Troy Von Balthazar is an American singer and songwriter who fronted the Los Angeles based indie rock band Chokebore. His work can be described as lo-fi pop music.
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Biography [edit]
Expanding on the slow, sad landscapes of Chokebore's later works, Troy Von Balthazar first released a series of homemade CD-R EPs under the moniker "B. Balthazar", performing all instruments (mainly acoustic and electric guitars, drums, vocals and taped samples) himself. His solo debut, the Sweet Receiver EP (2001), was followed in 2002 by the Red Spider EP, which was exclusively available as a digital download from the artist's homepage. These two EPs were re-released together on the B. Balthazar MCD, which was sold exclusively at shows during Balthazar's first European tour in 2003.
This tour earned him increasing support in the European indie rock community, allowing him to sign to French record label Olympic Disk. Reverting to the moniker he used with Chokebore, he released the self-titled Troy Von Balthazar EP in November 2004 on Olympic Disk. After a small French tour supporting this release, he flew back to Los Angeles to record his debut album at Elliott Smith's "New Monkey" studio. Troy Von Balthazar performed, recorded and mixed all the tracks himself, with the exception of some female vocals contributed by French musician Adeline Fargier. The Troy Von Balthazar LP was released by Olympic Disk on October 10, 2005. An extensive European tour followed, spanning most of the year 2006.
In early 2007, Balthazar returned to Los Angeles to record his second album, this time backed by the band The Black Pine. During the fall of 2007 he toured Germany, Austria and Switzerland with the German rock band Tocotronic, supporting the German release of his self-titled album Troy Von Balthazar by Sinnbus on October 26, 2007. The same year, he published his first book titled "3 Girls", which was distributed via Sinnbus.
In 2009, having not yet found a label for his second album, Troy put together the TVB 3 EP, a collection of three EPs comprising previously released EPs Sweet Receiver and Red Spider, along with several new or previously unreleased songs. In October 2009, the TVB 3 EP was released in vinyl format as The TVB LP by Czech label Silver Rocket Records.
In 2010, he and his former band mates reactivated Chokebore to play a handful of European shows during the month of February, then some festivals during the summer.
On August 27, 2010, French label Third Side Records released the Troy Von Balthazar single Dots and Hearts as a digital download, that was soon followed by the release on September 13 of Troy Von Balthazar's second full length album How to Live on Nothing.
In October 2012 the French label "Vicious Circle Records" released his 3rd studio album "...is with the demon" to wide critical acclaim.
In 2012 Troy also recorded music for the movie "This Aint California" a film about German skateboarders behind the Berlin wall in the 1980's, the French film "Des Morceaux de Moi" (release date Feb 13th 2013), and the French film "Cover us" in which a ghost sings the Troy Von Balthazar song "Wings" to a boy who discovers him.
Troy is currently touring Europe in support of ...is with the demon (his 3rd studio album), editing his 2nd book (due for release in 2013), and working on music scores for upcoming films.
Live performances [edit]
Troy’s one man band live performances incorporate looping techniques and several distortion techniques. Many people have commented that his live performances, when performed in this fashion, are equal in strength to his studio recordings and his lo-fi analog and intimate recording style.
On several tours, Troy has also performed with supporting musicians Adeline Fargier on guitar and Jérôme Laperruque on drums, replaced in 2010 by Chokebore drummer Christian Omar Madrigal Izzo.
Discography [edit]
Albums [edit]
- " ...is with the demon" Vicious Circle Records, 2012
- How to Live on Nothing (Third Side Records, 2010)
- Troy Von Balthazar (Olympic Disk, 2005; Sinnbus, 2007)
Singles and EPs [edit]
- Dots and Hearts single — digital download (Third Side Records, 2010)
- TVB 3 EP (self-released, 2009; released on vinyl as The TVB LP by Silver Rocket Records, 2009)
- Troy Von Balthazar EP (Olympic Disk, 2004)
- B. Balthazar MCD (self-released, 2003)
- Red Spider EP — digital download (self-released, 2002)
- Sweet Receiver EP (self-released, 2001)
DVD [edit]
- Live in Paris — limited edition of 150 (self-released, 2006)
External links [edit]
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