Ian D'Sa
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| Ian D'Sa | |
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 D'Sa at at 2010 Festival d'été de Québec in Québec City, Canada. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ian Michael D'Sa |
| Born | October 30, 1975 |
| Genres | Post-hardcore Alternative rock Punk rock |
| Occupations | Musician, Songwriter, Guitarist, Singer |
| Instruments | Guitar, Piano, Vocals |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Labels | Atlantic Records, Warner Music Canada |
| Associated acts | Billy Talent (formerly "Pezz"), Die Mannequin, Alexisonfire |
| Notable instruments | |
| Fender Stratocaster Fat Strat Deluxe | |
Ian Michael D'Sa (born October 30, 1975) is the guitarist for the Canadian band Billy Talent.
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[edit] Early life and career
Ian's family moved from the UK to Canada when he was 3 years old. He is of Indian Goan descent and grew up in Mississauga, Ontario learning guitar at the age of 13. While attending Our Lady of Mount Carmel Secondary School in 1991, he formed a band named Dragonflower with some fellow schoolmates [1] After Dragonflower broke up he formed another band named Soluble Fish and recorded a five song demo entitled Nugget Sauces. He eventually met Benjamin Kowalewicz, Jonathan Gallant and Aaron Solowoniuk in 1993 at the highschool talent show. While also playing in Soluble Fish, he started a new band with them named Pezz (later to become "Billy Talent") in which both bands played together for several years until Soluble fish broke up in 1996. While playing in Pezz, D'Sa went to Sheridan College where he got his degree in classical animation and after graduating worked on the TV shows Angela Anaconda, Birdz, and the film Adventures in 3-D IMAX as an character animator.[2]
[edit] Billy Talent
In 2000 Pezz changed their name to Billy Talent after the fictional character in Bruce McDonald's film Hard Core Logo. D'Sa co-produced Billy Talent II with Gavin Brown. He also did art direction and package design on the Billy Talent II album. He received co-direction credit for the video, "Fallen Leaves", for which the band was awarded Best Video and Best Rock Video at the 2007 MuchMusic Video Awards.
D'Sa produced first two singles on Die Mannequin's EP Slaughter Daughter, the songs being "Do it or Die" and "Saved By Strangers". He played guitar on Sarah Slean's song "Lucky Me". He makes a cameo in The Operation M.D.'s single "Sayonara" as a doctor pushing Stevo in a wheelchair. He also makes a brief cameo as a year book photo in the K-OS video for ELEctrik HeaT - The Seekwill. He also sung guest vocals with Alexisonfire during a few live shows.
Ian is known for his unexpected appearances at fellow bands live shows. He is known to guest many times as vocalist in some random shows of Alexisonfire. He has also joined Sum 41 as a guest guitarist for a one-off performance of their popular encore song "Pain for Pleasure". He also performed as a guest in one show with UK band Reuben in 2006, while the band supported Billy Talent.
Ian produced the first single "Buried at Sea" from The Operation M.D.'s second studio album Birds + Bee Stings, which was released on June 29, 2010.
Ian also wrote and recorded the song "Land of a Thousand Hills" for the charity album Song for Africa - Rwanda: Rises Up! in which he sings lead vocals and plays guitar with Canadian punk rock band Noble Blood.
D'Sa has been involved with Song for Africa since 2007, a project to connect Canada's youth to the AIDS pandemic, playing guitar on the song and in the video and single. In July 2007 he traveled to Kenya, Africa for 10 days to be part of the Song for Africa Documentary film.
[edit] Musical equipment
When playing live shows, D'Sa plays an Olympic White Fender Stratocaster Fat Strat Deluxe with a black pickguard. He also plays a Montego Blue Stratocaster Fat Strat Deluxe with a red pickguard. When recording in the studio, his favorite guitars are a '52 Fender Telecaster Reissue, a '72 Fender Telecaster Deluxe, a '57 Gibson Les Paul Junior Reissue and several other vintage guitars. Also he owns a three colour sunburst stratocaster with a white pick guard, which is shown in the "Devil in a Midnight Mass" music video. He previously used a 1991 Peavey 5150 head until he received a 60 watt head custom made for him by Mark Stephenson of Stephenson Amplification in 2002 - 2003.
He can currently be seen using a white Fender Stratocaster with a black pickguard and red maple leaf along the side of the guitar. It is much like his blue/red Stratocaster, but with the before mentioned cosmetic changes.
[edit] References
- ^ ATTN: Read Before Posting! Juicey info in here!
- ^ The Ongoing History of New Music. "Before They Were Famous" Original Broadcast date: 13-11-05 on CFNY.[dead link]
[edit] External links
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