Steve Di Giorgio

Steve Di Giorgio (born November 7, 1967) is an American musician of Italian descent. He is best known for working with numerous acts such as Sadus (of whom he was one of the co-founders), Death, Testament, Sebastian Bach, Iced Earth, Autopsy, Obituary, Control Denied, Dragonlord and Charred Walls of the Damned, and he has performed on over 50 albums as a guest, session or full-time band musician.[1]

Steve Di Giorgio
Di Giorgio performing with Death DTA in Manchester in March 2015
Background information
Born	November 7, 1967 Waukegan, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Death metal, black metal, thrash metal, power metal, progressive metal, hard rock, jazz fusion, speed metal, symphonic metal, folk metal, heavy metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals
Years active	1983–present
Associated acts	Death, Sadus, Quadvium, Autopsy, Futures End, Control Denied, Testament, Quo Vadis, Vintersorg, Iced Earth, Sebastian Bach, Geoda, Dragonlord, Charred Walls of the Damned, Soen, Obituary, Ephel Duath, Obscura, Anatomy of I, Gone in April, Spirits of Fire, Act of Denial
Website	http://www.SteveDigiorgio.com

Musical career

Di Giorgio has played bass guitar in heavy metal and death metal bands such as Death,[2] Autopsy,[3] Control Denied,[4] Ephel Duath,[5] Obscura,[6] Artension, Faust, Memorain, Painmuseum, Suicide Shift, Soen,[7] Vintersorg,[8] Dragonlord,[9] Iced Earth,[10] Sebastian Bach,[11] Obituary,[12] and is a founding member of Sadus.[13] He is a founding member of the jazz band Dark Hall and has played bass in other bands such as Testament,[14][15] Futures End,[16] Synesis Absorption, Mythodea, Charred Walls of the Damned,[17] Anatomy of I,[18] Gone in April, and Spirits of Fire.[19] Along with his bass duties in Sadus, he also plays keyboards. In October 2019, he founded the fusion-world-metal group Quadvium with fellow fretless bass player Jeroen Paul Thesseling.[20][21][22] A year later, formed the death metal supergroup Act of Denial.[23][24][25]

Within his genre, Di Giorgio is respected for his highly technical playing skills.[26][27][28][29] He is also widely credited with being the first bassist to bring fretless bass playing into the heavy/extreme metal genre, and often plays bass by using his fingers instead of a pick. Di Giorgio has stated that his main influences as a bassist are Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, Geezer Butler, Steve Harris, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Billy Sheehan, Dave Pegg and Charles Meeks.[30][31]

Personal life

By April 2020, Di Giorgio had been diagnosed with COVID-19. He was the second member of Testament, following vocalist Chuck Billy, to have tested positive for the condition.[32][33]

Equipment

Di Giorgio endorses Ibanez Guitars and primarily plays a number of different fretted and fretless BTB basses. He previously played two custom Mjolnir basses by Thor Bass; a custom made 5-string fretless model which he has converted to a 3-string and a custom-built 6 string fretless. He's also played custom ESP basses, mostly a F-series fretless 5-string bass in a dark green finish, but also uses a very unusual double-neck construction with a fretted and a fretless neck in one body. He currently uses an EBS Fafner head as his main sound, but has also used Ampeg and Randall in the past.[34]

Steve's bass guitars

• 4001 Custom Rickenbacker (1981)
• Fully Custom Homemade Fender-Like Fretless (1991)[35]
• 4001 Rickenbacker (1975)
• Custom Carvin BB75F (1996)[35]
• Custom Carvin BB75 (1999)
• ESP – LTD F-205 (1999)
• ESP Custom Forest 5-string Fretless (1999)[36]
• ESP Doubleneck Bass[37]
• Thor Bass Mjolnir 5-string fretless (2008),[38] since converted to be played with only 3 strings.
• Thor Bass Mjolnir 6-string Fretless (2010)[38]
• Thor Bass Freyja 7-string Fretted (2013)
• 4003W Rickenbacker modified with a fretless ebony fretboard by Larry Davis (2014)
• Ibanez BTB1605E with a fretless neck (2016)

