G.W. Childs IV
Hi, my name is G.W. Childs IV. I appreciate you stopping by to check me out. I am a father, a veteran, and a musician from Fort Worth, Texas. I am the son of a rancher and, a grandson to several veterans of whom I am very proud. I was also raised by a strong Texas mother that taught me a thing, or two about spirituality.
I grew up on a ranch around vaqueros, drovers, bandits, and cowboys. I spent my earlier years riding horses, cleaning stalls, and tending animals. But even at an early age, out there in the sticks, I had an interest in electronic music. I fell in love with Yazoo’s ‘Upstairs At Eric's, through a bootleg tape my cousin gave me.
When I was about to turn 12, we moved back to the city and I left the ranch life behind. I missed my horse, and the animals I took care of there. But, I had some things left to learn before I’d get to look back on cowboy life.
Being a little bit of a hellion in school, I found the punk/new wave world of the 80s underground soothing and even helpful. Inspired by Clan of Xymox’s ‘Medusa’, I traded my cowboy hat for a mohawk and began playing in bands. By the time I hit early adulthood though, I wound up going into the US Army, where I could get away and rebuild myself. I loved the camaraderie of the military and enjoyed getting to work with men and women, like on the ranch, from all over the world.
I worked for a time in Psychological Operations on several real-world events as a photographer and an audio editor. I worked with linguists and specialists in different parts of the world on military campaigns of all sorts. I even moonlighted as a news photographer on my off hours!
Eventually, I signed a record contract while I was in the military and moved to California where I began recording albums with Cop International. I was also working at LucasArts/LucasFilm, creating games and processing character voices for Star Wars (Star Wars:Battlefront, Star Wars Knight of the Old Republic 2, and many more). My years working with linguists in the military made me a good fit for creating character voices from a galaxy far away.
During that time, I began working with synthesizers and programming sounds for Propellerheads Software, Sweden. I loved creating music on the computer and Reason allowed me to build sounds I’d only dreamed of in the 80s. As Reason blew up, my talents were needed all over. I started writing books, writing for magazines like Ask.Audio and teaching. I also began remixing various artists for Cleopatra Records like Gene Loves Jezebel, Ray Charles, and even James Brown.
Eventually, all the hard work led to a need for a break. I took a few years off, working with students interested in meditation. My perspective on life changed. The patience learned for this endeavor definitely came in at a good time. I had kids!
Fatherhood suited me, and my boys just fine. Spending days at the park and being a stay-at-home spouse was an amazing time. But music wasn’t done with me. I returned to COP International as a recording artist and the workforce as a curriculum author and instructor at the Recording Connection. I am also an active producer and engineer at Cloudland Recording Studio. Life is amazing!
Life got a little ironic. As I have begun developing as an artist, the producer and engineer of all of those acts I grew up listening to like Clan of Xymox, This Mortal Coil, Yazoo, Cocteau Twins, and even Depeche Mode, John Fryer came on board at COP International. Working with John, all the worlds I have lived through have collided and after many years, have begun to take form in song. His expertise in drawing out sentiments, character, melody, and genuine content has allowed us to paint landscapes where cowboys still sleep under stars, and everybody on the farm has a big part to play in the survival of our future.
A shared vision moving forward is really seeing how not only the cowboy of the future, in an alien landscape survives after a pandemic with his family, but how a family, nation, and world creates a new beginning using the settlers of the West that came from all over the world once, many years ago, as an inspiration.
The future is here, and it’s fun working on a team where we can sculpt it visually and sonically into a form where everyone wins and gets some inspiration.
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