Conspirator
Mike Rathke
Lou Reed’s guitarist since New York. We played together in Lou’s band, as a trio at the Whitney, and on “Solsbury Hill.”
Reed performed an amazing set including ‘Dirty Blvd.’ and ‘Who Am I’ with Mike Rathke on guitar and Sarth Calhoun on electronic processing.
loureed.com, June 25, 2009, on the Whitney Museum opening
Mike Rathke is an American guitarist who was Lou Reed’s principal guitarist from the New York album (1989), on which he plays guitar and shares the mixing credit, and who co-wrote five songs on Magic and Loss (1992) with Reed; his credits run through Perfect Night: Live in London (1998) and Animal Serenade (2004). In a PBS American Masters interview he recalls meeting Reed the day after his guitars were stolen, when Reed handed him a guitar, and about ten years of writing music to Reed’s lyrics.
Lou Reed’s band, a trio, and a record
He was one of the two guitarists, with Steve Hunter, in the band around Lou when I joined for the spring 2008 U.S. tour, and at Lollapalooza 2009. On June 23, 2009 the three of us played the opening of the Persol exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art as a trio: Lou, Mike on guitar, and me on electronic processing. We share a credit on Lou’s recording of Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill”: additional guitar by him, additional programming by me.
The creditMike Rathke and Sarth Calhoun played together in Lou Reed’s band on the spring 2008 U.S. tour and at Lollapalooza 2009, as a trio with Reed at the Whitney Museum on June 23, 2009, and on Reed’s “Solsbury Hill” (Rathke, additional guitar; Calhoun, additional programming).
Left to rightRob Wasserman, Mike Rathke, Lou Reed, Sarth Calhoun, Tony “Thunder” Smith, John Zorn, Steve Hunter, Kevin Hearn. Highline Ballroom, May 5, 2008. Named by Sarth Calhoun, September 23, 2026. Photo: Mark McGauley.
My thoughts
The profile is from public sources, linked where they appear. What we made is the record on this site and the sources cited above.