Formed in 1971 by producer and former music journalist Uwe Nettelbeck, the group was originally composed of Werner "Zappi" Diermaier (b.1949), Hans Joachim Irmler (b.1950),[5] Arnulf Meifert, Jean-Hervé Péron (b.1949),[6] Rudolf Sosna (1946 – 1996) and Gunther Wüsthoff, working with engineer Kurt Graupner.

The Faust Tapes was a cut-and-paste album, which spliced together a large number of bits and pieces from their extensive collection of private recordings not originally intended for release.

The official Web site lists three concerts during the 1980s, and the Patchwork album, a compilation of outtakes, feature three snippets that were recorded in the 1980s,[11] but apart from that, the group's activities between 1975 and 1990 remain shrouded in mystery.

[10] In 1994, Faust toured the United States for the first time, with Péron and Diermaier assisted by Steven Wray Lobdell and with members of Sonic Youth as an opening act.

From mid-1997 to 2004, Faust toured as Zappi W. Diermaier, Hans Joachim Irmler, Steven Wray Lobdell, Lars Paukstat and Michael Stoll, releasing many more studio and live albums.

[14] Diermaier/Péron's new Faust made their debut at the 2005 Art-Errorist Avant Garde festival in Schiphorst, Germany, where they also presented a new release entitled Collectif Met(z), a collection including concerts from 1996 and 2005 and unreleased solo songs.

This release also features ex Henry Cow saxophonist/flautist Geoff Leigh, vocalist Lucianne Lassalle, poet Zoë Skoulding and the members of the Welsh group Ectogram.

[citation needed] Having been absent from the band for 49 years, core member Gunther Wüsthoff reunited with Werner "Zappi" Diermaier to play on the new 2022 Faust album, Daumenbruch.

[17][18] In September 2024, Faust released a new six track album titled Blickwinkel, once again created by the reunited efforts of Diermaier and Wüsthoff, working with a selection of musical friends.

In contrast with Slapp Happy's song-based music, in 1972 Diermaier, Péron and Sosna also collaborated with the violinist Tony Conrad on Outside the Dream Syndicate; the record was released in 1973 at a low price in the UK and was, at the time, one of the few available examples of drone-based minimalism.

[citation needed] A live recording from a 1995 concert, entitled Outside the Dream Syndicate Alive featuring Tony Conrad, Zappi Diermaier & Jean-Hervé Péron of Faust and Jim O'Rourke was released in Autumn 2005.

Jean-Hervé Péron collaborated with THEME and Zsolt Sores on a MLP called 'Poison Is (Not) The Word' released on the Lumberton Trading Company label in 2012, and in 2013 Faust recorded 'Live at Clouds Hill' with Omar Rodríguez-López.