Wally Scharold

Walter "Wally" Scharold
Birth name	Walter Ballew Scharold
Born	(1978-01-30) January 30, 1978 Houston, Texas, United States
Origin	London, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Avant-garde progressive rock, Modern classical music, Video game music
Occupation(s)	Composer
Instrument(s)	Guitar, voice
Years active	1995-present
Labels	AltrOck Productions

Walter "Wally" Scharold is an American composer, guitarist, vocalist, bandleader, producer, games designer, and filmmaker.

Early life and edutation

Born and raised in Houston, Texas he sang in choirs and musicals from age 10, studied rock, jazz, and classical guitar from age 11, and studied contemporary classical composition from age 17 with Todd Frazier, Michael Remson, Christopher Theofanidis, John Luther Adams, Brenda Hutchinson, Randolph Coleman, Fred Frith and Alvin Curran. He is a graduate in Music Composition from Oberlin Conservatory and has a Masters in Music Composition from Mills College.

Career

As a performer/arranger/composer he has been an active member of the avant-progressive rock community in Oakland, California. He led his own ensemble miRthkon, an "amplified chamber ensemble masquerading as a rock band" — a six-piece ensemble which performed and recorded his own compositions (as well as others by fellow members and other local composers).

He has also been a member or guest of several other bands including MoeTar, The Fuxedos, Research & Development, Tholus, Midline Errors, Marana Jocund, ThinkTank, My Hero, and Headshear. He is also a composer of works for film, dance, video games, and other media including Guitar Hero: Van Halen, Disney's iOS Rhythm Game Tap Tap Revenge, Disney's iOS game Cars 2, a score for the documentary "Pup", a commission by the intermedia performance group Double Vision, and recent commissions by San Francisco-based ensemble The Living Earth Show and guitarist Travis Andrews.

Since 2003, Scharold has also worked professionally as a composer, sound designer, audio engineer, guitarist, voiceover artist, and game designer for over three hundred commercial products and titles released by many companies including LeapFrog, Electronic Arts, Activision, Tapulous, Disney, IGT, and as Head of Audio at Play'n GO.

Selected discography

Bands

miRthkon

• miRthkon (1999, self-released, CD-R)
• ruth-bikula phaze-ivy (2001, self-released double CD-R)
• The Illusion of Joy (2006, self-released, EP)
• Vehicle (2009, altrOck Productions, #ALT-009, CD)
• (Format) (2012, altrOck Productions, #ALT-029, DVD)
• Snack(s) (2013, altrOck Productions, #ALT-038, CD)

Tholus

• "Constant" (2007, Aural Music/Goregorerecords, CD)

Research & Development

• "All Things to All People" (2010, Bandcamp, CD/Digital)

My Hero

• "Whop! Bam! Boom!" (2003, self-released, EP)
• "Untitled" (2005, unreleased, CD)

Headshear

• "Headshear" (2006, Big Balloon, CD/Digital)

Performer only

Brett Larner / Burkhand Stangl / Taku Sugimoto

• "Compositions for Guitars" (2003, A Bruit Secret, CD)

Dave Willey and Friends

• "Immeasurable Currents" (2011, AltrOck Productions, CD)

Composer only

Oberlin Conservatory Division of Contemporary Music

• "Aural Capacity - Student Works" (2001, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, CD)

Production only

The Living Earth Show

• "High Art" (2013, Innova Records, CD) - Recording Engineer, Mix Engineer, Producer