Wharton Tiers (born 1953, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

) is an American audio engineer,

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, drummer and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

ist.

Biography

After receiving a diploma from

Villanova University Villanova University is a private Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1842 and named after Saint Thomas of Villanova. The university is the oldest Catholic university in Penns ...

(Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania), he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1976 and was part of the No Wave scene. As an audio engineer and

, he has worked on projects such as Sonic Youth,

Glenn Branca Glenn may refer to: Name or surname * Glenn (name) * John Glenn, U.S. astronaut Cultivars * Glenn (mango) * a 6-row barley variety Places In the United States: * Glenn, California * Glenn County, California * Glenn, Georgia, a settleme ...

Das Damen Das Damen was an alternative rock band from New York City, United States, formed in 1984. The band released several albums before splitting up in 1991. The band's name is fake German and roughly translates to "the ladies" (the correct German form ...

Helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protect ...

Dinosaur Jr Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name. The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter), Lou Barlo ...

, White Zombie,

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, The Dentists,

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, and Gumball. To date he has produced and recorded over 200 LPs and CDs, including Helmet's ''Meantime'', for which he received a gold record in 1993. He is also known as a percussionist and drummer for

Theoretical Girls Theoretical Girls were a New York-based no wave band formed by Glenn Branca and Jeff Lohn (a conceptual artist and composer) that existed from 1977 to 1981. Theoretical Girls played only about 20 shows (three of which took place in Paris). It r ...

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

, and his own Wharton Tiers Ensemble. Tiers started two groups which played his own compositions: A Band, which disbanded in 1980, and Glorious Strangers, which released a self-titled LP in 1984. Since then he has continued to compose and write many different styles of music, including solo piano, synth based instrumentals, opera, and symphonic works. A CD of instrumentals for massed guitars by the Wharton Tiers Ensemble, ''Brighter Than Life'', came out in April 1996, and the follow-up, ''Twilight Of The Computer Age'', was released at the end of 1999. A new Ensemble LP, ''Freedom Now!'', was released in March 2013 on Fun City NYC, a new record label founded by Tiers to release his music. This was followed by "A Transendance" in June 2014.

Personal discography

* 1978. Theoretical Girls – You Got Me / U.S. Millie, 7", Theoretical Records, 1978. * 1979. A Band – Lowly Worm, 7", Nancy Records, 1979. * 1980. Glorious Strangers – Why Don't You Join The Army / Media Media, 7", Theoretical Records, 1980. * 1983. Glorious Strangers – Untitled, Lp, Fun City Records, 1983. * 1996. Wharton Tiers – Brighter Than Life, CD, 1996, Atavistic records. * 1996. Glenn Branca – Songs '77-'79, CD, 1996, Atavistic records. 6 songs among 8 from Theoretical Girls. * 1999. Wharton Tiers Ensemble, The – Twilight Of The Computer Age, CD, Atavistic records, 1999. * 2002. Theoretical Girls – Theoretical Record, CD, Acute Records, 2002. Anthology of (mostly) unreleased material from the No Wave years. * 2013. Wharton Tiers Ensemble - Freedom Now!, Digital, Fun City NYC, 2013 * 2013. Wharton Tiers - Mayan Nocturnes, Digital, Fun City NYC, 2013 * 2013. Superduperlooper - Superduperlooper, Digital, Fun City NYC, 2013 * 2013. Aurora.23 - Flash In The Universe, Digital, Fun City NYC, 2013 * 2014. Wharton Tiers Ensemble - A Transendance, Digital, Fun City NYC, 2014 * 2016. Wharton Tiers - Political Sonatas, Digital, Fun City NYC, 2016

References

Bibliography

* Thurston Moore, Byron Coley, ''No Wave - Post-punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980''., Abrams Image, New York, 2008, 143 p., ()

External links

Biography on his personal page
* Lists of production and engineering credits with th
Fun City Studios
an
The Kennel Recording studio
* Wharton Tiers's Discography o
Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiers, Wharton 1953 births Living people Villanova University alumni No wave American percussionists Record producers from Pennsylvania American audio engineers Musicians from Philadelphia Engineers from Pennsylvania Atavistic Records artists