Swans (band)
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist
Swans are an American experimental rock band formed in 1981 by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. One of the few acts to emerge from the New York City-based no wave scene and stay intact into the next decade, Swans have become recognized for an ever-changing sound, exploring genres such as noise rock, post-punk, industrial and post-rock. Initially, their music was known for its sonic brutality and misanthropic lyrics. Following the addition of singer, songwriter and keyboardist Jarboe in 1986, Swans began to incorporate melody and intricacy into their music. Jarboe remained the band's only constant member with Gira and semi-constant guitarist Norman Westberg until their dissolution in 1997.<ref name="Swans allmusic" />
In 2010, Gira re-formed the band without Jarboe, establishing a stable lineup of musicians which has toured worldwide and released four albums to critical acclaim.<ref name="metacritic">Template:Cite web</ref> This iteration of the group performed its last shows in November 2017, ending the tour in support of its then most recent album The Glowing Man.<ref name="Swans allmusic" /> Since 2019, Gira has been touring and recording with Swans as "a revolving cast of contributors".<ref name="Swans allmusic" /> The band's latest album, Birthing, is set to release on May 30, 2025. Since 1990, all Swans records have been released through Gira's own label, Young God Records.
History
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Early years (1982–1985)
[edit]Initial influences
[edit]Michael Gira has repeatedly stated he took the moniker Swans as it best described the sound he wanted.<ref name="majestic">Template:Cite web</ref> Gira's summation of the name follows along the lines of: "Swans are majestic, beautiful looking creatures. With really ugly temperaments."<ref name="majestic"/>
The earliest known lineup of Swans comprised Gira on bass guitar and vocals, Jonathan Kane on drums, Sue Hanel on guitar, Mojo on percussion and tape loops and Thurston Moore, Dan Braun or Jonathan Tessler on the second bass guitar.<ref name="Swans allmusic">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Jonathan Kane and Swans">Template:Cite journal</ref> Tessler also played metal percussion and tape loops in another variation of the line-up with Gira on bass, Moore on guitar, and Kane on drums. Hanel's only recordings with the group are on the compilation Body to Body, Job to Job, but the ambiguous personnel credits do not make it clear on which songs she performed. Kane stated that "Sue was the most fearsome guitarist we'd ever heard in New York. She was unbelievable."<ref name="Jonathan Kane and Swans"/>
Hanel did not stay long in the group, and by the time of their recording debut she had been replaced by Bob Pezzola.<ref name="Nobody Knows No Wave">Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This lineup of the group also featured saxophonist Daniel Galli-Duani, who had previously played with Kane as the avant-garde duo Transmission.<ref name="Nobody Knows No Wave"/> The debut EP, Swans, released on Labor, is markedly different from anything they would do later.<ref name="Nobody Knows No Wave"/> However, the minimal chord structures owe more to blues, while the jazz instrumentation and awkward time signatures are evidence of Swans' roots in the no wave scene of the late 1970s,<ref name="Nobody Knows No Wave"/> which had more or less collapsed by the release of 1984's Cop.<ref name="Swans allmusic"/>
Early style
[edit]Kane compares Swans to blues icon Chester Burnett, a.k.a. Howlin' Wolf.<ref name="Greed review">Template:Cite web</ref> Some similarities worth noting—the music of early Swans was often based on a single riff, played repeatedly to hypnotic effect.<ref name="Greed review"/> Some of Burnett's songs—especially the songs penned by Burnett himself—have a similar structure and quality. Their early music was typified by slow and grinding guitar noise, and pounding drums, punctuated by Gira's morbid and violent lyrics (inspired by Jean Genet and Marquis de Sade), usually barked or shouted. Critics have described Swans' early recordings as "aggressive beyond words".<ref name="Greed review"/>
Their first full-length release, Filth (1983), featured driving, choppy rhythms and abrasive drums.<ref name="Filth review">Template:Cite web</ref> The whole is reminiscent of earlier no wave bands, such as Mars, and the work of Swans' contemporaries, like Sonic Youth's Confusion Is Sex and Kill Yr Idols; but critic Ned Raggett contends that "early Swans really is like little else on the planet before or since".<ref name="Filth review"/> Filth was the first album to feature guitarist Norman Westberg, who would play a vital role in much of Swans' music and would feature on every subsequent studio album apart from Love of Life.<ref name="Filth review"/>
