Birth name : Christopher Tony Wolstenholme
Born : 2 December 1978 (1978-12-02) (age 31)
Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, UK
Genres : New prog, alternative rock, progressive rock, progressive metal,
space rock
Occupations : Musician
Instruments : Bass guitar, vocals, keyboards, guitar, harmonica, drums,
synthesisers
Years active : 1991–present
Labels : Warner Bros. Records
Eastwest Records
Atlantic Records
Helium 3
Associated acts : Muse
Early and personal life
Chris Wolstenholme grew up in the English town of Rotherham before moving to Teignmouth, Devon. 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 playing the drums and joined with them as bassist to create Gothic Plague then changed the name of the band to Rocket Baby Dolls (later renamed Muse).
In 2003, when the band sued Nestle, he was the main reason behind it, being against the company that had a dubious reputation when it came to the promotion of powdered milk to new mothers in the third world. At the time, he had had his third child.
Wolstenholme and his wife Kelly married in December 2003, have five children (Alfie, 11, Ava-Jo, 9, Frankie, 7, Ernie, 2 ,and Buster, born 4 November 2010). In late April 2010, the family moved to Foxrock, Dublin. He said their decision to move to Ireland was based on their need to be beside a major airport and a desire to avoid London, England. Despite moving to Ireland, he remains an avid supporter of Rotherham United F.C., his hometown football team.
He admitted to The Times's magazine that up until the recording of The Resistance, he had been a "raging alcoholic."
Wolstenholme holds an honorary doctorate of arts from the University of Plymouth.[
Musical equipment
This section called "Musical equipment" is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (May 2010)
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.
Wolstenholme often uses distortion. Favouring the Russian Sovtek version of 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 custom-made Pedulla basses, mainly having five-string bass necks outfitted with only four strings, allowing for a wider 4-string neck. 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", a Digitech Synth Wah and a Big John Granny Puker alongside more effects.
For 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 26 August 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. Recently, he has begun using Fender 1951 P-Bass, in a unique silver colour with tortoise shell style pickguard. Before "Knights of Cydonia", Wolstenholme sometimes plays "Man With The Harmonica" (composed by Ennio Morricone) on harmonica, which fits in with the western style of the song.
After the release of The Resistance, Wolstenholme was seen playing a 1980's Status Bass, which he uses to play "Uprising", "Guiding Light" and "Unnatural Selection" live. He has also been seen playing a Gibson Ripper in the studio.
References
1. ^ http://musewiki.org/State_2008-04-03_%E2%80%93_Muse:_A_Short_History_of_Everything
2. ^ "Muse cancel dates on upcoming North American tour". NME. 21 May 2010.
3. ^ "Eminem to close Oxegen 2010". The Irish Times. 11 July 2010. "The band opened up with the popular Plug In Baby, which Howard said was chosen because it was an upbeat number that he hoped would cheer the crowd up. Bass player Chris Wolstenholme moved with his wife and four children to Dublin at the end of April. They are currently living in a rented house in Foxrock and are looking for something more permanent. He said people had warned him about the weather in Ireland but it had been sunny since they arrived. “Then you do a gig here and it pisses down with rain.” Wolstenholme said the family had moved to Ireland because he needed to be nearer a major airport and they did not want to move to London."
4. ^ http://board.muse.mu/showthread.php?t=75410
5. ^ http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/EXCLUSIVE-University-honour-rock-stars-Muse/article-356162-detail/article.html
External links
• MUSE: Bassist Chris Wolstenholme, 8/01/2009
v • d • e
Muse
Matthew Bellamy • Christopher Wolstenholme • Dominic Howard
Touring members: Morgan Nicholls • Dan Newell • Alessandro Cortini
Studio albums Showbiz • Origin of Symmetry • Absolution • Black Holes and Revelations • The Resistance
Live albums Hullabaloo Soundtrack • HAARP
Compilations Hullabaloo Soundtrack
Extended plays Muse • Muscle Museum • Random 1–8
Videos Hullabaloo: Live at Le Zenith, Paris • Absolution Tour • HAARP
Singles "Uno" • "Cave" • "Muscle Museum" • "Sunburn" • "Unintended" • "Plug In Baby" • "New Born" • "Bliss" • "Hyper Music/Feeling Good" • "Dead Star/In Your World" • "Stockholm Syndrome" • "Time Is Running Out" • "Hysteria" • "Sing for Absolution" • "Apocalypse Please" • "Butterflies and Hurricanes" • "Supermassive Black Hole" • "Starlight" • "Knights of Cydonia" • "Invincible" • "Map of the Problematique" • "Uprising" • "Undisclosed Desires" • "Resistance" • "Exogenesis: Symphony" • "Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)"
Other songs "Citizen Erased" • "Who Knows Who" • "United States of Eurasia"
Concert tours Showbiz Tour • Origin of Symmetry Tour • Absolution Tour • US Campus Invasion Tour 2005 • Black Holes and Revelations Tour • A Seaside Rendezvous • The Resistance Tour
Related articles Awards • Discography • Songs • Sawmills Studio • Taste Media • Mushroom Records • A&E Records • Warner Bros. Records • Helium 3 • MuseWiki
