Thor Eisentrager is a founding member and former guitarist for the

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

-based

Noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

-outfit, the Cows. After the release of the Cows's ninth album, ''

Sorry in Pig Minor ''Sorry in Pig Minor'' is the ninth and final studio album by the Minneapolis-based noise rock band the Cows, released on March 10, 1998, by Amphetamine Reptile Records. It was produced by Buzz Osborne (aka King Buzzo) of the Melvins. Track l ...

'', Thor announced that he had grown tired of touring and left the band. The remaining members disbanded shortly thereafter. He is currently retired from the music business and works as the assistant director of security for the Minneapolis Institute of Art. After several years of working at the Minneapolis Institute of Art he left in 2019. He now works as the Manager of Public Safety at St Catherine University.

Musical style and influence

His approach to guitar playing has been noted as adding to the band's diverse sound. His style was also described as sounding as if he "played with metal files." Unlike the other members of the Cows, Thor was mostly influenced by the Blues, favoring such artists as

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

and

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

. He was also known to bring hand-written notation into band practice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisentrager, Thor 1958 births Living people Lead guitarists American rock guitarists American male guitarists Post-hardcore musicians Noise rock musicians Guitarists from Minnesota American noise musicians Cows (band) members 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians