List Of Asians In Rock Music

This list was crowdsourced from multiple Asian Reddit subs, with some of my own information. It is heavily indebted to these two threads:

https://www.reddit.com/r/asianamerican/comments/9aujyl/punkindiefolk_bands_with_asianamerican_members/

https://www.reddit.com/r/aznidentity/comments/edxg6j/asian_representation_in_alternative_rockmetal/

This list does not include rock bands from Asia, since there are too many and such a list would be somewhat pointless. There is a very, very long tail of underground or independent bands in America and the West generally. I have found that there has been a definite, marked proliferation of musical acts in the new millennium and, concomitantly, a marked decrease in expectations. (This is an observation about rock music in general, not specifically Asian rock musicians.) In my opinion, the legacy of the music produced in this period has yet to be established and may still change to a large degree going forward, so I have put them in their own category. If anybody is wondering where all the Asian ladies are, you will find them disproportionately represented there.

Pre-2000 musicians are ranked on an entirely subjective evaluation of the importance of the music they played, the visibility of the member in the band, and the level of their Asianness. Post-2000 musicians are listed roughly chronologically according to the start of their musical activity.

Pre-2000:

Damo Suzuki—singer in influential German krautrock band Can from 1970-73, considered the band’s best vocalist (of many) during the band’s most influential period.

James Iha—guitarist and founding member of Smashing Pumpkins, 1987-2000

Joey Santiago—Filipino lead guitarist of influential alternative rock band the Pixies, 1986-present

Rex Goh—Singaporean guitarist and occasional songwriter for Australian pop-rock duo Air Supply for three albums (second album in 1977, sixth album 1981, and seventh album 1982) and session guitarist

John Myung—Korean-American bassist and founding member of the prog-metal band Dream Theater, 1985-present

Phil Chen—session bassist from 1960s to present, worked and appeared in videos with Rod Stewart, played bass for Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Ray Charles, Bob Marley and more

Hiro Yamamoto—Soundgarden's original bassist, credited with pushing the band towards experimental time signatures, 1984-89

Jeff Lin—guitarist of the Seattle, WA alternative band Harvey Danger 1992-2009

Sooyoung Park—singer and bassist of the post-hardcore band Bitch Magnet out of Oberlin College, 1986-1990, and singer/guitarist of Seam, 1991-2000

Mike Park—saxaphonist and vocalist for San Jose, CA ska band Skankin’ Pickle, 1989-96. Went on to form his own Asian-themed ska bands, The Chinkees and The Bruce Lee band, and run an influential punk/ska record label, Asian Man Records

Matt Wong—bassist of the Orange County ska band Reel Big Fish, 1992-2007

Bill Uechi—bassist of the Orange County ska band Save Ferris, 1995-2002

Sothira Peng—Cambodian singer and founder of influential Berkely, CA hardcore punk band Crucifix, 1980-84

Lance Hahn—highly prolific ex-Hawaiian singer/guitarist of the San Francisco punk band J Church, 1992-2007, and frequent contributor to the punk zine [i]Maximum RocknRoll[/i] before his early death due to kidney failure in 2007. In his roughly 15 years of activity in the band, J Church released at least 24 studio albums and upwards of 150 total records (including singles, compilations, and split 7-inches)

Steve Gamboa—Filipino-American bassist for DC punk band Nation of Ulysses, 1988-92

Pokey Mo—drummer for NYC hardcore punk band Agnostic Front in its revival, 2009-present, and influential NYC thrash band Leeway, 1990-96 and reunions

Joe Songco, Jay Rufino—Filipino drummer and guitarist of NYC hardcore band Outburst, 1980’s and reunions (Songco)

Jimmy Yu—bassist for NYC straight-edge hardcore band Judge, 1989-91, and Death before Dishonor (there is a more famous band from Boston with the same name). Became a Buddhist monk and then entered Academia, completing a PhD in religion from Princeton in 2008. Teaches East Asian religion at Florida State University and has published three books

Joe Hahn—Korean-American DJ for Linkin Park

Post-2000:

Kazu Makino—singer of the New York-based international alternative band Blonde Redhead, 1993-present (changed to their present sound in early 2000s)

Taka Hirose—Japanese-national bassist for the Welsh post-grunge indie band Feeder, 1994-present (most of their commercial success has been post-2000 and largely in the UK)

Herman Li—British-Cantonese co-lead guitarist and founding member of power-metal band DragonForce, 1999-present, best known for their song “Through the Fire and Flames,” which was used for the most difficult level of the video game Guitar Hero III

Joe Kwon—cellist and backup singer of folk-rock band The Avett Brothers, 2000-present

Yuki Chikudate—singer and keyboardist of NYC band Asobi Seksu, 2001-2013

Satomi Matsuzaki—singer and bassist of the San Francisco prog-indie noise-pop band Deerhoof, 1995-present (figured out who they were going to be around early 2000s)

