Brian Baker

Who is Brian Baker?

Brian Baker is an American punk rock musician. He is best known as one of the founding members of the hardcore punk band Minor Threat, and as a guitarist in Bad Religion since 1994 alongside Greg Hetson and Brett Gurewitz. In Minor Threat, he originally played bass guitar before switching to guitar in 1982 when Steve Hansgen joined the band, and then moved back to bass after Hansgen's departure. He also founded Dag Nasty in 1985, was part of the original line-up of Samhain, and has had stints in Doggy Style, The Meatmen, Government Issue, and Junkyard.

In 1994 Baker was offered a spot with R.E.M. but declined, opting instead to accept a position in Bad Religion as Brett Gurewitz's replacement. He has also experimented with a more pop direction influenced by U2, with a band called 400. Baker briefly toured with Me First and the Gimme Gimmes in 2005 and appeared on Canadian punk band Penelope's second album.