Rock Music for the Whole Family

BIOGRAPHY

 Mister Laurence's Mom & Dad on their Wedding Day
October 14th, 1940

Meet the Man Behind "Mister Laurence"

Laurence Miller (aka "Mister Laurence") was born into a musical family where he was exposed to many types of music during his formative years: Romantic Classical and Modern 20th Century orchestral music from his father, 50s Classics into 60s Folk into early electronic music through his older siblings, and then finally drowned in "British Invasion", progressive rock, free-form jazz and new wave punk with his two musical brothers Roger Clark Miller and Benjamin Rush Miller. This variety of influences has been evident in his songwriting throughout his musical career.

Accomplished Musician
In mid elementary school, Miller's folks afforded him formal training in both piano and clarinet. He was soon playing in the school concert band, and by 6th grade managed to showcase his first solo performance. With his teacher's permission, Mister Laurence sang and played the piano theme to the BATMAN TV show, backed by a friend on trombone and brother Ben on alto saxophone -- for the entire class. He later taught himself how to play the guitar, bass and drums. Being left-handed and unable to afford a "southpaw" model, Laurence (not unlike Albert King and Jimi Hendrix), learned how to play his brother's right-handed guitar, upside down! Since then he has picked up the accordion, as well as the complex fingerings of the kazoo.

After high school, Mister Laurence attended music college. There he studied composition, basic theory, and performance. As a secondary subject he took art classes, ignoring science best he could. After 2.5 years, Mister Laurence then retired from the academic world.

Laurence has lead many original performing music groups and recording projects over the years. Experiences include "live" performances with the late Ron Asheton of the Stooges and Mike Davis of the MC5, opening up for such bands as The Ramones, Devo, HooDoo Gurus, and The Replacements to name a few. His own composition style has ranged from pop rock & roll to free-form experimental, to ambient. He even tried his hand at lounge music, eventually crooning for Ann Arbor's big band, the II-V-I Jazz Orchestra. Yes, Laurence has covered quite a bit of ground in his day. Eclectic is a word often used to describe the lad.

Through the years, Laurence has acquired a mix of acoustic and electronic instruments which he stores in his home studio. Here is where he taught himself how to record the music he writes. He even taught himself how to write music notation so that he wouldn't forget it. Clever, this Mister Laurence.

Music for Kids
It was in 1998 that he found his true calling - Children's Entertainment. Mister Laurence became the music guy for many of Ann Arbor's surrounding preschool centers, and it was there that he acquired his stage name "Mister" Laurence. All teachers are addressed as such by their first name, following the formal title. The name stuck. An accomplished musician, Mister Laurence was commissioned to compose the school theme song for Hickory Tree Children's Center. Holly's Hickory Tree was then featured on his first CD, Flaghorn!  Mister Laurence continues to this day working with kids in preschool centers in and around Washtenaw County. 

Single Father
Having children of his own, he had no trouble easing into CG rated material ("Childrental Guidance strongly suggested"). His years as a single parent gave him a unique view of the work and joys of early childhood education. And though always a child at heart, Mister Laurence's three daughters (Tara, Ashia and Brittany) had a tremendous influence on his creative sensibility. This single-fathering experience in fact helped fuel many of his coolest songs. Credit is given to his children on every CD he produces. NOTE: All three of his daughters graduated from college. "How can that be?" asks Mister Laurence.

How does he do it?
As self described "pseudo multi-instrumentalist", Mister Laurence performs a variety of instruments on each recording.
He produces the sound of an entire band on all his CD's using a sequencing program and creative editing. Performances
are then sung and played along to the bulk of the prerecorded tracks. All his products are released on his own private label and publishing company, FarFetched Records and Bond Voyage Music. Since the time Mister Laurence reinvented himself, he has written, recorded and released 8 major works plus a variety of novelty Cd's. He also produced two award-winning children's music video collections -- Mister Laurence in Bubbleland and Return to Bubbleland!

NOTE: 2007 thru 2008 saw Mister Laurence taking a backseat to performance, choosing to work diligently in the studio
to finish his next CD, a musical adventure story called MARMALINE ~ My Music Machine

2009  THE MISTER LAURENCE EXPERIENCE
In 2009, Mister Laurence brought a new member on board.  MS. PRINCESS MELINDA!  With a whole new sound and look, the band name then changed from MISTER LAURENCE and his Play Money Band to THE MISTER LAURENCE EXPERIENCE. It was at this fateful gig that Mister Laurence donned his new "sparkling green" electric guitar, as opposed to his infamous play money acoustic. It sounded (and looked) so good, that from that day forward he has continued with the electric sound as a rule of thumb!

Mister Laurence and Ms. Princess Melinda then produced their own community cable TV kids show, MISTER LAURENCE'S "Enchanted" GREEN TREE FORT, as well as taking first place for their music video STAR FISH at both the 2010 West Branch Children's Film Festival and 2010 Philo T. Farnsworth Festival. Fall 2009 saw their debut concert appearance at Ann Arbor's NICOLA'S BOOKS celebrating the release of their new CD MARMALINE (My Music Machine.  It was a packed house by book store standards.

(NOTE: It was also at this time that Mister Laurence and Ms. Princess Melinda got married!)

2011 Performing as a Trio!
The Mister Laurence Experience mercilessly taught OSO all his drum parts for nearly every tune in their catalogue. Over the course of the year they performed locally and throughout the SE Michigan Detroit Metro area, successfully videotaping many of their "live" shows. Performing now as a TRIO gave them time to hone their Kindergarten-Punk-Rock style with that slight touch of satirical parody fun. Summertime 2011 brought them first place awards for their music videos HOW NOW BROWN COW? and THE SKY IS IN THE SKY.  All this time the band had been working on their new CD, THE TEDDY BEAR'S PICNIC, releasing a CD single of the title cut.  The full CD is due out early 2012, with a concert release performance February 11th. Meanwhile, over the course of the fall and winter season they videotaped their upcoming music video, THE TEDDY BEAR'S PICNIC, due for cable TV airing in January, 2012.  Mister Laurence says: "That was a real bear..." 

Plans in 2012:  Aside from "live" shows pushing their new CD, THE MISTER LAURENCE EXPERIENCE will be working hard all year on their one hour Musical Film Project GROWING GRAPES FOR THE FUTURE. This monsterous madcap adventure production project is said to sport over 15 original songs featuring The Mister Laurence Experience and a host of goofball characters!  The premise?  To predict the future by "reading" the wringles in raisins...