John Mills-Cockell

John Mills-Cockell (b. 19 May, 1943 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian composer and multi-instrumentalist, perhaps best known for his ground-breaking work with progressive / avant garde groups Intersystems and Syrinx, and for his numerous works for radio, television, film, ballet, and stage. Mills-Cockell was one of the earliest adopters of the Moog synthesizer, and is generally regarded as a pioneer in the field of electronic music. He's never reached the acknowledgement and record sales like his European contemporaries, though, and is hardly known outside Canada which is a shame.

Mills-Cockell studied music at the University of Toronto from 1963 to 1967, and piano and composition at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto from 1964 to 1968, where he also taught electronic music. He undertook graduate studies at the University of Toronto’s Electronic Music Studio in 1967 and 1968. After a stint in the avant-garde mixed media project "Intersystems" in 1968, and forays into the rock forum the following year with the "Kensington Market" in Toronto and the lesser-known "Hydro Electric Streetcar" out in Vancouver, electronics composer John Mills-Cockell formed the groundbreaking, though criminally ignored, "Syrinx" in 1970. This led to a pair of LPs, the meandering synthwork of 1970's 'Syrinx', as well as the follow-up 'Long Lost Relatives'.

The years 1972-74 were spent across the pond in Europe, with Mills-Cockell soaking up old world influences for the recording of his first solo albums, "Heartbeat" and ""A Third Testament", released in 1973 and 1974 respectively. In 1977, he released his third solo effort, the synth-pop "Gateway" LP. Mills-Cockell was one of the earliest adopters of the Moog synthesizer, meeting several times with Robert Moog, and is generally regarded as a pioneer in the field of electronic music. He has also composed scores for such feature films as 'The Clown Murders' (1976), Deadly Harvest (1977), Terror Train (1980), Humongous (1982), and Striker's Mountain (1985).

"A Third Testament" was a six-part series exploring issues of faith and religion through the likes of St. Augustine, Kierkegaard and Tolstoy among others, and the music here reflects the depth of the series, grafting pipe organ and choral elements onto Mills-Cockell's trademark Moog tinkering. As with most soundtracks, what would normally be fully-fleshed out pieces are mere snippets, with many tracks clocking in at under three minutes. His first solo album, "A New Testament" would anchor a long and fruitful career for Mills-Cockell's compositions for film and the theatre.