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The ensemble takes the stage around 11PM. Maybe he does this at every show, but it feels spontaneous when he sets up his drums at the front of the stage with his back facing the audience. He’s got the kit setup in about 2 minutes, and watches with a congenial puppet master’s smile as his acolytes assemble in a ring before him. There are 4 guitarists and a bass player, all of whom are rapt in brow furrowed tuning and plugging. Earlier sets in the evening (like a lot of sets in 2012) were laced with backing tracks and short on musicians, so it feels almost theatrical to see so many people on stage. Taking them as a crew, I instantly think…bookstore employees! It’s an apt description. They seem like highly educated outsiders, bound together by a certain camaraderie, who are all wearing relatively baggy jeans.
The band launches into a tight, driven groove that sounds like a punked up version of the campy 60's Batman theme, and whatever the group lacks in sharp style they make up for in performative flare. There’s this one searing chick with a cool Berlin haircut and hot red SG who’s got the perfect power straddle. One guy with long hair (if this were a bookstore he’d be the D&D fanatic) has a whole arsenal of gape mouthed rock faces and well timed hollers. The bass player hitting notes with little Pete Townsend flourishes and hopping around Wharton’s drum set. Just to see 5 people on guitars without shame or pressure of being the alone on stage, totally “rocking” in their own distinct styles is pure entertainment. And like any good drummer, Wharton spends his arms akimbo and constantly head banging. He’s super solid, and he owns every aspect of this group. After a few songs it really begins to sink in that this is an engineer’s band. Hearing the mix of 4 guitars on 4 different amps and is like hearing the live version of a Steve Albini record. There’s a really snappy electricity that demands attention. - Bushwick Daily
Wharton Tiers is a long-time NYC music dude, best-known for recording some pretty legendary bands and albums. Here he plays drums along with a bassist, saxophonist, and FIVE guitarists. I don’t know if the knowledge of Mr. Tiers’ CV colored my impression, but this came across to me as a totally classic NYC-flavored experience, part Branca/Live Skull/Sonic Youth, part Television/New York Dolls. - NO-CORE
Discography
Brighter Than Life (1997)
Twilight Of The Computer Age (1999)
I, Rasputin (2000)
Freedom Now! (2013)
http://whartontiers.bandcamp.com/album/freedom-now
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Bio
Wharton Tiers was born in Philadelphia in birth year of the Stratocaster. He graduated from Villanova University and moved to NYC in 1976. He played drums and percussion with many downtown bands including Theoretical Girls and Laurie Anderson. He also worked independently with many of New York’s then up and coming stars, including Eric Bogosian, Ann Magnuson, and Whoopi Goldberg.
In addition, Wharton 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 Wharton 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 of 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.
In 1982 Wharton started Fun City Studios and began recording many of New York’s experimental and alternative groups including Sonic Youth, White Zombie, Swans, Dinosaur Jr., Lunachicks and Glenn Branca, as well as commercials (the series of Priceline.com ads featuring William Shatner!) and film scores (Judgement Night, gold record 1994).
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.
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