Cop (1984) and the originally untitled Young God EP were both released in 1984 and re-released together on CD in 1992.<ref name="Swans allmusic"/><ref name="Young God">Template:Cite web</ref> Young God has been known by several names, usually by one of its two A-sides, such as "I Crawled" or, notoriously, as "Raping a Slave".<ref name="Young God"/> This release is often confused with their self-titled debut.<ref name="Swans allmusic"/> The music continues in the same vein as Filth, and is again vaguely reminiscent of heavy metal music played in extreme slow motion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Swans were, in this era, Gira on vocals, Westberg on guitar, Harry Crosby on bass guitar and Roli Mosimann on drums.<ref name="Swans allmusic"/> Gira's vocals had changed slightly, becoming slowly more melodic, although the snarl still remained.<ref name="Swans allmusic"/> Some of the songs on the EP, particularly "Young God" and "I Crawled", have an actual vocal melody, if rudimentary, hinting at the sounds of future releases.<ref name="Swans allmusic"/>
Godflesh frontman Justin Broadrick shared this impression of the group:
Live shows
[edit]One of the trademarks of Swans' early period was playing at painfully loud volumes during concerts, sometimes leading to police stopping shows. Gira was also notably confrontational with the audience, such as stepping on people's fingers resting on the stage, pulling people's hair and, notably, physically assaulting anyone caught in the crowd headbanging, something Gira detested.<ref name="Interview with Seconds at swans.pair.com">Template:Cite journal</ref> This lent a reputation to the name Swans which was one of the contributing factors in Gira's retirement of the band in 1997.<ref name="The Final Sacrifice: M. Gira retires Swans">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Since Swans' re-formation, Gira has made a point of maintaining the intensity of their live show, stating that it is at once "soul-uplifting and body-destroying". He has also sometimes turned off the air conditioning before Swans performed and compared the experience to a Native American sweat lodge.<ref name="Michael Gira Interview on Crasier Frane">Template:Cite web</ref>
Stylistic shift (1986–1988)
[edit]1986's Greed was not as brutal or noisy as Swans' previous releases, while still being an extremely ominous and dark record. It also saw two new and significant musicians join the group. New bassist Algis Kizys would become a long-time, near-constant member, as would new vocalist/keyboardist Jarboe (who had joined the band a month before the release of the 1985 "Time Is Money (Bastard)" 12-inch, on which she had been credited simply with "scream").
Greed was followed by its "twin" album, Holy Money, the first to feature Jarboe contributing lead vocals (on "You Need Me"). Her presence began a slow thawing in the overt brutality and energy of Swans' early work, while Holy Money was also the first album by the group to incorporate acoustic elements: in particular, the eight-minute dirge "Another You", which starts with a bluesy harmonica introduction. It also marks the introduction of religious themes in Swans records with the sacrificial ode "A Hanging", complete with gospel-like backing vocals from Jarboe. (Jarboe would also sing lead on "Blackmail", a B-side from the A Screw 12". Both tracks appeared on the original CD version of Holy Money and the Greed/Holy Money compilation, while a minimal version of the latter also appears on Children of God.)
Children of God (1987) further expanded Jarboe's role, acting as a foil to Michael Gira's tales of suffering, torture and humiliation. The stories portrayed here, however, are ever the more unusual, given their juxtaposition—and admixture—with religious imagery. The intention was neither to mock nor embrace religion, but experiment with the power inherent in its messages and the hypocrisy of many of its leaders.<ref name="girainterview">Template:Cite web</ref>
Some songs, such as "Beautiful Child", retain the vocal style of earlier days, but many are quite tame. The almost baroque "In My Garden", for example, added an extra dimension with piano (used before on "Fool" and "Sealed in Skin" to far grimmer effect) and acoustic guitar. In between the two poles, there are pieces like "Sex, God, Sex" (heavy metal-like bass riffs with blues and gospel-inspired singing), "Blood and Honey" (a murder ballad with early post-rock tendencies) and "Blind Love" (a lengthy song, alternating between intoned vocals and violent instrumental passages). Gira considers this to be the band's major turning point, saying by 1986/7 Swans "had run its course with the physical assault of sound that they had employed previously for the most part. I wanted to move on to other things and didn't want to get stuck in some style, which in our case had the potential of becoming cartoonish if we'd continued in that direction.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Later years (1988–1997)
[edit]After the Children of God album, Gira professed himself tired with the band's fearsome reputation for noise, feeling that their audience now had expectations that he had no intention of fulfilling. He made a conscious decision to tone down the band's sound, introducing more acoustic elements and increasingly emphasizing Jarboe as a singer. The first results of this shift in direction were the two records recorded by Gira and Jarboe under the names Skin (in Europe) and World of Skin (in the US). The first, Blood, Women, Roses, featured Jarboe on lead vocals, and the second, Shame, Humility, Revenge, featured Gira on lead vocals. Both were recorded together in 1987, although Shame, Humility, Revenge was not released until 1988. These albums are full of slow, ethereal, melancholy, dirge-like songs, sounding like stripped-down acoustic versions of the Children of God songs.
