Mass Giorgini

Mass Giorgini at work in his Sonic Iguana Studios in 1996.

Mass Giorgini (born Massimiliano Adelmo Giorgini in 1968) is an Italian-American bassist and record producer, who rose to fame when several of the bands he produced experienced huge gains in popularity during the pop-punk boom on the mid-90's. Among these bands was Giorgini's own Squirtgun, which received minor MTV rotation and several soundtrack appearances in major films in the 1990s. Mass Giorgini is also the son of renowned Italian artist Aldo Giorgini.

Music career

Giorgini has played bass and sung backing vocals for a number of punk rock bands including Screeching Weasel, Common Rider, Squirtgun, Rattail Grenadier, The Mopes, Torture the Artist,and Sweet Black And Blue.

As a composer, Giorgini has written songs primarily for his band Squirtgun, but in addition has lent writing assistance to several bands he has produced. His songwriting work also appears in the films Mallrats (Gramercy Pictures) and Bubble Boy (Disney).

As a producer, he has worked in conjunction with leading punk rock figures such as Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and Kris Roe of the Ataris, and produced music by bands such as Rise Against, Anti-Flag, and Alkaline Trio. Since 1990, he has owned and operated Sonic Iguana Studios in Lafayette, Indiana. He has had his hands in creating the recordings of many bands (sometimes recording, mixing, mastering, and producing). His production work has taken him all over the globe, including production stints in Australia, Spain, Canada, and the Cayman Islands, as well as in numerous states of the United States.

Incomplete Discography (production, engineering, mastering)

• Screeching Weasel- Ramones (1992)
• The Queers- Love Songs for the Retarded (1993)
• Screeching Weasel- Wiggle (1993)
• Smoking Popes- Get Fired (1993)
• Screeching Weasel- How to Make Enemies and Irritate People (1994)
• The Queers- Beat Off (1994)
• The Queers- Move Back Home (1995)
• The Riverdales- The Riverdales (1995)
• Squirtgun- Squirtgun (1995)
• The Crumbs- The Crumbs (1996)
• The Queers- A Day Late And A Dollar Short (1996)
• Cub- Box of Hair (1996)
• Screeching Weasel- Bark Like a Dog (1996)
• The Queers- Don't Back Down (1996)
• Beatnik Termites - Bubblecore (1996)
• The Riverdales- Storm the Streets (1997)
• Squirtgun- Another Sunny Afternoon (1997)
• Groovie Ghoulies- Re-Animation Festival (1997)
• The Huntingtons- Fun and Games (1997)
• Beatnik Termites - Pleasant Dreams (1996)
• The Queers- Punk Rock Confidential (1998)
• Groovie Ghoulies- Fun in the Dark (1999)
• The Lillingtons- Death By Television (1999)
• Groovie Ghoulies- Travels with my Amp (2000)
• Anti-Flag- Underground Network (2001)
• Rise Against- The Unraveling (2001)
• The Real Swinger - Back from Nowhere (2001)
• Ded Bugs - Planet of Blood (2001)
• Common Rider- This is Unity Music (2002)
• Justin Sane- Life, Love and the Pursuit of Justice (2002)
• Groovie Ghoulies- Go! Stories (2002)
• Ben Weasel- Fidatevi (2002)
• The Queers- Pleasant Screams (2002)
• The Copyrights- We Didn't Come Here To Die (2003)
• Groovie Ghoulies- Monster Club (2003)
• The Riverdales- Phase Three (2003)
• Squirtgun- Fade to Bright (2003)
• Teen Idols- Nothing to Prove (2003)
• Ded Bugs - Stop and Smell the Stinking Corpse Lilies (2004)
• Resident Genius/Howard Zinn- You Can't Blow Up A Social Relationship (2005)
• Los Pepiniyoz - Lluvia, Lluvia, Lluvia (2005)
• The Vacancy - Heart Attack (2005)
• The Queers- Munki Brain (2007)
• The Riptides - Hang Out (2006)
• The Queers - Grow Up (2007)
• Suckerbox - Suckerbox (2007)
• The Peacocks - Touch and Go (2007)
• Alkaline Trio - Remains (2007)
• Los Pepiniyoz - Carta a la Luna(2007)
• The Riptides - Mental Therapy (2008)
• Squirtgun- Broadcast 02.09.08 (2008)
• Root Hog- Root Hog (2009)
• Viernes13 - Rockaway Hits (2009)
• Karmella's Game - You'll Be Sorry (2009)
• Anti-Flag- The People or the Gun (2009)
• The Riptides - Tales From Planet Earth (2009)
• Torture the Artist - Torture the Artist (2009)
• Tungas - El Espíritu del Tiempo (2010)
• The Riptides - Tough Luck (2010)
• The Peacocks - After All (2010)
• Svetlanas - Svetlanas (2010)
• Squints - Taking Toll (2011)

Personal life

Giorgini is the son of artist Aldo Giorgini. Prior to his career in music, Giorgini earned a degree in Psychology from Purdue University and began a course of graduate study in that same field. When his father became terminally ill with a form of brain cancer, Giorgini decided to suspend his studies in order to care for his father. During the illness, Giorgini re-evaluated his life plans and chose to continue in the field of music rather than return to school and begin a doctorate in psychology. Despite his departure from the field, Giorgini leaves behind a pair of co-authored articles in respected psychology academic journals.

Giorgini was the model for the fictional character "Max" in the novel Weasels in a Box by John Jughead. In the novel, the character "Max" is a punk rock producer who also studies the literary figure Don Quixote.

At present, in addition to his continuing production work, Giorgini teaches Audio Production Techniques in the Theatre Department, as well as Italian and Spanish in the Foreign Language Department of Purdue University, where he is also completing a Ph.D. in Spanish Language and Literature. He is a member of the Faculty at the Ivy Tech Community College in Lafayette, IN.

External links

• Sonic Iguana Studios
• Official Squirtgun site
• Mass Giorgini's Blog

An article by Mass Giorgini for an academic psychology journal:

• Response Time Distributions: Some Simple Effects of Factors Selectively Influencing Mental Processes (1999) by Richard Schweikert & Mass Giorgini, from the Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, Volume 6, Issue 2, pages 266-288.