Model/Actriz

Drummer Ruben Radlauer and guitarist Jack Wetmore were childhood acquaintances whose fathers were in a band together in the 1980s. Radlauer and Wetmore reconnected while attending Berklee College of Music, and decided to start a band together. In 2015, Radlauer and Wetmore met vocalist Cole Haden when they saw him perform, “writhing on the floor in a corset, fake blood dripping down his face,” and invited him to join their band. Haden joined the group out of loneliness. In 2019, after a two-year hiatus, Model/Actriz incorporated bassist Aaron Shapiro.[5]

2019, Model/Actriz was dubbed one of Alt Citizen’s favorite live acts of the year.[6] In 2020, the band was scheduled to perform at SXSW, but the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] In 2021, Model/Actriz recorded their first album, Dogsbody.[5] Upon its release in 2023, the album earned an 8.2 rating from Pitchfork,[8] and was named Bandcamp Daily's album of the day.[9]

In 2016, Boston Hassle wrote that guitarist Wetmore and drummer Radlauer “remarkably capture a wide scope of dissonance and noise with live belligerence, with control and spontaneity.”[10] Vocalist Haden has been praised by multiple publications for his onstage charisma.[11][12] In 2022, Fatty Strap stated, “[Haden’s] presence is so big that it literally arrives before him and leaves days after he has left.”[13] Rolling Stone wrote, “Every time they perform, it’s an explosion of outrageous noise, raw physicality, and communal joy.”[5]