Chris Guanlao—Filipino drummer for the LA alternative rock band Silversun Pickups, 2002-present. The band has had several songs featured in video games and appeared on MTV's [i]Unplugged[/i]

Nancy Whang—keyboardist and vocalist of NYC alternative band LCD Soundsystem, 2002-present, and The Juan Maclean, 2002-present

Cynthia Yih Shih—pianist and singer-songwriter from California based in Detroit who works under the name Vienna Teng, 2002-present

Thao Nguyen—singer and songwriter of the San Francisco folk-rock band Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, 2003-present

Kaoru Ishibashi—singer, violinist/multi-instrumentalist of indie band Jupiter One, 2003-2013, and solo artist under the name Kishi Bashi, 2011-present

Craig Pfunder—Korean-adoptee singer and guitarist of the band VHS or Beta, 2004-present

Alex Yeung—Cantonese singer/guitarist of the San Francisco punk band Say Bok Gwai, 2005-present

Alex Zhang Hungtai—Taiwanese-Canadian global nomad responsible for the post-punk/stream-of-conscious/ambient/noise/dirty-electronic music released under the name Dirty Beaches, 2005-present (honestly not sure this is rock, but maybe it is)

Dougy Mandagi—Indonesian-born singer of the Australian ethereal alternative-pop group The Temper Trap, 2005-present. Originally a busker in Melbourne, Mandagi is the grand-nephew of the Indonesian independence figure Arie Frederik Lasut

Steven Chen—guitarist and keyboardist for the LA band The Airborne Toxic Event, 2006-present

Arnel Pineda—Filipino lead singer of the American band Journey since 2007 (recruited from YouTube videos), a move that caused backlash among Journey fans that required a public statement by the band

Alisa Xayalith—Laotian singer of New Zealand electronic alternapop group The Naked and Famous, 2007-present

Joseph Bautista—guitarist and vocalist of the heavy-shoegaze alternative noise-rock band Whirr, 2010-2014

Sam Lee—guitarist and keyboardist of the Boston, MA electronic-rock band Magic Man, 2010-2019

Andrew Choi—Ivy-League and Julliard-educated indie-soul singer-songwriter who works under the name St. Lenox, 2011-present (this dude is no joke fo realz)

Linh Le—bassist of the grrrl band Bad Cop/Bad Cop, 2011-present

Melina Mae Duterte—Filipino-American singer-songwriter who works under the name Jay Som, 2012-present

Eugene Chung—drummer of bossa nova-inspired Austin, TX indie dream-pop group Summer Salt, 2014-present

Yvette Young—multi-instrumentalist of the math-rock band Covet, 2014-present

Leslie Bear—New Brunswick shoegaze indie singer-songwriter who works under the name Long Beard, 2014-present

Sabrina Mai and Nat Lee—dream-pop group from San Francisco operating out of Brooklyn called No Vacation, 2015-present

Ian Chang—drummer of experimental band Son Lux, 2015-present

Rina Sawayama—Japanese-born British-raised shock-pop artist a la Lady Gaga who occasionally ventures into rock territory, 2017-present

Orono Noguchi, Earl Ho—Japanese singer and South Korean (via Australia) multi-purpose members of the international mixed-media deadpan Internet art-pop collective based in London named Superorganism, 2017-present

Edson Choi—singer and guitar/bass player of the LA indie-pop band Talk Time, 2018-present

Half Asians, Pre-2000:

Kirk Hammet—Filipino-American guitarist of Metallica

Eddie Van Halen—1/4 Indonesian lead guitarist of eponymous band he formed with his brother and widely recognized technical innovator of the instrument. (Van Halen was originally left off the list, but has been included after more details[/url] about his life surfaced in the wake of his death in 2020. His brother Alex is also technically 1/4 Indonesian)

(Van Halen family)

Viktor Tsoi—Korean-Russian singer-songwriter of the Soviet rock group Kino, 1982-1990. Tsoi's father was born in Soviet Kazakhstan as a result of [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_Koreans_in_the_Soviet_Union]Stalin's deportation of Koreans[/url] there. An art school dropout who began writing songs while playing in underground bands with friends in Leningrad, Tsoi was discovered by Boris Grebenshikov of the Russian band Akvarium who helped him find backing musicians to form his own band. They released eight albums, the last three of which were recorded on state-of-the-art equipment brought to Russia by the guitarist's new American wife. Tsoi also acted in several acclaimed films. Tsoi died in a car accident in 1990 just after completing the vocal tracks for Kino's last album, which was finished and released by the remaining band members. Tsoi was the voice of the late-Soviet Perestroika generation, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest singer-songwriters of the Russian-speaking world to this day. An ever-changing [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsoi_Wall]graffiti memorial to Tsoi[/url] has existed in Moscow since his death.

