: https://www.blueburst.band
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blueburstmusic
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/blueburstmusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blueburstmusic
Spotify: TBD
Bandcamp: https://blueburst.bandcamp.com
Soundcloud: https://www.soundcloud.cvom/blueburstmusic
Youtube Channel

Artist Biography:
Blueburst isn’t your usual band of hip twenty-somethings making their debut with stars in their eyes. It’s the brainchild of a rather unlikely “new” artist: guitarist/vocalist Craig Douglas Miller, who is releasing a debut album at age 50, reviving a music career he’d once written off.

After major label interest for his 1990’s band The Reach never quite panned out, Miller entered a 20-plus-year period of musical hibernation, the result of untreated clinical depression, writer’s block and “perhaps a few too many gin and tonics” as Miller succinctly puts it.

But after connecting with legendary guitarist Marty Willson-Piper (The Church, Noctorum, All About Eve), Miller finally found the thing he’d been sorely missing: a trusted mentor and collaborator. With some inspiration provided by Willson-Piper, and time on his hands during the pandemic, Miller set up his home studio again, dug in and completed an album’s worth of original songs, naming the new project Blueburst after the finish on his favorite guitar.

With Blueburst, Miller and Willson-Piper have created lush, guitar-based alternative rock, firmly rooted in 80s alternative and post-punk, but with a timeless feel and foot pounding pace. In a world of often overproduced, slick alternative rock, Blueburst is unapologetically retro in style, proudly wearing it’s oldwave influences on its sleeve. “Most of my friends, and a lot of younger people as well, are still listening to the albums we grew up with, I think because there’s a rawness and honesty in that music. That’s what we aspired to here,” says Miller.

Lyrically, Miller reflects the angsty times we’ve all recently experienced, through the lens of his renewed lust for life and music. Miller says, “Turning 50 has shocked me out of ‘mid-life crisis’ mode, and started me in a new ‘Grab life by the balls while you still can’ mode. Many of the songs touch on that theme…making a difference while you can.”

Miller’s collaborators bring in an impressive professional pedigree: drummers Michael Jerome (Better Than Ezra, Richard Thompson) and Brian Platt (The Cads), and bassist Ryan Kelly (Dayroom). And with Willson-Piper sprinkling his inimitable brand of creative, guitar work over top of Miller’s songs, the result is dynamic intelligent music that alternately crunches, chimes, jangles and pounds.

Blueburst’s first single, “Vanish,” is set to release March 10, 2023, with new singles each month through the summer, live performances from Miller beginning in March, and a full LP to come in Fall 2023.