Discography

• Sadus – Illusions (1988)[39]
• Autopsy – Severed Survival (1989, session)[40]
• Sadus – Swallowed in Black (1990)[41]
• Autopsy – Fiend for Blood (1991, session)
• Death – Human (1991)[42]
• Sadus – A Vision of Misery (1992)[43]
• Death – Individual Thought Patterns (1993)[44]
• Sadus – Elements of Anger (1997)[45]
• Testament – The Gathering (1999)[46]
• Control Denied – The Fragile Art of Existence (1999)[47]
• James Murphy – Feeding the Machine (1999)[48]
• Testament – First Strike Still Deadly (2001)
• Dragonlord – Rapture (2001)
• Iced Earth – Horror Show (2001)[49]
• Geoda – Here and Now (2019)[50]
• Vintersorg – Visions from the Spiral Generator (2002)
• Artension – Future World (2004)
• Lunaris – Cyclic (2004, guest)
• Quo Vadis – Defiant Imagination (2004, session)
• Takayoshi Ohmura – Nowhere to Go (2004)
• Vintersorg – The Focusing Blur (2004)[51]
• PainmuseuM – Metal for Life (2005)[52]
• Various artists – Roadrunner United (2005)[53]
• Rob van der Loo – Freak Neil inc. Characters (2005, guest)
• Sadus – Out for Blood (2006)[54]
• Scariot – Momentum Shift (2007, session)
• Sebastian Bach – Angel Down (2007)[55]
• Necro – Death Rap (2007)[56]
• Roger Staffelbach's Angel of Eden – The End of Never (2007, session)
• Futures End – Memoirs of a Broken Man (2009)[52]
• Faust – From Glory To Infinity (2009)[52]
• Charred Walls of the Damned – Charred Walls of the Damned (2010)[57]
• Heathen – The Evolution of Chaos (2010, guest)
• Christian Muenzner – Timewarp (2011, guest)
• Charred Walls of the Damned – Cold Winds on Timeless Days (2011)[58]
• Johnny Newman – More than Ever (2011)
• Anatomy of I – Substratum (2011)
• Sylencer – A Lethal Dose of Truth (2012, guest)
• Ephel Duath – On Death And Cosmos (2012)
• Soen – Cognitive (2012)
• Memorain – Evolution (2012)
• Mythodea – Mythodea (2013)
• Artlantica – Across the Seven Seas (2013, session)
• Jeff Hughell – Chaos Labyrinth (2013, guest on track 3)
• Gone in April – Threads of Existence (2016)
• Testament – Brotherhood of the Snake (2016)
• Counter-World Experience – Pulsar (2016, guest on track 7)
• Spirits of Fire – Spirits of Fire (2019)
• Testament – Titans of Creation (2020)

• Act of Denial – Negative (2021)

