Guy Picciotto
Encyclopedia
Guy Picciotto is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician
, and producer
from Washington, DC.
He is most widely known for his role as the guitarist and vocalist of Fugazi
, as well as Rites of Spring
.
. A part of the D.C. post-hardcore
scene, Rites of Spring increased the frenetic violence and visceral passion of hardcore while simultaneously experimenting with its compositional rules. Picciotto, as the band's lyricist, as well as singer & guitarist also shifted hardcore into intensely personal realms and, in doing so, is generally credited with creating emo
.
Picciotto's early musical resume also includes the bands One Last Wish
(1986), Happy Go Licky
(1987–1988), Brief Weeds (EPs released circa 1991 - 1992), and The Black Light Panthers (ongoing sporadic project since 1982), the last two bands both being projects with Brendan Canty
. He also created a record label called Peterbilt Records, which released limited-quantity vinyl record albums for the bands Rain, Happy Go Licky, and Deadline, then years later was involved in releasing the album 1986 by One Last Wish, along with Dischord Records
.
From the Margin Walker
EP on, he also took up 2nd guitar duties, playing characteristically trebly Rickenbacker
guitars. After seven albums (13 Songs
, Repeater
, Steady Diet of Nothing
, In on the Kill Taker
, Red Medicine
, End Hits
, The Argument
), and several tours, Fugazi went on "indefinite hiatus" in 2003.
, Vic Chesnutt
, and members of the Ex among others. He co-produced Gossip
's breakthrough record Standing in the Way of Control
.
He also produced Blonde Redhead
's Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons
(2000) and Misery Is a Butterfly
(2004) as well as The Blood Brothers final album, Young Machetes
. Picciotto played on the Vic Chesnutt
albums North Star Deserter (2007) and At the Cut (2009), and accompanied him on a 2009 Fall/Winter North American Tour. He co-produced the film Chain
with Jem Cohen
(who made the Fugazi film Instrument
).
from Georgetown University
.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
from Washington, DC.
He is most widely known for his role as the guitarist and vocalist of Fugazi
Fugazi (band)
Fugazi is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1987. The band's continual members are guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty....
, as well as Rites of Spring
Rites of Spring
Rites of Spring was an American post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C. in the mid-1980s, known for their energetic live performances. A part of the D.C. hardcore punk scene, Rites of Spring increased the frenetic violence and visceral passion of hardcore while simultaneously experimenting with...
.
Rites of Spring & Early Projects
Picciotto's musical career began in 1985, with the group Rites of SpringRites of Spring
Rites of Spring was an American post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C. in the mid-1980s, known for their energetic live performances. A part of the D.C. hardcore punk scene, Rites of Spring increased the frenetic violence and visceral passion of hardcore while simultaneously experimenting with...
. A part of the D.C. post-hardcore
Post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups...
scene, Rites of Spring increased the frenetic violence and visceral passion of hardcore while simultaneously experimenting with its compositional rules. Picciotto, as the band's lyricist, as well as singer & guitarist also shifted hardcore into intensely personal realms and, in doing so, is generally credited with creating emo
Emo
Emo is a style of rock music and its associated subcultureEmo may also refer to:- Businesses :* Emo , an Irish oil company and filling station chain* Emo Speedway, a racetrack in Emo, Ontario...
.
Picciotto's early musical resume also includes the bands One Last Wish
One Last Wish
One Last Wish was a short-lived post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C. It was formed in May 1986 by members of Rites of Spring, and split up in January 1987....
(1986), Happy Go Licky
Happy Go Licky
Happy Go Licky was a short-lived reunion of Washington D.C. hardcore punk group Rites of Spring. The band formed in spring of 1987 and broke up after their final show at D.C.'s 9:30 Club on New Year's Day in 1988. The last song they performed at that show was the Rites of Spring song, Drink Deep...
(1987–1988), Brief Weeds (EPs released circa 1991 - 1992), and The Black Light Panthers (ongoing sporadic project since 1982), the last two bands both being projects with Brendan Canty
Brendan Canty
Brendan Canty is an American musician, composer, producer and film maker, best known as the drummer for the band Fugazi....
