Steve Di Giorgio
“Even though I didn’t grow up listening to rush or Jaco pastorius, through steve Di Giorgio [who was influenced by them] I’m listening as a third party!
“I was a bassist before I was a guitarist, and I’ve memories of hearing him do the total opposite of every other bass player in metal bands. Normally
I’d see metal bassists playing fairly simple, follow-the-guitar stuff; with Di Giorgio it was a different technique, thinking outside the box. He was playing a threestring fretless bass, making it sound like a 52-string bass, and doing weird-as-fuck stuff, like something from another planet.
“We played with [his band] sadus at party san in Germany, and it was so weird – I’d admired him as a bass player, and playing with him 25 years later, getting close and personal… He was a really nice guy. When we played in Oakland he came to see us.
“I wouldn’t say he’s in line with Fields Of The Nephilim or Neil Young in terms of influencing sólstafir, but it’s a different sort of influence. His playing on [Death’s] Individual Thought patterns is my favourite thing he’s ever done. It’s bass playing that you’ve never heard before.”