Michael Gira

Michael Gira, 2009 in Portland (Oregon)

Michael Gira (born February 19, 1954 in Los Angeles ) is an American musician, founder and head of the band Swans and operator of the music label Young God Records .

biography

Michael Rolfe Gira was born in 1954 and grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles . After his parents separated, he initially lived with his mother. Because of drug use, he was placed in the care of his father, who lived in Indiana , at the age of twelve . Gira ran away from home several times according to his description. His travels took him to Amsterdam , Istanbul and Israel, among others . There he was convicted of drug possession and trafficking and spent - while still a minor - several weeks in prison, worked in a copper mine and lived with the family of a Jewish woman who had fled Persia. Gira processed this section of his life later a. a. in the songs My True Body and Lena's Song . Eventually he got in touch with his father and returned to his mother in the United States by mutual agreement.

He attended several schools, but without completing a regular degree, most recently the Otis Academy Art Institute . During this time he developed an interest in punk , industrial and no-wave music. He edited Fanzine No Magazine , founded the short-lived band Little Cripples and spent some time in the punk scene in San Francisco , which he soon turned away from.

In 1978/79 Gira moved to New York . He founded the formation Circus Mort, which broke up after the release of only one EP, and then, around 1981/82, the band Swans. With the entry of guitarist Norman Westberg and percussionist Roli Mosimann, the Swans received the band profile that they would maintain for the next few years. Initially, the Swans went through a power rock phase experimenting with monotonous, rhythmic and atonal sounds. Starting with their cover version of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart and the 1987 album Children of God , they worked both orchestral and acoustic, sometimes folkloric sounds into their compositions. Singer Jarboe joined the Swans in 1984/85. Gira and Jarboe, who were also privately linked at the time, founded the Skin project together and released three albums parallel to their work on the Swans.

Persistent problems with record labels and distributors as well as his personal frustration with the lack of commercial success despite artistic recognition finally moved Gira to dissolve the Swans in 1997. Gira and Jarboe had been working on solo projects for some time; After Jarboe made a small contribution to Gira's project The Body Lovers / The Body Haters, the two finally went their separate ways. Regardless of this, in 1999 he organized a benefit concert in favor of Jarboe to support the singer, who was seriously injured in an argument.

Also in 1999 the first album by Gira's new band Angels of Light was released , whose albums, like those of the Swans, were recorded with frequently changing line-ups. Musically, the emphasis was now entirely on folk , psychedelic and progressive rock . In addition to his own projects, Gira produced and sold the artists and bands Akron / Family, Devendra Banhart , Ulan Bator, Calla, David Coulter, Flux Information Sciences, Lisa Germano , Larsen, Jean Marie Mathoul, Mi and L ' on his label Young God Records. au, (Charlemagne) Palestine and Windsor For The Derby. In 1995 a collection of short stories and poems by Giras appeared under the title The Consumer .

In 2010, Gira reformed the Swans. The new line-up united Norman Westberg, one of the earliest members of the band, whereas Jarboe was neither on the album My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky nor on the extended tour.

Discography

• Circus Mort EP - (1981)
• Swans EP - (1982)
• Swans: Filth - (1983)
• Swans: Cop - (1984)
• Swans: Young God EP - (1984)
• Michael Gira / Lydia Lunch : Hard Rock (Spoken-Word-Split-MC) - (1984)
• Swans: Greed - (1986)
• Swans: Holy Money - (1986)
• Swans: Public Castration Is A Good Idea (Live) - (1986)
• Swans: A Long Slow Screw (VHS) - (1986)
• Swans: Children of God - (1987)
• Swans: Feel Good Now (Live) - (1987)
• Skin: Blood, Women, Roses (1987)
• Skin: Shame, Humility, Revenge (1988)
• The World of Skin (compilation of titles from Blood, Women, Roses and Shame, Humility, Revenge ) (1988)
• Swans: The Burning World - (1989)
• Swans: Anonymous Bodies in an Empty Room (Live) - (1990)
• The World of Skin: Ten Songs for Another World (1990)
• Swans: White Light from the Mouth of Infinity - (1991)
• Swans: Body to Body, Job to Job (Unreleased Recordings 1982–1985) - (1991)
• Swans: Love of Life - (1992)
• Swans: Omniscience (Live) - (1992)
• Swans: The Great Annihilator - (1995)
• Swans: Kill the Child (Live) - (1995)
• Swans: Swans Related Project: M. Gira - Drainland / Swans Related Project: Jarboe - Sacrificial Cake (3 LP album) - (1995)
• Swans: The Door Is Closed - (1996)
• Swans: Soundtracks for the Blind - (1996)
• Swans: Swans Are Dead (Live) - (1998)
• The Body Lovers: Number One of Three - (1998)
• The Body Haters: 34:13 - (1998)
• The Angels of Light: New Mother - (1999)
• Swans: Various Failures 1988-1992 (Compilation) - (1999)
• The Angels of Light: How I Loved You - (1999)
• Michael Gira With Guests: Benefit CD - Jarboe Emergency Medical Fund - (1999)
• Michael Gira: The Somniloquist (Spoken Word Album) - (1999)
• Michael Gira: Solo Recordings at Home - (2001)
• Michael Gira & Dan Matz: What We Did - (2001)
• The Angels of Light: We Were Alive - (2002)
• Michael Gira: Living '02 - (2002)
• The Angels of Light: Everything Is Good Here / Please Come Home - (2003)
• Swans: Forever Burned (Compilation) - (2003)
• Michael Gira: I Am Singing to You from My Room - (2004)
• Jarboe: Mystery of Faith - Unreleased Pieces: Swans + World of Skin (Compilation) (2004)
• Akron / Family and Angels of Light (split album) - (2005)
• Angels of Light: The Angels of Light Sing Other People - (2005)
• Michael Gira: Songs for a Dog - (2006)
• Angels of Light: We Are Him - (2007)
• Michael Gira: I Am Not Insane - (2010)
• Swans: My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky - (2010)
• Swans: We Rose From Your Bed With The Sun In Our Head - (2012)
• Swans: The Seer - (2012)
• Swans: To Be Kind - (2014)
• Swans: The Glowing Man - (2016)

proof

1. ↑ ^{a b} Interview ( memento of the original from November 30, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in BB Gun Magazine, No. 6, 2003, accessed on Younggodrecords.com on May 26, 2012. 
2. ↑ Interview in Pitchfork on May 22, 2005, accessed on Pitchfork.com on May 26, 2012.

Web links

Commons : Michael Gira  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Younggodrecords.com (official website of Michael Gira)
• Myspace.com/mgira (Michael Gira's website on Myspace.com)