Christopher Wolstenholme
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| Chris Wolstenholme | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christopher Tony Wolstenholme |
| Born | December 2, 1978 Rotherham, England |
| Genre(s) | New prog, alternative rock, progressive rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Bass guitar, vocals, keyboards, guitar, drums, synthesisers |
| Years active | 1992 - present |
| Label(s) | Warner Bros. Records Eastwest Records Atlantic Records Helium 3 |
| Associated acts | Muse |
Christopher Tony Wolstenholme (born 2 December 1978, in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England), better known as Chris Wolstenholme, is the bassist for the rock band Muse. He also sings backing vocals to some of the band's songs, and sometimes plays guitar instead of bass. He has also played keyboard at some live shows however he no longer does this due to the arrival of Morgan Nicholls.
[edit] Biography
Wolstenholme grew up in Rotherham before moving to Teignmouth, Devon in 1989. While living there, he played drums for a post-punk band, while Matthew Bellamy and Dominic Howard played in another. After two years of failed bassists in Bellamy and Howard's band, Wolstenholme gave up the drums and joined with them as bassist to create The Rocket Baby Dolls (later renamed Muse).
He currently lives in Teignmouth with his wife Kelly and their three children Alfie, Frankie and Ava-Jo.
[edit] Musical equipment
Wolstenholme has used many different basses since the start of Muse's career, starting out with Warwick and Bass Collection basses, alongside an electric double bass for use in the song Unintended. He favoured the Ampeg SVT amps, with 1x18, 2x10 and 2x12 cabs.
Part of Muse's distinctive sound is produced by Wolstenholme's use of distortion. Favouring the Electro Harmonix Big Muff distortion / sustainer, this was used alongside a BOSS Bass overdrive and other effects.
In the Origin of Symmetry era, Wolstenholme had many Pedulla basses. Only using the Pedulla Rapture SB4 basses with a single humbucking pickup, the JB4 bass with two jazz pickups shown in the Plug In Baby video was sold on eBay. Wolstenholme also changed to use two Marshall amplifiers (3 cabs in total counting his combo amp), he had two separate channels, one for clean bass and one for distorted bass. Chris has also been known to use his Marshall Bass State b150 which he drives to the edge because "it distorts nicely". His effects rig also expanded to include some Line6 effects and more BOSS effects.
For Muse's third album, Absolution, Wolstenholme kept the Pedulla basses but also recorded using Warwick basses (his old ones) and others. He also added a Fender Jazz Bass into his lineup for Sing for Absolution and a Zon Sonus Studio 4. For live performances of "Stockholm Syndrome" Wolstenholme used a beat up Pedulla Rapture SB5 - so beaten up that a tuning peg has been lost and is now only used as a four-string bass. No surprise that Wolstenholme threw it onto the stage from the audience, then into Dominic Howard's bass drum at the UK's biggest festival, Glastonbury.
He still kept his Marshall amps, and also included more rackmount effects in the form of Line6 Bass Pods and filter modelers, and more. His effects rig became so big that Rocktron All Access MIDI controllers are used both on and off stage to control everything. Also adding in an Akai Deep Impact synth pedal for the hit single "Time Is Running Out" and a Digitech Synth Wah alongside more effects.
For the latest album, Black Holes and Revelations, Wolstenholme has changed his rig almost completely. Now favouring Rickenbacker 4003 basses and Fender Jazz Basses for new and old songs alike, he also uses a pick on a few new songs, including Assassin, the beginning of "Map of the Problematique", the beginning of "Invincible", and the beginning and middle of "Knights of Cydonia", according to Muse's August 26, 2006, performance at the Reading Festival. He also plays an upright bass in "Soldier's Poem". The Electro Harmonix Big Muff is used more often in this album, nearly in every track, and his vocals are sometimes sung through a vocoder, most noticeably in "Supermassive Black Hole". Additionally, on the recent HAARP DVD he can be seen playing guitar, with Morgan Nicholls manning the bass, and Bellamy on the piano. Specifically, on the DVD, he uses a PRS 513 Rosewood.
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