Dan Wilcox – musician, performer, and artgineer

A futuristic expatriate American Space Ranger combines wearable computing, midi guitar, and live energy to wander the digi-range as a robotcowboy playing for dying astronauts. This is a lofi-guitar-compu-show with algorithmic balls from a DEVOspud, laptop-stomping idiot wearing exposed electronics.

Dan Wilcox was born in Orange, CA to Smith and Jackie Wilcox in 1981. He took piano lessons and played trumpet in the school band, played sports, and participated in the Boy Scouts – achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. He graduated Catholic High School in 2000 with Honors and received the Service Award.

From 2000 to 2005, Dan attended Iowa State University. He was active at the campus radio station as an on air dj from 2003-2005 and played in several bands, most notably the electro-punk trio 7 inch wave, which went on to release an EP and go on 2 tours. During the summers, he worked at Camp Sequoyah Boys Scout camp as High Adventure Director, leading trips and teaching kids how to rock climb. After
switching from engineering to art to music and back to engineering and almost dropping out of college to pursue music, he graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering in May 2005.

In order to combine his passion for music and engineering knowledge, he applied to several Masters programs and was accepted to the Art and Technology program at the IT University / Chalmers Technical University in Göteborg, Sweden. At this time, he delved into art history and practice, worked on small projects, was self-motivated in learning practical applications for his school programming / electronics knowledge, and began teaching new media electronics and programming classes. Studying abroad in Sweden brought him in contact with world cultures, new perspectives, and Swedish experimental sound. His guitar-based approach to music shifted to an increasing use of live computer music through the use of custom controllers. He completed his thesis project, robotcowboy: A One-Man Band Musical Cyborg in July 2007 and received his MS in Art & Technology in October 2007.

Continuing the robotcowboy project from June 2007 to the present, he has continued to perform at various festivals and venues as well as refine and develop his hardware and software. He was accepted for a 2 week residency to further develop his software at the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music (STEIM) in Amsterdam in October 2007. As the project matures, it’s hardware and software will be released for all those who wish to build their own systems. He will embark on a 2 month tour of the US in the Spring of 2008 in order to test his system on the road and gauge audience reaction to a “cyborg music show”.

He enjoys playing music, reading, working on vehicles, and challenging himself.

His favorite band is DEVO.