. He also created a record label called Peterbilt Records, which released limited-quantity vinyl record albums for the bands Rain, Happy Go Licky, and Deadline, then years later was involved in releasing the album 1986 by One Last Wish, along with Dischord Records
Dischord Records
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in the independent punk music of the D.C.-area music scene. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release Minor Disturbance by The Teen Idles...
.
Fugazi
Though not in the original line up of Fugazi, Picciotto joined very early in the group's career, singing with them by their second show and appearing on all the band's studio recordings.From the Margin Walker
Margin Walker
Margin Walker is an EP by the American post-hardcore band Fugazi. It was originally released in June 1989 on vinyl and again in the same year on the compilation release 13 Songs along with the debut EP Fugazi...
EP on, he also took up 2nd guitar duties, playing characteristically trebly Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
guitars. After seven albums (13 Songs
13 Songs
13 Songs is a compilation of all the songs from the American post-hardcore band Fugazi's first two EPs. It was released in September 1989.-Background:...
, Repeater
Repeater (album)
Repeater is the debut full-length studio album by the American post-hardcore band Fugazi. It was released on April 19, 1990 as Repeater on LP, and in May 1990 on CD bundled with the 3 Songs EP as Repeater + 3 Songs...
, Steady Diet of Nothing
Steady Diet of Nothing
Steady Diet of Nothing is the second full-length studio album by American post-hardcore band Fugazi, released in July, 1991. The title is taken from a quote by the late American stand-up comedian Bill Hicks....
, In on the Kill Taker
In on the Kill Taker
In on the Kill Taker is the third full-length studio album by the American post-hardcore band Fugazi. It was released on June 30th, 1993 through Dischord Records and was recorded at Inner Ear Studios and produced by Ted Nicely and Don Zientara...
, Red Medicine
Red Medicine
Red Medicine is the fourth full-length studio album by American post-hardcore band Fugazi, released on June 12th, 1995 through Dischord Records.-Background:...
, End Hits
End Hits
End Hits is the fifth studio album by the American post-hardcore band Fugazi. It was recorded at Inner Ear Studios from March 1997 to September 1997 and produced by Don Zientara & Fugazi. It was released on April 28, 1998 through Dischord Records. The album saw the band continuing with and...
, The Argument
The Argument
The Argument was released by Dischord Records on October 16, 2001, along with their EP, Furniture + 2, almost 4 years after the release of End Hits. The album was met with critical and commercial success entering the Billboard charts and selling 174,000 copies in its first week of release...
), and several tours, Fugazi went on "indefinite hiatus" in 2003.
Side Projects & Production Work
Picciotto has collaborated and performed with Mats GustafssonMats Gustafsson
Mats Olof Gustafsson is a Swedish saxophone player and a stalwart on the Scandinavian free jazz scene. He is known for his tonal belligerence and intensity when improvising....
, Vic Chesnutt
Vic Chesnutt
James Victor "Vic" Chesnutt was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little, was released in 1990, but his breakthrough to commercial success didn't come until 1996 with the release of Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, a tribute album of mainstream artists...
, and members of the Ex among others. He co-produced Gossip
Gossip (band)
Gossip is a three-piece American indie rock band formed in 1999. The band consists of singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie. After releasing several recordings, the band broke through with their 2006 studio album, Standing in the Way of Control . A follow-up, Music for...
's breakthrough record Standing in the Way of Control
Standing in the Way of Control
Standing in the Way of Control is an album by the American indie rock band Gossip, which was released on January 24, 2006. It reached number 1 on the UK indie chart. The title track serves as the unofficial theme song to the British teen drama Skins, as its use in the DVD menu and promotional...
.
He also produced Blonde Redhead
Blonde Redhead
Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of vocalist/rhythm guitarist Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace , which formed in New York City in 1993....
's Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons
Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons
Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons is the fifth studio album by Blonde Redhead. It was produced by Guy Picciotto & Ryan Hadlock and released by Touch & Go Records in 2000.-Track listing:#"Equally Damaged" – 0:40#"In Particular" – 6:05...
