Schafer plays Sunday, August 16 at the High Noon with fellow Madison experimental musician Brian Grimm.
Photo by Dani Schafer.
Violinist and sound artist Troy Schafer has been involved in a dizzying array of avant-garge and/or just plain emotionally demanding music around Madison. In addition to his solo work, which ranges from overpowering multi-tracked string pieces to bizarre experiments with broken audio equipment, Schafer has played in the bizarro folk outfit Kinit Her, drone project Rain Drinkers, the symphonic duo Devotion (which features his wife, Dani Schafer, on vocals), and goth-rock outfit Wyrding. He’s served as an off-and-on collaborator in many other projects, including Spiral Joy Band, Burial Hex, and Second Family Band. (Full disclosure: Schafer is a longtime friend and collaborator of Tone Madison contributor Joel Shanahan.)
Schafer spent a few years away from Madison recently, doing graduate work in sound art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but has been back in town for about six months. On Sunday, August 16 at the High Noon Saloon, he’ll be playing a duo set with kindred spirit and fellow Madisonian Brian Grimm. Ahead of the show, Schafer joined me at WORT-FM studios to catch up on his crazy jumble of projects, preview the show, and make some noise on his violin. Segment produced by WORT’s Dylan Brogan; a shorter version aired this week on WORT’s In Our Backyard news show.
