Bill Brovold, guitarist, composer, painter and producer was involved in the early-’80s N.Y.C. No wave bands, including Rhys Chatham’s ensembles. Later, Brovold was involved in N.Y.C. early-’80s and headed Larval, a Michigan-based Knitting Factory recording musician. Brovold was born in Tacoma in 1957. He initially focused on country music and then moved to the United States to learn the guitar. Brovold moved to New York in order to study at the School of Visual Arts. He graduated in 1982 and became the guitarist of the Rhys Chatham Ensemble the next year, a gig that would continue for five years. Brovold collaborated with several other downtown bands during his time with this band, such as the East Village Orchestra and Fast Forward. Brovold wrote music for performers and filmmakers throughout the 1980s. Brovold moved from N.Y.C. to Detroit, where he founded the group Larval in mid-’90s. Brovold’s recordings have been released on Avant and N.Y.C. Japanese labels by John Zorn. Brovold’s Knitting Factory. Brovold opened Koko Studios in Royal Oak (MI) in the late ’90s. Here he recorded and produced Larval’s music as well as recordings of John Felice and John Lamb and Poignant Plecostomus. His paintings have been exhibited at Detroit’s C-Pop Gallery. Tzadik was the first to release an album by Bill Brovold in 2000 as part of the label’s modern composers series. The two-disc Surviving death/Alive Why? was released in 2007. Cunneiform records released the two-disc Surviving Death/Alive Why? Allmusic
