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Michael Gira
Gira performing in Glasgow, 2010
Background information
Birth name	Michael Rolfe Gira
Born	(1954-02-19) February 19, 1954 (age 70) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Experimental rock noise rock art rock neofolk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter musician producer author
Instruments	Vocals guitar bass keyboards
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Young God Uni/MCA Caroline Atavistic
Website	younggodrecords.com

Michael Rolfe Gira (/dʒəˈrɑː/; born February 19, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author and artist. He is the main force behind the New York City musical group Swans and fronted Angels of Light. He is also the founder of Young God Records.

Biography

Early life

Gira was born in Los Angeles. His mother, Alice Shulte, is from Iowa. Gira relocated to Europe with his father, Robert Pierre Gira, after a short stay in South Bend, Indiana. As a teenager he hitchhiked across Europe, lived in Israel for a year, and spent four and a half months in an adult jail in Jerusalem for selling hashish. He turned 16 when in jail.

Returning to California, Gira worked at a bakery on Redondo Beach Pier, completed his GED, went to community college, then attended Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. He moved to New York in 1979, where he played in a band called Circus Mort, before forming the band Swans.

Swans

Initially, Swans' focus was raw rhythm and abrasive textures, usually eschewing melody for visceral power. They became known for their abrasive experimental and post-industrial sound. Their commercial success was limited, but Swans earned much critical notice and had a devoted following.

The band's lineup and sound evolved over time, and their music became somewhat more conventional. A marked shift in Swans' music came with inclusion of Gira's partner, Jarboe, who added her ethereal voice and synthesizers to the group in 1985. Gira and Swans spent the next twelve years releasing studio, live, and side-project albums. Gira's frustration with various record labels grew over time, and he disbanded Swans in 1997. However, in 2010, Gira decided to revive the band, with members new and old. They released a new album titled My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky. A second post-revival album, The Seer, was released in 2012. A third, To Be Kind, was released in 2014. All three were met with increasing critical acclaim. The Glowing Man, the band's latest project, was released in June 2016.

Solo career and Angels of Light

After dissolving Swans in 1997 Gira released a solo album under his own name and began a new musical direction with Angels of Light, which are a quieter, more acoustic-based group than Swans.

Gira also spent time experimenting with soundscapes, found sound, and loops with The Body Lovers / The Body Haters project. He has also released several albums under his own name including Drainland (1995), a spoken word album called The Somniloquist (2000), and What We Did (2001), a collaboration with Windsor for the Derby's frontman Dan Matz.

Gira founded his own record label, Young God Records, which has released albums from such artists as Devendra Banhart, Mi and L'au, and Akron/Family as well as Swans, The Angels of Light and The Body Lovers' back catalogues.

Akron/Family served as Gira's backing band during the recording of and touring for The Angels of Light's 2005 album, The Angels of Light Sing 'Other People'.

Gira has spoken of his decision to shift his focus from The Angels of Light to Swans as a move based on impassivity. He has stated, "I had been doing this band Angels of Light for thirteen years, and had reached a kind of impassivity with that, sorta like I had reached an impassivity with Swans when I initially stopped it."

Writings

Gira's first short story collection The Consumer (ISBN 1-880985-26-8) was published in 1995 by Henry Rollins's 2.13.61 publications. It is divided into two parts, the first being "The Consumer", a series of short stories from the early 1990s, the second, "Various Traps, Some Weaknesses", made up mostly of prose-poems and vignettes, all dating from 1983–1986. (Many of these earlier stories had previously been published by SST Records as Selfishness, with illustrations by Raymond Pettibon.) The stories contain many disturbing images and scenes including incest, identity loss, murder, self-hatred, rape, and both mental and physical decay.

In February 2018, Gira released his second short story collection, The Egg. Limited to 2,500 hand-signed copies, The Egg compiles seventeen stories written over 2016. Included with the release is a disc containing narrations of a handful of stories from The Egg as well as a few from The Consumer.

Equipment

Michael Gira is known for using a Guild antique burst electro acoustic guitar, and a Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Guitar Amplifier during his solo concerts. With Swans, Gira has used a variety of instruments including Ovation acoustic guitars and a Westbury Track II bass guitar during early performances. During the Soundtracks for the Blind and Swans are Dead era, Gira can be seen with a Gibson Lucille (which has since become his main guitar for the Swans reunion) and a Gibson Les Paul. Recent shows have seen Gira using Orange amplifiers and cabinets, as well as Mesa Boogie cabinets.

Solo discography

References

1. ^ "California Births, 1905 – 1995". FamilyTreeLegends.com. Retrieved December 12, 2009.
2. "Listen to Swans frontman Michael Gira's guest mix on BBC 6 Music". Fact. March 13, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
3. Essner, Dean (August 26, 2014). "Cold Specks – Neuroplasticity". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
4. Stosuy, Brandon (May 8, 2014). "Interviews: Swans". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
5. Nasrallah, Dimitri (October 24, 2010). "Michael Gira: From Uncompromising Swans to Ethereal Angels of Light". Exclaim!. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
6. "Spinning on Air: The Angels of Light". WNYC. New York Public Radio. October 23, 2005. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
7. Gladstone, Neil (April 23, 2001). "Angels of Light | Press Clippings | Series 1". CMJ New Music Report. Young God Records. Archived from the original on August 27, 2013. Retrieved August 1, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
8. Pattison, Louis (October 19, 2010). "Waxing lyrical: Swans' Michael Gira on his love of words". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
9. Clark, Jeff. "Swans – Interview/Stomp and Stammer". swans.pair.com. Archived from the original on November 28, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
10. Ratliff, Ben (September 3, 2010). "Michael Gira and Swans Re-Form for Tour". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
11. "Circus Mort". TrouserPress.com. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
12. "Michael Gira". CrasierFrane.com. October 20, 2010. Archived from the original on September 6, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
13. Gira, Michael. "THE EGG: STORIES BY MICHAEL GIRA". younggodrecords.com. Young God Records. Retrieved February 5, 2018.

External links

• Young God Records' website

• 1954 births
• Living people
• American male singers
• American singers
• American bass-baritones
• Swans (band) members
• Pigface members
• Post-punk musicians
• American rock guitarists
• American experimental guitarists
• American male guitarists
• American industrial musicians
• American male writers
• Guitarists from Los Angeles
• Musicians from Los Angeles
• No wave musicians
• Noise rock musicians
• Otis College of Art and Design alumni
• Prisoners and detainees of Israel
• Psychedelic folk musicians
• Singers from Los Angeles
• Young God Records artists
• Alternative Tentacles artists
• 20th-century American guitarists