Model/Actriz

Model/Actriz are an American experimental rock band formed in Boston in 2016 and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The group consists of vocalist Cole Haden, guitarist Jack Wetmore, bassist Aaron Shapiro and drummer Ruben Radlauer. Their music combines the physical force of noise rock and industrial music with post-punk, dance-punk and electronic club rhythms. The band began after Wetmore and Radlauer encountered Haden performing a theatrical electronic composition while they were studying at Berklee College of Music. Their early collaboration developed around a shared interest in noise, punk, house music and performance art. After an initial period of activity and a temporary hiatus, the group reunited in 2019 with Shapiro joining on bass. Early releases including AVA and No introduced a highly abrasive sound built from distorted guitar, relentless percussion, repetitive basslines and Haden’s theatrical vocal delivery. Rather than treating noise purely as aggression, Model/Actriz used rhythm and repetition to create music that could function simultaneously as experimental rock and intensely physical dance music. Their debut studio album, Dogsbody, was released in 2023 through True Panther Sounds. Produced with Seth Manchester, the album transformed the band’s live intensity into tightly controlled compositions that moved between industrial rock, noise, post-punk and club-oriented momentum. Tracks including “Mosquito,” “Crossing Guard,” “Amaranth” and “Donkey Show” explored desire, violence, memory, shame and queer identity through vivid bodily and mythological imagery. Dogsbody brought Model/Actriz widespread critical recognition and established the band as a formidable live act. Haden’s performances frequently extend beyond the stage into direct interaction with the audience, combining confrontation, vulnerability, movement and theatrical presentation. The instrumentalists maintain an unusually disciplined foundation beneath this apparent chaos, using repetition and precise dynamics to create sustained tension. The band expanded its sound on the second album Pirouette, released in 2025. While retaining the mechanical rhythms and distorted textures of their earlier work, the album introduced brighter melodies, clearer pop structures and influences drawn from dance music and mainstream performers such as Janet Jackson and Kylie Minogue. Songs including “Cinderella,” “Vespers,” “Diva” and “Departures” balanced glamour, humour and emotional openness with the band’s characteristic physical intensity. Pirouette also marked a more direct exploration of intimacy, sexuality, queer experience and personal transformation. Its visual presentation drew from fashion, ballet, nightlife and theatrical performance, reinforcing the band’s interest in creating a complete artistic world rather than treating music and imagery as separate elements. In 2026, Model/Actriz followed the album with the Swan Songs EP, featuring material developed after the Pirouette sessions. The release moved between sombre electronic atmosphere and propulsive industrial rhythms, continuing the band’s habit of combining emotionally exposed writing with disciplined, physically overwhelming arrangements. Through their recordings and live performances, Model/Actriz have developed a sound that resists a simple division between rock and electronic music. Their work draws equally from noise, punk, industrial production, dance floors, pop spectacle and performance art, turning abrasion into something rhythmic, intimate and unexpectedly celebratory.