The band continued this transformation with an unexpected cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart", which was released as a single in 1988 on Product Inc. in a confusing array of 7" and 12" inch formats. Both Gira and Jarboe sang lead vocals on different versions of the song. In later years Gira dismissed this release as a mistake, and for a long time refused to reissue his own vocal version, although Jarboe's version was re-released much sooner. However their version of the song was a hit on US college radio in 1988, which led to the group being offered a major label deal at Uni/MCA. "I'd worked so hard all my life", said Gira. "At 15, I was digging ditches in the desert in Israel, and I put myself through college painting houses. I never saw any money from any of our records. So by the time I finally got that carrot dangled in front of me, it was like, 'at last, I can make a living at what I love to do.'"<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>
This single was followed by The Burning World (1989), Swans' first and only major label album. Released on Uni/MCA Records, the record was produced by Bill Laswell and expanded the acoustic palette introduced on Greed and Children of God. For this album, the core line-up of Michael Gira, Jarboe and Westberg was augmented by session musicians, and the distinctive heavy guitar element of their earlier work was toned down significantly in favor of folk and world music elements. Though Swans would later explore more acoustic music with similar moods, Gira has stated that, while he admires much of Laswell's work, his efforts with Swans were simply a mismatch. The album reportedly sold 5000 copies in the UK, one of the lowest numbers in the history of MCA Records, and was soon deleted from MCA's catalogue.<ref name=":0" />
The Burning World was the first Swans album to feature more conventional pop melodies. Gira's lyrics still favored themes of depression, death, greed and despair, but were actually sung, rather than the chanting or shouting typical of earlier material. They even covered Steve Winwood's popular Blind Faith hit "Can't Find My Way Home", one of two singles from the LP.
In 1990, Gira and Jarboe released the third and final World of Skin album, Ten Songs for Another World. It was less successful than the previous two Skin albums.
Gira's disillusionment with their Uni/MCA exploits led to White Light from the Mouth of Infinity (1991), a successful blending of earlier hard rock and later pop styles. Produced by Gira, the album blended acoustic rock, blues and hypnotic guitar noise successfully, resulting in an album more complex than anything they had released in the past. This album was followed by Love of Life (recorded by Martin Bisi in 1992), the EP single Love of Life/Amnesia, taking the group even farther into experimentation, and then The Great Annihilator (1995), considered to be one of the band's most accessible releases, possibly through being their most straightforward. The songwriting style and musical approach, however, would take a more unusual turn the following year.
Demise
[edit]With other projects occupying his time, Gira decided to end the group with one last studio album and a world tour. Soundtracks for the Blind (1996) was a two-disc album featuring Jarboe-supplied field recordings, experimental music, dark ambient soundscapes, post-industrial epics, post-rock suites and acoustic guitar. In 1998, Swans Are Dead was released, consisting of live recordings from their 1995 and 1997 tours. In an interview, Gira revealed that there is more live material that may be released in the future. He described these unreleased recordings as "fairly spectacular".<ref name="An Interview with Michael Gira">Template:Cite web</ref>
Post-breakup and re-formation (1997–2017)
[edit]After dissolving Swans, Gira formed Angels of Light, continued his work with Young God Records and Jarboe continued her solo work.
