Serge Pizzorno

Biography

Serge's grandfather emigrated from Genoa, Italy to England and settled in Leicester. Despite being brought up in the city, Serge was born in Newton Abbot, Devon because his mother liked the hospital. Serge originally had intentions to start a career in football. He says "I told my careers adviser I wanted to be centre forward for Leicester City". He also supports Genoa CFC, as his uncle Gianni, born in Genoa, brought him to the Luigi Ferraris Stadium when he was a child. He stated as a young boy that his main aim in life is to become as successful as possible. Serge attended Countesthorpe Community College in Leicestershire. Serge married his long term girlfriend Amy White on the 16th July 2016. The pair have two sons, Ennio and Lucio.

Kasabian

Serge is not fond of Kasabian being compared to similar, older bands, including Oasis and The Stone Roses. He says "The foreign fans listen to the music more and don't call us The Stone Roses or anything. I think they get us for who we are, especially in France and places like that. There's no baggage like in the UK." Pizzorno has also expressed admiration for Damon Albarn, the frontman of Oasis' rival Britpop band Blur.

Despite this, Serge is an admirer of Britpop band Oasis, in particular former lead guitarist Noel Gallagher. "At our school, if you played guitar you got beat up for being a ponce. Then Oasis came along and suddenly playing guitar was cool. They inspired a whole generation of bands. When we started out as kids, it was Noel Gallagher who inspired me more than any teacher or historical figure I’d heard about." "For Oasis to ask us to go with them is an honour and a pleasure. I imagine they see a lot of themselves in us and I don't imagine they’d go on tour with a band they didn't like."

Kasabian are consistently referred to as an indie rock band, but, Pizzorno has said "We've never been an indie band, you know, and I sort of fucking hate indie bands." He has referred to the band's music as "future rock".

Other work

Serge has also worked with former Kasabian lead guitarist and songwriter Chris Karloff on the DJ Shadow track "The Tiger" from the album The Outsider. He notably scored a fabulous volley in the "Road to Wembley" segment on Soccer AM.

Serge was at Wembley in November 2010 to make the draw for the FA Cup Third Round Proper, along with former Oasis guitarist and good friend Noel Gallagher. There were allegations of the draw being fixed after both men drew out their favourite teams – Leicester City and Manchester City – to play each other, however these claims were denied by the FA, Pizzorno and Gallagher.

In 2010, he composed the music for the movie London Boulevard, starring Colin Farrell, Ray Winstone and Keira Knightley.

In 2011, Pizzorno joined forces with friend Noel Fielding to create music for his new E4 sketch show Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy. They formed a project called Loose Tapestries. Together, they also wrote the music for the second series of the show, which aired in 2014.

Pizzorno was one of the celebrities to take part in the 2012 edition of Soccer Aid, a charity football match played by celebrities and ex-footballers, on 27 May. He played for the Rest of the World team against England and scored the opening goal of the game, lobbing former England international goalkeeper David Seaman from a tight angle. Although the Rest of the World went on to lose 3–1, Pizzorno won the Man of the Match award.

He also appears on the album Beyond Ugly by Bristol band Malachai.

Equipment

Serge's guitar of choice is a red Rickenbacker 481 which he has played in nearly all of Kasabian's music videos (excluding the video for "Switchblade Smiles"), and nearly all their live performances. He also uses another rare guitar, a red 1966 Fender Coronado II with a golden pickguard, notable for unique guitar sound from their 2009 single "Underdog" despite the Rickenbacker 481 being shown in the music video. The Fender Coronado is used for their live performances of the song. The Fender Coronado is also during live performances of their 2009 song "Where Did All the Love Go?". A full list of his guitars is:

FireGlo Rickenbacker 481,JetGlo Rickenbacker 481,MapleGlo Rickenbacker 480,Red 1966 Fender Coronado II,Vox UltrasonicEpiphone Casino (Resprayed with matte black finish)White Vox teardrop (Also resprayed with Matte black finish)Mick Johnson Vox Teardrop,A matte black Fender JazzmasterVox Semi acoustic,Gibson ES-335,Gibson J-160e Acoustic,Gibson Hummingbird,Gibson J-2001950's Höfner Senator (which he borrowed from his guitar tech, Rick)Zemaitis GZA200-SUN-NT

Discography

With Kasabian:

Kasabian (2004) – rhythm guitar, backing and lead vocals and piano

Empire (2006) – lead and rhythm guitar, backing and lead vocals

West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum (2009) – lead guitar, backing vocals

Velociraptor! (2011) – lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals, production

48:13 (2014) – lead and rhythm guitar, backing and lead vocals, production

With Loose Tapestries:

Loose Tapestries Presents the Luxury Comedy Tapes (2012) - production, various instruments

Untitled second album (2014/15)