(2000) and Misery Is a Butterfly
Misery Is a Butterfly
Misery Is a Butterfly is the sixth studio album by Blonde Redhead, released in 2004.- Track listing :# "Elephant Woman" – 4:49# "Messenger" – 3:21# "Melody" – 4:36# "Doll Is Mine" – 3:06# "Misery Is a Butterfly" – 5:07# "Falling Man" – 3:26...
(2004) as well as The Blood Brothers final album, Young Machetes
Young Machetes
Young Machetes is the fifth and final studio album by the American post-hardcore band The Blood Brothers, which was released October 10, 2006. Lyrically, the album "remains firmly rooted in the surreal consciousness, rage and oblique politics the Blood Brothers have always embraced...
. Picciotto played on the Vic Chesnutt
Vic Chesnutt
James Victor "Vic" Chesnutt was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little, was released in 1990, but his breakthrough to commercial success didn't come until 1996 with the release of Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, a tribute album of mainstream artists...
albums North Star Deserter (2007) and At the Cut (2009), and accompanied him on a 2009 Fall/Winter North American Tour. He co-produced the film Chain
Chain (film)
Chain is a "narrative/documentary" film written and directed by Jem Cohen. The movie is about two women, a corporate executive and a young drifter whose lives are changed by the loss of regional identity due to the similarity of retail culture worldwide...
with Jem Cohen
Jem Cohen
Jem Alan Cohen is an award-winning New York City-based filmmaker known for his observational portraits of urban landscapes, blending of media formats and collaborations with music artists. He is the recipient of the Independent Spirit Award and many first place awards for feature filmmaking...
(who made the Fugazi film Instrument
Instrument (film)
Instrument is a documentary film directed by Jem Cohen about the band Fugazi. Cohen's relationship with band member Ian MacKaye extends back to the 1970s when the two met in high school in Washington, D.C....
).
Guitars
- RickenbackerRickenbackerRickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker, is an electric and bass guitar manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California...
330 - Picciotto's main guitars are a sunburst Rickenbacker 330 and 2 identical black Rickenbacker 330's all equipped with RIC HB1 humbuckers. He has also occasionally been seen playing a natural-finish 330. The characteristically trebly Rickenbackers allowed Piccotto to make use of sonic space not taken by Mackaye's chunkier, rhythmic guitar playing in Fugazi. - Gibson Les PaulGibson Les PaulThe Gibson Les Paul was the result of a design collaboration between Gibson Guitar Corporation and the late jazz guitarist and electronics inventor Les Paul. In 1950, with the introduction of the Fender Telecaster to the musical market, electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction, Gibson...
- During Picciotto's time with Rites of SpringRites of SpringRites of Spring was an American post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C. in the mid-1980s, known for their energetic live performances. A part of the D.C. hardcore punk scene, Rites of Spring increased the frenetic violence and visceral passion of hardcore while simultaneously experimenting with...
and during the early days of Fugazi he could also be seen playing Les Paul JuniorGibson Les Paul JuniorThe Gibson Les Paul Jr. is a solid body electric guitar introduced in 1954 as an affordable, entry level Les Paul. It was first released with a single cut body style however models with a double cut body style were later introduced in 1958.-History:...
's.
Amplification
- Park 100 Watt heads
- MarshallMarshall AmplificationMarshall Amplification is a British company, founded by drummer Jim Marshall, that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, brands personal headphones/earphones , and, after acquiring Natal Drums, drums and bongos. Marshall amplifiers, and specifically their guitar amplifiers, are among the most...
JCM 800 2203 heads - Red or Black MarshallMarshall AmplificationMarshall Amplification is a British company, founded by drummer Jim Marshall, that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, brands personal headphones/earphones , and, after acquiring Natal Drums, drums and bongos. Marshall amplifiers, and specifically their guitar amplifiers, are among the most...
JCM 800 4x12 cabinets fitted with 75-watt celestion speakers
Effects
- MXRMXRMXR, also known as MXR Innovations, was a manufacturer of guitar effects units, co-founded in 1973 by Keith Barr and Terry Sherwood . MXR was based in the United States in Rochester, New York. MXR Innovations, Inc. was incorporated in 1974...
