BETWEEN YOU, me, and all those other bands that could save your life, I cherish a secret fantasy about Roger Miller of Mission of Burma: that he's my guitar teacher. And I guess if I lived around Miller's Cambridge, Mass., area practice space, I'd get to live the fantasy. "I'll take anyone," he said two years ago, before Mission of Burma's first return to the Bay Area after about two decades. "I'm a nice guy."

Mission of Burma photo by Joshua Dalsimer

How cool would that be? Because everyone knows Mission of Burma are the OGs of post-punk rock, legendary for a brainy, gale-force dissonance equally inspired by psychedelia, free jazz, Detroit rock, punk, and Miller's "odd scales"; tinnitus-triggering volume (explaining Miller's trademark firing-range headphones); and a fearsome live attack, even as the members sail into their 50s. Witnessing their July 2002 return at the Fillmore felt like some sort of crazy dream, and a reunion of sorts for an audience who somehow found the highly influential vs. (Rykodisc), "Academy Fight Song," et al over the years after the band members fell away into various projects and careers (among those, Miller led Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, Prescott drummed in Volcano Suns, and bassist Clint Conley played in Consonant).

The band's breakup in 1982 "certainly put us in a very odd position," Miller said frankly, "and it allowed a lot of mystique to be built up around us because we never really got known. And, uh, we never were around long enough to screw up. We were never big, so you could go back and uncover us."

Since Miller finally rejoined Conley and Prescott (Shellac's Bob Weston has filled in on tape manipulation for Martin Swope) in 2002, after years of shrugging off offers, the band have put out their first studio album in 22 years, the well-received ONOffON (Matador); shared stages with onetime fellow Bostonians the Pixies; sold records, collectibles, loops, and various artifacts on eBay to benefit Moveon.org, pre-Nov. 2, 2004; and accompanied Denzel Washington's shock treatment, via "Trem II," in Jonathan Demme's The Manchurian Candidate remake. So that's when I reach for my indie rock nostalgia, OK? No way.

"A lot of people in the audiences were, like, three years old when we folded," Miller said. "So they don't have nostalgia for it."

K.C.

Mission of Burma play with Erase Errata, Whysall Lane, and the Ruby Doe Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m., Bimbo's 365 Club, 1025 Columbus, S.F. $22.50-$25. (415) 474-0365.