Live at Lake Effect is our music series featuring local and nationally touring artists performing at Lake Effect Surf Shop in Shorewood, Wisconsin.
We brought the Lake Effects together, along with Visionary Studios, to showcase musicians through an interview with the band exclusively on Lake Effect, plus filmed performances.
This episode is a little bit different, as it's the last one recorded at the surf shop before it officially closed this past fall. To close out the series, our final episode features Live at Lake Effect co-executive producer and Milwaukee musician Trapper Schoepp with his band. Plus, instead of the usual musician-focused interview, the team behind the series shared their reflections.
"It's a full circle moment because I walked [into the surf shop] in late 2021 and Jake [Bresette] proposed to me having my band play a Tiny Desk sort of series at his surf shop," Shoepp recalls. "And I said, 'Well do you got the mics, do you got the cameras, do you got the action?' He's like no, no, no and I was like, all right well I know of a great radio show — it's already called Lake Effect — so we can just roll with Live at Lake Effect. And Jake said, 'OK so you'll play?,' and I said no," he jokes. "So I finally made good on this all with my good buddy Jake and Brad [Roehl at] Visionary Studios who donated so much of his time and artistry to this mission of bringing music [online and to] the airwaves of WUWM."
"We poured a lot into it and I think the the fruits of the labor are beautiful, and they're gonna live on YouTube hopefully forever and continue to showcase amazing artists," adds Roehl, co-president and founder of Visionary Studios.
The Lake Effect Surf Shop closed its doors on Sept. 27, 2025 after nearly a decade in business. For Bresette, the Midwestern surfing community he's been a part of is like family to him. "I've always told my customers that it's as much of their shop as it is mine. You know, of course we curate it and we take care of all the back end, but we wouldn't have ran without them. It's just been an amazing experience and I can't thank everyone enough," he says.
Bresette adds, "I always wanted an opportunity to do something in this space with local artists and artists from all around the country, or even the world, so I just want to thank everyone for making [Live at Lake Effect] happen because it really is a dream come true. I never anticipated ever doing anything to this magnitude."
According to Bresette, the surf shop will still have an online presence to sell clothing and surf goods and he plans to stay involved with the local community.
"I've never really had a lot of time to do events in the past being a dad of three and having this brick and mortar surf shop and even other stuff on the side, so this was a chance to step back and actually try to now plan some events in the future and keep this local surf community connected," says Bresette.
We've had a total of 22 Live at Lake Effect episodes in just over two years, with "so many special moments ... [and] so much great talent," notes Schoepp. He and co-executive producer Audrey Nowakowski extend their deep gratitude to every musician and their supporting team who have shared their time and talents with us at the surf shop. Thank you to Brad Roehl, Kieran Walter Sundaram, Kelly Pudroski and Jessica Wolff — the team behind the cameras who captured and edited these sessions so beautifully. Thank you to WUWM's Jason Rieve for hauling all of the gear to set up, recording and engineer each song and interview. And thanks to Jake Bresette for letting us take over his surf shop occasionally to turn it into an intimate concert venue.
"It is so much work and it is a lot of coordination but at the same time it never felt like work," says Bresette. "Everything from day one did click really well and everyone really worked together really great as a team. So as much work as it did take, it also just it felt right every time we did it. It was one of those experiences that it felt like it was meant to be."
SET LIST
- Devil’s Kettle (1:00)
- Wildfire (4:12)
- Kentucky Derby (7:32)
MUSICIANS
- Trapper Schoepp: vocals & electric guitar
- Daniel Wolff: backup vocals & upright bass
- Quinn Scharber: electric guitar
- Nez: drums
Live at Lake Effect Team:
- Executive Producers: Audrey Nowakowski & Trapper Schoepp
- Audio Engineering: Jason Rieve
- Location: Lake Effect Surf Shop in Milwaukee
- Production Company: Visionary Studios
- Camera Ops: Brad Roehl, Kieran Walter Sundaram & Kelly Pudroski