Jake E. Lee—half-Japanese guitarist known for playing for Ozzy Osbourne's solo career until he was fired by Sharon Osbourne. Went on to form the bluesy glam-rock band Badlands with other Osbourne/Sabbath ex-musicians which was moderately successful through the 90s and continues to play in various outfits and as a solo artist

Kendell Chinn—second youngest of twelve children born to a Chinese father and German mother in Edmonton, Canada, singer of the legendary Canadian skate-punk band SNFU (Society's No Fucking Use) under the stage name Mr. Chi Pig, 1981-2018

Chi Cheng—Chinese-American bassist for the alternative metal band Deftones, 1990-2008 (when a traffic accident left him in a semi-vegetative state until his death in 2013)

David Pajo—Filipino-American guitarist for the influential alternative band Slint, 1986-1990 and reunions, and prolific collaborator and instrumentalist to present

Mackie Jayson—Japanese-American drummer of the NYC hardcore punk band Cro-Mags through various incarnations of the band, 1984–1986, 1996–1999, 2008–2019

Mike Shinoda—Japanese-American vocalist and songwriter of Linkin Park

Miki Eleonora Berenyi—Japanese-Hungarian singer of the English band Lush, 1987-96

Jon Chang—vocalist of New Jersey grindcore bands Discordance Axis (1992-2001) and Gridlink (2004-2014)

Half Asians, Post-2000:

Teppei Teranishi—guitarist of Irvine, CA alternative rock band Thrice, 1999-present

Doug Robb—singer of post-grunge band Hoobastank, 1994-present (changed to their present, commercially successful sound with their first major label record in 2001)

Matt Heafy—Japanese-American (born in Japan) singer and guitarist of the new-wave metal band Trivium, 1999-present

Matt Tong—drummer for British band Bloc Party, 1999-2013

Reuben Wu—British-Cantonese keyboardist for the English electronic-pop group Ladytron, 1999-present

Karen Orzolek—Korean-American singer of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, 2000-present

Don Blum—drummer of indie band The Von Bondies, 2000-2011

Chris Chu—singer and songwriter of Berkeley, CA melodic acoustic/electric indie band Pop Etc, formerly The Morning Benders, 2005-present

Priscilla Ahn—Korean-American indie-folk singer-songwriter, 2008-present

Bobb Bruno—multi-instrumentalist of indie-pop duo Best Coast, 2009-present

Tim Henson—half-Chinese guitarist of the Dallas, TX progressive metal band Polyphia, 2011-present

Mitsuki Frances Laycock—Japanese-American singer-songwriter who works under the name Mitski, 2012-present

Elaiza Santos—singer of indie band Crying, 2013-present

Michelle Zauner—Korean-American singer-songwriter who works under the name Japanese Breakfast, 2013-present

Justin Whang—guitarist of the NYC nü-metal band Jynx, sometime around 2018 (far left)

Asian-American bands of note:

Run River North—Korean-American indie folk-rock band from LA, 2011-present

Mangchi—Korean-American hardcore/rap/party/performance art band from LA, 2010s

The Slants—self-described dance-rock band from Portland, Oregon, most famous for appealing the rejection of a trademark for their name which went all the way to the Supreme Court, 2006-19

Emily's Sassy Lime—palindromic, no-fi riot grrrl band of Chinese-American high-school girls in Southern California, 1993-1997. All went on to be involved in the punk or punk-inspired art scene up to the present day; Amy Yao did an MFA at Yale and now lectures at Princeton

(Amy Yao)

Moonpools & Caterpillars—mostly Filipino alternative band from Glendale, CA, 1995-1997, that presages the indie-pop sound of much of the 2000s. Despite a short career, their music has been featured in three films and one commercial

Death Angel—all-Filipino metal band from the Bay Area, 1982-1991, considered one of the "big eight" of the genre (along with Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Testament, Exodus and Overkill). Reformed in 2001 with a different lineup

Bohaln—all-Laotian immigrant glam-metal band operating in the Seattle area, 1992-present. Sings in Lao

***edited 3/31/2021 from this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/hapas/comments/lwp9bd/list_of_some_cool_half_asian_rock_musicians/

From now on only pre-2000 musicians will be added to original list. Everybody else is going into a new post.

***numerous additions added 1/14/2021 from this Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AsianMasculinity/comments/kvmrwq/musical_groups_with_asian_members_that_i_love/

***Edited: 10/9/2020And now, in no particular order . . .

Liam McCormick—Chinese-Irish-American frontman of the San Francisco indie folk-rock project The Family Crest, 2008-present. McCormick wrote [url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/the-family-crest/liam-mccormick-biracial-in-america/]this reflection[/url] on his Chinese heritage in response to the recent rise in anti-Asian violence