Bored Nothing

Fergus David Edward Miller (1990 – 9 October 2016), known professionally as Bored Nothing, was an Australian musician who released a self-titled album in 2012. It received some international attention and together with his band Miller had toured internationally.

Career

Fergus Miller was from Melbourne, Australia.^[1] He listed his influences as My Bloody Valentine, Brian Jonestown Massacre and Elliott Smith.^[2] As a teenager he began to develop an interest in music and 'started making little demos'. He acquired an 'old 4-track I got for cheap' and began to share them with friends. Eventually he began to put them 'on disc and leaving them around in pubs and record stores',^[1] and self-releasing the material through various outlets and formats including Bandcamp, CD-R and cassette.^[3]

Recording under the name Bored Nothing, Miller signed to Spunk records and began to prepare his first major release in 2012 at the age of 22. His debut was a self-titled 14 track LP released via Cooperative Music. Miller plays "every [instrument] on the album (save one guitar part and a keyboard line), as well as recording and producing the thing at home."^[4] Miller began recording the songs that would eventually comprise his debut LP in 2011. Towards the end of 2012 Miller collected nine songs from these previous releases in addition to five songs he recorded specifically for the Bored Nothing LP.^[5] The album received an international release in April 2013 while "I Wish You Were Dead" was made available as a stream,^[3] while a video of the song 'Let Down' directed by Abteen Bagheri appeared in September 2013.^[6]

Bored Nothing received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70, based on 7 reviews.^[7]

In August 2014, Miller announced the release of his second album, Some Songs, preceded by the single 'Ice-Cream Dreams'.^[8]

In October 2016, Miller, suffering from depression, committed suicide at the age of 26.^[9][10] Tributes from other Australian bands began to flow, including Major Leagues and the John Steel Singers. He is survived by his wife Anna Davidson (of band Major Leagues, and their joint band Pansy).

In November 2016, Bored Nothing were named by Triple J as one of the top 100 best discoveries of the last decade off Triple J Unearthed.

Style

Miller's vocals and delivery received immediate comparisons to Elliott Smith, especially on acoustic tracks like "Get Out of Here" and "Charlie's Creek".^[4][5][11] However the composition of his music is often considered shoegaze or dream pop with its layered vocals, reverb and fuzzy guitars. Critics have made comparisons to fellow shoegaze artists Ride, Silversun Pickups, Teenage Fanclub and My Bloody Valentine.^{[4][5][12][13]}

Bored Nothing Band

Although Miller was the sole writer, recorder and producer of the band's music, "Bored Nothing Band" comprised several people Miller had brought on board over the duration of his live performance career.

• Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar – Fergus Miller
• Drums – Jamie King-Holden
• Lead Guitar – Gary Valenta
• Bass – Harrison Miller Carr

Discography

Albums

• Bored Nothing (Cooperative Music, 2012)
  1. Shit For Brains – 3:03
  2. Popcorn – 3:58
  3. Just Another Maniac – 3:33
  4. Bliss – 5:04
  5. Darcy – 1:58
  6. I Wish You Were Dead – 4:04
  7. Echo Room – 2:49
  8. Get Out of Here – 2:44
  9. Let Down – 4:14
  10. Snacks – 3:41
  11. Charlie's Creek – 4:55
  12. Only Old – 3:16
  13. Build a Bridge – 3:30
  14. Dragville, TN – 2:22

• Some Songs (Spunk, 2014)
  1. Not
  2. Ice-cream Dreams
  3. The Rough
  4. We Lied
  5. Ultra-lites
  6. Do What You Want, Always
  7. Why Were You Dancing With All Those Guys
  8. Where Would I Begin
  9. Come Back To
  10. Song For Jedder
  11. Don't Get Sentimental
  12. Artificial Flower
  13. Ultra-lites II

EPs

• BN (Self-released, 2012)
  1. Just Another Maniac – 3:33
  2. Charlie's Creek – 4:57
  3. Only Old – 3:17
  4. We Swim – 5:18
  5. Pay For My Drugs – 4:10
  6. Lover's Croon – 3:49

• Thanks for the Mammaries (Self-released, 2013)
  1. Slipped Between The Seams – 2:15
  2. Just Because – 2:47
  3. Dial Tone Blues – 2:41
  4. Stuck – 2:32

References