In January 2010, Swans' re-formation was heralded with a new song posted on the Young God Records' MySpace, and officially confirmed by a post on the Young God Records Facebook and MySpace accounts.<ref name="Facebook">Template:Cite web</ref> Gira decided to bring back Swans during an Angels of Light show five years prior. In the middle of performing the song The Provider onstage utilizing "large chords that were very sustained and swaying, in this sort of slave-ship rhythm," he felt "a nascent urge right then to re-form or reinvigorate Swans because I remembered how elevating and intense that experience was".<ref name=":1">Template:Cite magazine</ref> To help raise money for the upcoming new Swans album, Gira released a new solo album, I Am Not Insane, via his Young God Records website.<ref name="YGR">Template:Cite web</ref> LAS Magazine posted an article entitled "Kickstart My Art" on alternative financing in "a cash-strapped music industry, unable to rely on record label financing, [that] is positioning its own quid pro quo: fan dollars to fund projects in exchange for exclusive material and a sense of involvement" that cites Swans selling out of the 1,000 signed and numbered copies of I Am Not Insane as an example of reverse financing where proceeds from one project are rolled over to finance the next.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Swans then went on a series of U.S. and European tour dates,<ref name="Prefix">Template:Cite web</ref> and headlined the Supersonic Festival in Birmingham, England in October 2010. The first post-reformation Swans album, My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky, was released on September 23, 2010, and the band simultaneously embarked on an eighteen-month world tour.<ref name=":1" /> The band were chosen by Portishead to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties I'll Be Your Mirror festivals that Portishead curated in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace, and, in September 2011, in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
In 2012 Swans released the live album We Rose from Your Bed with the Sun in Our Head, featuring material culled from their 2010–2011 tour, in support of production and recording costs for their forthcoming record, The Seer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Initially released as a limited handmade edition of 1000 copies, We Rose... was re-released in May 2012 as a deluxe digipak.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On July 15, 2013, Gira announced a new, handmade live album in the vein of I Am Not Insane and We Rose..., titled Not Here / Not Now. The album was announced for sale on October 14, with the proceeds helping to fund the recording of the new Swans studio album with John Congleton, announced in 2014 as To Be Kind.<ref name="facebook">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="consequenceofsound">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2014 the band announced that it signed with Mute Records for the world outside North America and that the band would be touring. That same year, in November, the band curated a three-day program at Le Guess Who? in Utrecht, The Netherlands, including Wire, Silver Apples, Ben Frost, Prurient and Words to the Blind, a project by Savages together with Japanese band Bo Ningen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2014 both The Seer and To Be Kind were ranked on PitchforkTemplate:'s "Top 100 Albums of the Decade So Far 2010–2014." The Seer was ranked 17 and To Be Kind was ranked 85.<ref name=pitchforkmedia>Template:Cite web</ref>
The band announced on July 22, 2015, that they would be recording their fourteenth studio album in September 2015, following a fundraiser album entitled The Gate,<ref name="facebook.com">Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> as with the three previous post-reunion studio albums.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> On April 5, 2016, the band announced The Glowing Man and shared a two-minute excerpt of the twenty-nine minute title track. The album was released on June 17, 2016, on Young God Records and Mute Records,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and is the final Swans album released under a mostly homogeneous lineup, although Gira continues to record Swans music with "a revolving cast" of musicians, as of 2019.<ref name="facebook.com"/><ref name="younggodrecords.com">Template:Cite web</ref>
This final incarnation of the band announced for immediate release a live album, Deliquescence, on May 17. The album, limited to 3,000 CD-only copies, contains three tracks that have previously only been played live.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Hiatus and new, dynamic line-ups (2018–present)
[edit]Following a nearly year-long break from Swans, Gira announced a brief tour of new Swans material playing along the West Coast of the United States, which started in September 2018 accompanied by longtime Swans guitarist Norman Westberg with recording of a new album commencing in Berlin in February 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The fifteenth Swans album was preceded (and financed) by another fundraiser album of demos, What Is This?, released in March 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Updates between June and August 2019 confirmed that the upcoming album was fully recorded, mixed and mastered.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On September 5, the album was revealed to be called Leaving Meaning and a single from the album titled "It's Coming It's Real" was released.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The album itself was released on October 25. It features guitarist Christoph Hahn, percussionist Larry Mullins and bassist Yoyo Röhm as main contributors.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2019, a documentary about the band, called Where Does a Body End? was also released by Italian-American director Marco Porsia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In March 2021, Gira announced a new Swans album with an Instagram post of a tracklist.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
On January 6, 2022, Michael Gira announced on his Instagram that a new fundraiser album was available via Young God Records, called Is There Really a Mind?.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The fundraiser album sold out in just nine days. Young God Records said Swans would begin recording in April 2022. On March 22, 2023, the album was revealed to be titled The Beggar, and a single from the album titled "Paradise Is Mine" was released. The Beggar was released on June 23, 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In July 2024, Gira announced a live album, Live Rope, recorded at performances in 2023 and 2024 and intended to fund the creation of another Swans album. On November 15, 2024, Gira announced on Instagram that the album would be titled Birthing, to be mixed in Berlin that month and released in 2025, and described it as "the final "big sound" Swans album":<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
"Going forward (after the release of Birthing and its subsequent tours), things will be simpler and more intimate for Swans. When that time comes, I look forward to discovering a fresh path towards a new sonic terrain in which to dwell."