Distortion+MXR Distortion+MXR Distortion + , is an overdrive pedal originally designed in the 1970s by MXR Innovations. Although its name includes "distortion," it has a rather mild sound and is essentially the same circuit as many overdrive pedals... - VoxVox (musical equipment)Vox is a musical equipment manufacturer which is most famous for making the Vox AC30 guitar amplifier, the Vox Continental electric organ, and a series of innovative but commercially unsuccessful electric guitars and bass guitars...
847 Wah or Buddah Budwah - Echo Park Echoplex
- Diamond Memory Lane Delay (first edition)
- Electro-HarmonixElectro-HarmonixElectro-Harmonix is a New York-based company that makes high-end electronic audio processors. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. They are most famous for a series of popular guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1970s and 1990s....
Holy Grail Plus - Z.Vex Seek Tremolo
- Z.Vex Fuzz Factory
- Z.Vex Ringtone
- Frantone Cream Puff Fuzz
- Ernie BallErnie BallErnie Ball was an American entrepreneur, musician, and innovator, widely acclaimed as a revolutionary in the development of guitar-related products. He began as a club and local television musician and small business entrepreneur, building an international business in guitars and accessories that...
Volume Pedal - Boss TU-2 Tuner
Misc
- Guy uses Bullet Cables for all pedal and guitar/amplifier connections live and in-studio.
Personal
He holds a B.A. degree in EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
from Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
.
Rites of Spring
- Rites of SpringRites of Spring (album)Rites of Spring is the first and only studio album released by influential DC post-hardcore band Rites of Spring. The twelve songs were recorded at Inner Ear Studios in February, 1985, produced by Ian MacKaye and released on vinyl in June, 1985 as Dischord Records #16...
(1985) - All Through a Life [EP] (1987)
- End on EndEnd on EndEnd on End is a compilation album by the American post-hardcore band Rites of Spring, released in 1991. It compiles the band's first album Rites of Spring and their EP All Through a Life, along with an extra studio track....
(complete discography) (1991)
Brief Weeds
- A Very Generous Portrait 7" (1990)
- Songs of Innocence and Experience 7" (1992)
Fugazi
- 13 Songs13 Songs13 Songs is a compilation of all the songs from the American post-hardcore band Fugazi's first two EPs. It was released in September 1989.-Background:...
(September, 1989) - Repeater (March, 1990)
- Steady Diet of NothingSteady Diet of NothingSteady Diet of Nothing is the second full-length studio album by American post-hardcore band Fugazi, released in July, 1991. The title is taken from a quote by the late American stand-up comedian Bill Hicks....
(August, 1991) - In on the Kill TakerIn on the Kill TakerIn on the Kill Taker is the third full-length studio album by the American post-hardcore band Fugazi. It was released on June 30th, 1993 through Dischord Records and was recorded at Inner Ear Studios and produced by Ted Nicely and Don Zientara...
(May, 1993) - Red MedicineRed MedicineRed Medicine is the fourth full-length studio album by American post-hardcore band Fugazi, released on June 12th, 1995 through Dischord Records.-Background:...
(June, 1995) - End HitsEnd HitsEnd Hits is the fifth studio album by the American post-hardcore band Fugazi. It was recorded at Inner Ear Studios from March 1997 to September 1997 and produced by Don Zientara & Fugazi. It was released on April 28, 1998 through Dischord Records. The album saw the band continuing with and...
(April, 1998) - Instrument SoundtrackInstrument SoundtrackInstrument Soundtrack is a 1999 album by American post-hardcore band Fugazi.-Background:It is a mainly instrumental soundtrack for the documentary about the band produced by the band and filmmaker Jem Cohen....
(1999) - The ArgumentThe ArgumentThe Argument was released by Dischord Records on October 16, 2001, along with their EP, Furniture + 2, almost 4 years after the release of End Hits. The album was met with critical and commercial success entering the Billboard charts and selling 174,000 copies in its first week of release...
(October, 2001)
External links
- January 1998 interview with Picciotto in Diskant
- as the News interview with Guy Picciotto (October 2001)
- Pitchfork interview with Picciotto
- Picciotto interview on the Morphizm site
- Exclaim.ca September 2007 interview with Guy Picciotto
- http://www.effectsbay.com/2010/09/fugazi-a-guitar-gear-summary-guest-post/