References

1. "Steve Di Giorgio - Official website". stevedigiorgio.com. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
2. "Interview with Bassist Steve Di Giorgio". Bassmusicianmagazine.com. October 1, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
3. Eduardo Rivadavia. "Autopsy | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
4. tacia Proefrock. "Control Denied | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
5. "Marco Minemann, Steve Digiorgio, Karyn Crisis To Appear On New Ephel Duath Ep". Blabbermouth.net. December 7, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
6. "Obscura To Be Joined By Bassist Steve Digiorgio For Japanese Dates". Roadrunnerrecords.com. May 18, 2010. Archived from the original on April 27, 2013. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
7. "Former Opeth Drummer Joins Forces With Sadus Bassist". Blabbermouth.net. May 28, 2010. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
8. "MusicMight: Artists: VINTERSORG". Rockdetector.com. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
9. "Dragonlord | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
10. "MusicMight: Artists: ICED EARTH". Rockdetector.com. Archived from the original on February 16, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
11. "Steve Digiorgio Confirms Sebastian Bach Gig, Says Sadus Will Record New Album Soon". Blabbermouth.net. November 7, 2004. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
12. "Steve Digiorgio To Tour With Obituary In Europe". Blabbermouth.net. June 10, 2010. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
13. "Sadus | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
14. Eduardo Rivadavia. "Testament | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
15. "Testament Part Ways With Bassist Greg Christian, Announce Return of Steve DiGiorgio | Music News". Ultimate-guitar.com. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
16. Lehtinen, Arto (February 27, 2014). "News, Interviews, Concert Reviews » Steve DiGiorgio – Testament; Death To All; Sadus etc". Metal-rules.com. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
17. David Jeffries. "Charred Walls of the Damned | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
18. "ANATOMY OF I's Steve DiGiorgio Checks In From The Studio; New Album Title Revealed". Bravewords.com. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
19. "TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS, CHRIS CAFFERY, STEVE DIGIORGIO And MARK ZONDER Join Forces In SPIRITS OF FIRE". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
20. Staff, Blabbermouth.net (November 2, 2019). "Testament and former Obscura bassists team up in Quadvium". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
21. D'Auria, Jon (December 3, 2019). "Jeroen Paul Thesseling and Steve Di Giorgio's band Quadvium completes line-up". Bassmagazine.com. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
22. Staff, Bravewords.com (December 9, 2019). "Quadvium completes lineup with guitar virtuoso Raphael De Stefano". Bravewords.com. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
23. "ACT OF DENIAL Featuring Members Of SOILWORK, TESTAMENT, KOZIAK, SEPTICFLESH And THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA Gearing Up To Release New Single And Full Band Video". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. October 3, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
24. "ACT OF DENIAL Featuring Members Of SOILWORK, TESTAMENT, KOZIAK And SEPTICFLESH Release Debut Single / Video "Puzzle Heart"". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. August 31, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
25. "Supergroup ACT OF DENIAL Finish Recording New Album 'Negative', New Single 'Down That Line' Coming October 25th!". Metal Rules. October 18, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
26. "Steve DiGiorgio". Everything2.com. December 11, 2002. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
27. "Forgotten". Emptywords.org. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
28. Wagner, Jeff (2010). Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal – Jeff Wagner. ISBN 9780979616334. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
29. McIver, Joel (September 27, 1986). To Live Is To Die: The Life and Death of Metallica's Cliff Burton – Joel Mciver, Kirk Hammett. ISBN 9781906002244. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
30. "Interview with Bassist Steve Di Giorgio". bassmusicianmagazine.com. October 1, 2011. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
31. "Steve DiGiorgio: Back to Basics with Testament". bassplayer.com. March 17, 2017. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
32. "TESTAMENT Bassist STEVE DIGIORGIO Has Tested Positive For COVID-19". Blabbermouth.net. April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
33. "TESTAMENT Singer CHUCK BILLY Tests Positive For Coronavirus". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
34. Guitar World's Bass Guitar Magazine (June 2007)
35. "Steve Di Giorgio". Fretlessbass.com. February 4, 2015. Archived from the original on June 26, 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
36. "Steve DiGiorgio, Extreme Metal Session Ace". Bassplayer. March 9, 2010. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
37. "Bay Area Metal Scene". Bayareametalscene.com. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
38. Bryan Beller (May 11, 2012). "Machines of Death – The Complete Interviews". Bassplayer. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
39. "Illusions – Sadus | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
40. "Severed Survival – Autopsy | Credits". AllMusic. June 19, 1989. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
41. "Swallowed in Black – Sadus | Credits". AllMusic. September 11, 1990. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
42. "Human – Death | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
43. "A Vision of Misery – Sadus | Credits". AllMusic. April 28, 1992. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
44. "Individual Thought Patterns – Death | Credits". AllMusic. June 22, 1993. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
45. "Elements of Anger – Sadus | Credits". AllMusic. August 18, 1998. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
46. Jason Hundey (June 8, 1999). "The Gathering – Testament | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
47. "The Fragile Art of Existence – Control Denied | Credits". AllMusic. November 30, 1999. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
48. "Feeding the Machine – James Murphy | Credits". AllMusic. January 26, 1999. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
49. "Horror Show – Iced Earth | Credits". AllMusic. June 26, 2001. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
50. "New album "Here and Now" to be released June 7th". www.geoda.com.ar. June 3, 2019.
51. "The Focusing Blur – Vintersorg | Credits". AllMusic. July 20, 2004. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
52. "Memoirs of a Broken Man – Futures End | Credits". AllMusic. October 13, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
53. "Roadrunner United: The All Star Sessions – Roadrunner United | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
54. "Out for Blood – Sadus | Credits". AllMusic. May 2, 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
55. "Angel Down – Sebastian Bach | Credits". AllMusic. November 20, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
56. "Death Rap – Necro | Credits". AllMusic. September 10, 2007. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
57. "Charred Walls of the Damned – Charred Walls of the Damned | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
58. "Cold Winds on Timeless Days – Charred Walls of the Damned | Credits". AllMusic. October 11, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2015.