"I Am a Tower", the first single from Birthing, was released on February 25, 2025.<ref name="conbirth">Template:Cite news</ref> The album was also given a release date of May 30, 2025.<ref name="conbirth" />
Musical style and legacy
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Swans' music has transformed greatly over the decades, but is typically dark<ref name="trebleguide">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Columbus" /> and "apocalyptic",<ref name="guareview">Template:Cite news</ref> often focusing on themes of power, religion, sex and death,<ref name="stereogum">Template:Cite web</ref> and has been most generally associated with experimental rock.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="courant">Template:Cite news</ref> According to Spin, the band demonstrates "unparalleled ability to translate the absurd violence of the human condition into music that’s as intoxicating as it is intense."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Their early work, rooted in the New York City-based no wave movement which was fading out by the time of their formation in 1982,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> is extremely aggressive, characterized by Michael Gira as "stripping down the essential elements of what we consider to be rock music".<ref name="ltw">Template:Cite web</ref> The Guardian described it as "a cacophonous rhythmic throb which drew on post-punk, industrial, doom metal, NYC avant minimalism and the blues; a sound which was matched by Gira's often nihilistic, anti-natalist and existential lyrical concerns ... delivered in a stentorian and messianic manner."<ref name="guard">Template:Cite news</ref> It was a contribution to both industrial music<ref>Reynolds, Simon (2005). Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984. (Page 487) London: Faber and Faber. Template:ISBN</ref> and noise rock<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and influenced the emergence of grindcore<ref>Mudrian, Albert (2000). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore. (Page 35) Feral House. Template:ISBN</ref> (inspiring also the use of "grind" in musical context)<ref>Mudrian, Adrian 2004, page 35.</ref> and sludge metal.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Later in the 1980s, Swans' music began to incorporate more melodic and intricate elements, especially since Jarboe's debut as a songwriter on 1987's Children of God.<ref name="AMbio">Template:Cite web</ref> While generally maintaining much dissonance, the band's subsequent work further ventured into genres such as post-punk,<ref name="PPcorn">Template:Cite web</ref> gothic rock,<ref name="trebleguide" /> neofolk,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> psychedelic rock<ref name="stereogum" /> and art rock.<ref name="guareview" /> Their final album before breaking up, 1996's Soundtracks for the Blind, is a double album which emphasizes atmosphere, branching into post-rock,<ref name="trebleguide" /><ref name="stereogum" /> drone<ref name="magnet">Template:Cite web</ref> and dark ambient.<ref name="magnet" /> Since re-forming in 2010, they have continued to be associated with post-rock<ref name="Columbus">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="PPcorn" /> and drone music<ref name="courant" /> as well as noise rock.<ref name="AMbio" /> The double albums from the latest years, which have brought them widespread critical acclaim, often feature long songs that develop complex soundscapes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Swans have been cited as an influence by a variety of rock and extreme metal musicians, including members of Napalm Death,<ref name="napalm death">Template:Cite web</ref> Godflesh,<ref name="broadrick intervew">Template:Cite web</ref> Melvins,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Neurosis,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Treponem Pal,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nirvana,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Tool,<ref name="Tool">Template:Cite web</ref> My Dying Bride,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Isis,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Weakling,<ref name="weakling">Template:Cite web</ref> Leviathan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Natural Snow Buildings,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Khanate,<ref name="khanate">Template:Cite web</ref> Liturgy,<ref name="Liturgy (band)|Liturgy">Template:Cite web</ref> Vision Eternel,<ref name="TheObeliskInterview">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="MetalTempleTriskalyonInterview">Template:Cite web</ref> Car Seat Headrest,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Full of Hell,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Sprain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Members
[edit]Current
[edit]- Michael Gira – lead vocals, guitar, bass, tape loops, keyboards (1981–1997, 2010–present)
- Norman Westberg – guitar, vocals (1983–1990, 1993–1995, 2010–2017, 2019, 2024–present)
- Kristof Hahn (also known as Christoph Hahn) – guitar, lap steel guitar, backing vocals (1989–1992, 2010–2017, 2019–present)
- Larry Mullins – drums, Mellotron, percussion, vibes, backing vocals (1995–1996, 2019–present)
- Phil Puleo – drums, percussion, dulcimer, backing vocals (1997, 2010–2017, 2019–present)
- Christopher Pravdica – bass guitar, backing vocals, taishōgoto (2010–2017, 2019–present)
- Dana Schechter – bass guitar, lap steel guitar, keyboards (2019–present)
Former
[edit]- Jonathan Kane – drums (1981–1983)
- Daniel Galli-Duani – saxophone (1981–1982)
- Bob Pezzola – guitar (1981–1983)
- Sue Hanel – guitar (1982)
- Thurston Moore – bass guitar (1982)
- Dan Braun – bass guitar (1982)
- Jon Tessler – bass guitar, percussion, tape loops (1982)
- Mojo – percussion, tape loops (1982)
- Roli Mosimann – drums (1982–1984; died 2024)
- Harry Crosby – bass guitar (1983–1986; died 2013)
- John Hood – drums (1984)
- Ivan Nahem – drums (1984–1985)
- Jarboe – keyboards, vocals, piano (1985–1997, 2012, one off show in 2016)
- Ronaldo Gonzalez – drums (1985–1987)
- Ted Parsons – drums (1985–1987, 1991, 1993–1994)
- Algis Kizys – bass guitar (1985–1988, 1991–1995)
- Jason Asnes – bass guitar (1988)
- Virgil Moorefield – drums (1988)
- Steve McCalister – bass guitar (1989)
- Vinnie Signorelli – drums, percussion (1989–1992)
- Clint Steele – guitar (1990–1995, 1997)
- Jenny Wade – bass guitar (1990–1991)
- Anton Fier – drums (1990–1991; died 2022)
- Bill Rieflin – drums, additional instruments (1994–1996, guest appearances 2010–2017; died 2020)
- Joe Goldring – bass guitar (1995–1996)
- Vudi - guitar, keyboards (1995–1996)
- Bill Bronson – bass guitar (1997)
- Thor Harris – drums, percussion, vibraphone, hammered dulcimer, keyboards (2010–2016, 2017, 2019)
- Paul Wallfisch – keyboards (2016–2017, 2019)
- Yoyo Röhm – bass guitar, double bass, keyboards, vocals (2019)
- Ben Frost – synthesizer, mellotron, guitar (2020-2023, guest appearances since 2012)
Timeline
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</timeline>
Discography
[edit]Template:Main Studio albums
- Filth (1983)
- Cop (1984)
- Greed (1986)
- Holy Money (1986)
- Children of God (1987)
- The Burning World (1989)
- White Light from the Mouth of Infinity (1991)
- Love of Life (1992)
- The Great Annihilator (1995)
- Soundtracks for the Blind (1996)
- My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky (2010)
- The Seer (2012)
- To Be Kind (2014)
- The Glowing Man (2016)
- Leaving Meaning (2019)
- The Beggar (2023)
- Birthing (2025)
References
[edit]Further reading
[edit]External links
[edit]- Official site from Jarboe
- Template:Official website
- Template:AllMusic
- Template:Discogs artist
- Template:MusicBrainz artist
- Template:Imdb name
- Where does a body end? – 2019 Documentary movie on Swans directed by Marco Porsia
Template:Swans (band) Template:Michael Gira Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
- Swans (band)
- American experimental rock groups
- No wave groups
- American industrial music groups
- American noise rock music groups
- American post-punk music groups
- American gothic rock groups
- Psychedelic rock music groups from New York (state)
- American art rock groups
- American post-rock groups
- Rock music groups from New York (state)
- Musical groups from New York City
- 1982 establishments in New York (state)
- Musical groups established in 1981
- 1997 disestablishments in New York (state)
- Musical groups disestablished in 1997
- Musical groups reestablished in 2010
- Musical groups disestablished in 2017
- Musical groups reestablished in 2019
- Mute Records artists
- Homestead Records artists
- Uni Records artists
- Caroline Records artists
- Young God Records artists
- Atavistic Records artists
- Some Bizzare Records artists