43 Noise rock musicians

Steven Albini is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer, and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman, and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal engineer of Electrical Audio, a recording studio complex in Chicago. In 2018, Albini estimated that he had worked on several thousand albums during his career.

Tod Ashley is a musician better known by the stage name Tod A. He founded the rock music groups Cop Shoot Cop and Firewater, and is a singer-songwriter and bass guitarist.

Robert Bertelli, better known as Bob Bert, is an American rock drummer.

Jehnny Beth, is a French musician, singer-songwriter, producer, presenter and actress, best known as half of the duo John & Jehn and front woman of the English rock band Savages. Her debut solo album To Love Is to Live was released to critical acclaim in June 2020. Beth is known for her powerful live performances and her intense voice. She also collaborated with other artists such as Trentemøller, Julian Casablancas, Tindersticks, Gorillaz, Noel Gallagher, Romy Croft and Idles.

Rosario Bléfari was an Argentine singer-songwriter, actress and poet, widely considered an emblematic figure of Argentine independent music and cinema.

John Brannon is the lead vocalist for the American hardcore punk band Negative Approach. He also served as the frontman for Laughing Hyenas and Easy Action.

Dan Braun is an American musician, composer, writer, editor, art director, and film producer.

Nicholas Edward Cave is an Australian singer, songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor, best known for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Cave's music is generally characterised by his baritone voice, emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence.

Kimberley Ann Deal is an American singer-songwriter. She was bassist and co-vocalist in the alternative rock band Pixies, before forming the Breeders in 1989.

Duane Denison is an American guitarist best known for work with the avant-garde, influential rock band The Jesus Lizard. He is also a founding member of super-group Tomahawk.

Richard Edson is an American actor and musician.

Brett Taylor Ford was an Australian rock music drummer and songwriter.

Michael Rolfe Gira 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.

Kim Althea Gordon is an American musician, singer, songwriter and bassist, guitarist, and vocalist in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, California, where her father was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. After graduating from Los Angeles's Otis College of Art and Design, she moved to New York City to begin an art career. There, she formed Sonic Youth with Thurston Moore in 1981. She and Moore married in 1984, and the band released a total of six albums on independent labels before the end of the 1980s. They would subsequently release nine studio albums on the major label DGC Records, beginning with Goo in 1990. Gordon was also a founding member of the musical project Free Kitten, which she formed with Julia Cafritz in 1993.

Page Nye Hamilton is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer, mostly noted for his work with alternative metal band Helmet. Most of his work has been in the hard rock and alternative metal styles, though he trained in jazz guitar and has substantial connections with avant-garde music and film soundtrack composition.

Thor Harris is an artist, sculptor, musician, painter, carpenter and handyman. He was the percussionist for Swans (2010–2016). He has performed with Shearwater (2001–2010), a band from Austin, Texas, Bill Callahan, The Angels of Light, Lisa Germano, Yonatan Gat, Gretchen Phillips, Devendra Banhart, Rebecca Cannon, Swans, Xiu Xiu, Flock of Dimes & Amanda Palmer, Whalesong,and the Grand Theft Orchestra. He has recorded at least six instrumental albums with the Austin producer Rob Halverson. He also contributed to Ben Frost's 2014 album, Aurora. In February 2017, and he has enjoyed touring with Thor and Friends since 2015.

Michael John Harvey is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his long-term collaborations with Nick Cave, with whom he formed The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Gibson Jerome Haynes is an American musician, radio personality, painter, and the lead singer of the band Butthole Surfers.

Jennifer James Herrema is an American rock music singer, songwriter, record producer, artist, and model best known for her work as one half of the rock band Royal Trux.

Rowland Stuart Howard was an Australian rock musician, guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with the post-punk group The Birthday Party and his subsequent solo career.

Mark Alan Ibold is a New York-based bass guitarist, member of the indie band Pavement from 1992 to 1999, and again for their 2010 reunion. He was also in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth from 2006 until their 2012 breakup, mainly on bass but occasionally playing guitar.

Jonathan Kane is an American musician and composer. Coming out of New York's Downtown Music scene of the early 1980s, Kane is known for his work with minimalist composers La Monte Young and Rhys Chatham, and was a founding member of NYC band Swans. He also leads his own minimalist blues band called Jonathan Kane's February.

Algis Kizys is a New York City bass guitarist most well known for his long-time membership in New York City band Swans. First joining Swans on 1986's Greed LP, he stayed with the group through The Great Annihilator (1995). He is also a founding member Of Cabbages and Kings, an offshoot of Bag People.

