Serge Pizzorno Bio

Sergio Lorenzo Pizzorno was born on 15 December 1980 in Newton Abbot, Devon. Aka “Serge”, he plays guitar for Leicester based band KASABIAN. In 2006, he took over as principal songwriter of Kasabian after the departure of Chris Karloff.

Biography

Serge’s father emigrated from Genoa, Italy to England and settled in Leicester. Despite being brought up in the city, Sergio was born in Newton Abbot, Devon [apparently his mother liked the hospitals there a lot more].

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. When he said ‘No’ I thought I’d be in a rock ‘n’ roll band.”

Musical Career

Serge’s guitar of choice is a red Rickenbacker 481 which he has played in all of Kasabian’s music videos, and nearly all their live performances. Serge has wanted to be a successful musician since the age of 15.

“I’d got myself this cheap Vantage guitar,” he says. “I taught myself (Oasis’s) Live Forever. The rest is history. Every key guitarist has a guitar he is associated with, like Hendrix with his Stratocaster, Lennon with his semi Rickenbacker.

“I’m lucky – no one has played this make of Rickenbacker before – people don’t like its natural distortion – so I’ve got my signature guitar, too. I don’t want to sound all Spinal Tap, but my guitar and me? It’s a spiritual thing, man.”

THE EXPERT’S VIEW

Year of manufacture: 1975
Type: Electric
Construction: Maple and rosewood

“The 481 has a warmer – or muddier – tone than most Rics. Uniquely, the frets are slanted, an odd idea designed to make chords easier to play. This model never really proved popular.”

Serge also plays a Rickenbacker 480 in a maple-glo finish.

Serge currently plays lead guitar for Kasabian as well as adding backing vocals, although on a number of songs, such as “Test Transmission”, “British Legion” and “Me Plus One”, he takes on lead vocalist duties.

He has also worked with former Kasabian lead guitarist and song writer Chris Karloff on the DJ Shadow track “The Tiger” from the album “The Outsider”.

The World According to Serge

Serge is not seen as being 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.”

Despite this, Serge is still a keen admirer of Britpop band Oasis, in particular core man 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.”

He has also spoken out against other musical artists. The Kooks, for instance, are said to ‘make music for girls’. Keane frontman Tom Chaplin was also criticised by Serge after going to drug rehab, with Serge accusing him of being ‘addicted to port’

Alternative Rock band My Chemical Romance were looked upon badly as well. Fellow Kasabian member Tom Meighan stated “It’s like ventriloquists’ music. It’s weird and dark. They don’t have anything positive to say. The only good news is that it won’t last. These clowns won’t be around for much longer. “Their make-up will flake off and the scene will die out. And it can’t happen soon enough.”, with Serge adding “These emo kids should get out more and try and have a good time.”

About band The Darkness, Serge commented “Nobody cares about The Darkness anymore. I don’t think anybody is waiting for their second album. The British charts have always been dominated by comedy acts. We used to have The Wurzels, and The Darkness can easily be compared to somebody like that.”

Serge has recently become the ‘Face Of Armani’.

Serge has also gained a cult status due to his superb volley which featured on british television show ‘Soccer AM’. The video of which has become a big hit on the video sharing website Youtube. See below…

This is a fanpage devoted to Sergio Pizzorno. It is totally UNOFFICIAL. Serge cannot be contacted via this webpage.