Thor Eisentrager is a founding member and former guitarist for the

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

-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 Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

. After the release of the Cows's ninth album, '' Sorry in Pig Minor'', Thor announced that he had grown tired of touring and left the band. The remaining members disbanded shortly thereafter. After retiring from the music business, he worked as the assistant director of security for the

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the List of largest art museums, largest ar ...

. He left in 2019 after several years of working there. 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, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

and

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisentrager, Thor 1958 births Living people American 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