Editing Michael Gira (section)

==Early life==
Michael Rolfe Gira was born February 19, 1954, in Los Angeles<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nasrallah |first1=Dimitri |title=Michael Gira |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/michael_gira-from_uncompromising_swans_to_ethereal_angels_of_light |access-date=1 March 2025 |work=[[Exclaim!]] |date=23 October 2010 |language=en}}</ref> to Alice (née Shulte), originally from [[Iowa]], and Robert Pierre Gira. His mother was an alcoholic, and Gira spent much of his early life caring for his younger brother.<ref name=st>{{cite web|work=Self-Titled|url=http://www.self-titledmag.com/in-search-of-the-real-michael-gira-from-prison-stays-and-madonna-sightings-to-the-second-coming-of-swans/|title=In Search of the Real Michael Gira, From Prison Stays and Madonna Sightings to Swans' Second Coming|last=Lipez|first=Zachary|date=August 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190324204255/http://www.self-titledmag.com/2014/08/22/in-search-of-the-real-michael-gira-from-prison-stays-and-madonna-sightings-to-the-second-coming-of-swans/|archive-date=March 24, 2019|access-date=July 11, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Gira has commented that his parents were "not around much" during his early childhood.<ref name=st/>

As an adolescent, Gira was arrested in California several times for [[petty crime]]s.<ref name=st/> Facing the risk of being incarcerated in a [[juvenile hall]], he relocated with his father to Germany<ref name=st/> following a short stay in [[South Bend, Indiana]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://younggodrecords.com/press/32-angels-of-light--michael-gira/408-angels-of-light-press-clippings-series-1|title=Angels of Light &#124; Press Clippings &#124; Series 1|work=[[CMJ|CMJ New Music Report]]|publisher=[[Young God Records]]|last=Gladstone|first=Neil|date=April 23, 2001|access-date=2013-08-01|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130827162407/http://younggodrecords.com/press/32-angels-of-light--michael-gira/408-angels-of-light-press-clippings-series-1|archive-date=August 27, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> While in Germany, Gira ran away and 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/oct/19/swans-michael-gira-lyrics|title=Waxing lyrical: Swans' Michael Gira on his love of words|work=[[The Guardian]]|last=Pattison|first=Louis|date=October 19, 2010|access-date=2011-04-21|archive-date=December 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220151429/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/oct/19/swans-michael-gira-lyrics|url-status=live}}</ref> He turned 16 while in jail.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://swans.pair.com/PRESS/int_stomp.html|title=Swans – Interview/Stomp and Stammer|publisher=swans.pair.com|last=Clark|first=Jeff|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121128145719/http://swans.pair.com/PRESS/int_stomp.html|archive-date=November 28, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Returning to California around age seventeen, Gira worked at a bakery on [[Redondo Beach Pier]], completed his [[General Educational Development|GED]], went to community college, and then attended [[Otis College of Art and Design]] in Los Angeles.<ref name=st/> He moved to New York in 1979, where he played in a band called [[Circus Mort]], before forming the band Swans.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/arts/music/05swans.html?pagewanted=all|title=Michael Gira and Swans Re-Form for Tour|work=[[The New York Times]]|last=Ratliff|first=Ben|date=September 3, 2010|access-date=July 7, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Green |first=Jim |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/circus-mort/ |title=Circus Mort |date=2005-02-16 |work=[[Trouser Press]] |access-date=April 23, 2024}}</ref> In Manhattan, Gira found employment as a construction worker, doing demolition, [[drywall|sheetrock]] installation, and plastering.<ref name=res>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|title=Why Swans Whipped Sheet Metal and Licked CBGB's Floor to Make 'Filth'|last=Grow|first=Kory|date=May 26, 2015|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/why-swans-whipped-sheet-metal-and-licked-cbgbs-floor-to-make-filth-45478/|access-date=May 8, 2025|archive-date=August 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811200601/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/why-swans-whipped-sheet-metal-and-licked-cbgbs-floor-to-make-filth-45478/|url-status=live}}</ref>