Guy Bernard Maddison is an Australian punk and grunge musician. From 1986 to 1989 he worked as a member of noise rock group Lubricated Goat and appeared on their album, Paddock of Love. He was a member of Bloodloss (1993–97), a blues-punk band, alongside Mark Arm on vocals. From 2001 Maddison is the bass guitarist of the United States-based grunge band, Mudhoney, and has worked on their studio albums, Since We've Become Translucent (2002), Under a Billion Suns (2006), The Lucky Ones (2008), Vanishing Point (2013), and Digital Garbage (2018).

Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace that formed in New York City in 1993. The band's earliest albums were noted for their noise rock influences, though their sound evolved by the early 2000s with the releases of Misery is a Butterfly (2004) and 23 (2007), which both incorporated elements of dream pop, shoegaze and other genres. They have released nine regular studio albums and have toured internationally.

Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moore was ranked 34th in Rolling Stone's 2004 edition of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." In May 2012, Spin published a staff-selected list of the top 100 rock guitarists, and ranked Moore and his Sonic Youth bandmate Lee Ranaldo together at number 1.

Jim O'Rourke is an American musician and record producer. He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene. Around 2000, he relocated to New York City before moving to Japan, where he currently resides. O’Rourke is best known for his numerous solo and collaborative projects, many of which are entirely instrumental, and for his tenure as a member of Sonic Youth from 1999 to 2005. He has released albums across varied genres, including singer-songwriter music, post-rock, ambient, noise music, and tape experiments.

David Ouimet is an American artist, author, and musician. He was a band member of Cop Shoot Cop, Motherhead Bug, Firewater, and Sulfur but has since moved on to interests other than music.

Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace that formed in New York City in 1993. The band's earliest albums were noted for their noise rock influences, though their sound evolved by the early 2000s with the releases of Misery is a Butterfly (2004) and 23 (2007), which both incorporated elements of dream pop, shoegaze and other genres. They have released nine regular studio albums and have toured internationally.

Jeffrey Neal "Jeff" Pezzati is the lead singer of the Chicago punk band Naked Raygun. From 1983 to 1985, he also played bass for the band Big Black. In 1980 Pezzati was asked to audition for Naked Raygun. Pezzati passed the audition and became the band's longest-running member.

Jeff 'J.D.' Pinkus is an American bassist best known for his work with American punk band Butthole Surfers from 1985 to 1994 and the 2009 reunion.

Christopher Pravdica is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the current bass guitarist of American experimental rock band Swans.

Phil Puleo is an American composer, drummer, illustrator and visual artist from New York. He is known as a founding member of the band Cop Shoot Cop and for his current involvement in the experimental rock group Swans. He has also collaborated with Michael Gira on his Angels of Light musical project. After briefly touring with the Swans during the mid-nineties, Puleo joined the band as a full-time member in 2010.

Lee Mark Ranaldo is an American musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, writer, visual artist and record producer, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list. In May 2012, Spin published a staff selected top 100 guitarist list, ranking Ranaldo and his Sonic Youth bandmate Thurston Moore together at number 1.

James Sclavunos is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer and writer. He is best known as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s. He is also noted for stints in Sonic Youth and the Cramps, and has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since 1994. Sclavunos has led his own group the Vanity Set since 2000.

Steven Jay Shelley is an American drummer. He is best known as a member of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Shelley is the current recording drummer for the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon, with whom he makes occasional live appearances.

David William Sims is an American musician, best known as the bass guitarist of the bands Scratch Acid, Rapeman, and The Jesus Lizard. He has also recorded or performed with Sparklehorse, Rhys Chatham, Shivaree, Pigface, Flour, and others. Sims currently performs experimental solo electric bass as Unfact.

Jon Spencer is an American singer, composer and guitarist. He has been involved in multiple musical acts, such as Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, Heavy Trash and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

John Stanier is an American drummer who is best known for his work with Helmet and the experimental rock band Battles. He has also previously played in Tomahawk and The Mark of Cain, as well as performing on several releases as a studio musician.

Norman Westberg is a guitarist from Detroit best known for his work with Swans. Present through almost the entirety of the band's existence, Westberg was brought on for Swans' debut album Filth (1983) and appeared on every album through 1991's White Light from the Mouth of Infinity. Westberg became a full-time Swans member once again when Michael Gira reactivated the group in 2010.

Yamataka Eye is a Japanese vocalist and visual artist, best known as a member of Boredoms and Naked City. He has changed his stage name three times, from Yamatsuka Eye, to Yamantaka Eye, to Yamataka Eye, and sometimes calls himself eYe or EYヨ. He also DJs under the name DJ 光光光 or "DJ pica pica pica", and has used numerous other pseudonyms.

David Yow is an American musician and actor born in Las Vegas, Nevada and best known as the vocalist for the noise rock bands Scratch Acid and The Jesus Lizard. Yow's debut solo album, Tonight You Look Like a Spider, was released in June 2013 on Joyful Noise Records.