Brian Baker

Brian Baker was one of the founding members of the seminal hardcore punk rock band Minor Threat. He first played bass, but in 1982 moved to guitar when Steve Hansgen joined the band, then back to bass after Hansgen's departure. He later formed Dag Nasty in 1985, had stints in: Doggy Style, The Meatmen (with fellow Minor Threat member Lyle Preslar), Government Issue, and Junkyard (a hard rock band). In 1994, he was offered a touring spot with R.E.M. but declined, accepting instead an offer to replace Brett Gurewitz as a guitarist in Bad Religion, alongside guitarist Greg Hetson. He continues to play in Bad Religion.

After Minor Threat broke up, Baker & Preslar were recruited by Glenn Danzig to form the first version of the band Samhain. He tried a more pop direction influenced by U2, with a band called 400, before joining The Meatmen.

Brian also appeared on Canadian Punk band Penelope's second album (Face au silence du monde). Drummer Eric Roberge said about Baker's appearance that “It happened as more of an accident. I was asking Dave if he knew of anybody who had any pot and he phoned up Brian. He didn’t have any pot but he ended up coming down the next day and played guitar on three songs in about two hours."