Stephen Joseph Malkmus (/ˈmælkmɪs/ MALK-miss; born May 30, 1966)[2][3] is an American musician best known as the primary songwriter, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Pavement.

As a teenager, Malkmus worked various jobs, including painting house numbers on street curbs and "flipping burgers or whatever" at a country club.

[6] At age 16, he spent the night in jail after consuming alcohol, urinating in the bushes, and walking on the roofs of several residential homes.

[5] Around the age of 16, he started playing in several Stockton-based punk bands: Bag O Bones, The Straw Dogs, and Crisis Alert.

After graduating from high school, Malkmus followed in his father's footsteps by attending the University of Virginia, where he majored in history and was a disc jockey for the college radio station WTJU.

During this time, Malkmus met fellow WTJU DJs David Berman (who would later front the Silver Jews) and James McNew (of Yo La Tengo) and formed the lo-fi band Ectoslavia.

[7][8] In the late 1980s, he was employed as a security guard at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, along with Berman and Bob Nastanovich.

[4] Malkmus formed Pavement with Scott Kannberg (aka Spiral Stairs) right after finishing college at UVA in the late 80s.

He played the album Ege Bamyasi, originally by the band Can, in its entirety on December 1, 2012, at WEEK-END Festival in Cologne, Germany.

The album was produced by Chris Funk of The Decemberists and features guitarist Matt Sweeney and musician Qais Essar.