| Nino Del Pesco | |
| Birth Name: | Antonino Del Pesco |
| Birth Date: | 6 September 1959 |
| Birth Place: | Santa Maria, California |
| Death Place: | Oxnard, California |
| Origin: | San Diego |
| Instrument: | Bass, vocals |
| Occupation: | Musician, songwriter, screenwriter, playwright |
| Years Active: | 1977 – Present |
| Associated Acts: | The Amazing Humans, Puppies, Country Dick & the Snuggle Bunnies, Lonesome Strangers, Snake Farm, Knights of the Living Dead, Billy Bremner (musician), Loafing Hyenas, Apache Dancers, AntiProduct, The Black Tongued Bells, Steve Dior |
Nino Del Pesco (born September 6, 1959 - August 14, 2019) was a musician known for playing in various critically acclaimed and groundbreaking bands throughout his career including the Lonesome Strangers, Snake Farm, the Knights of the Living Dead, AntiProduct, and The Black Tongued Bells. In addition to being a musician, Nino was also an award winning screenwriter.
Del Pesco started his career in 1978 with the San Diego avant-garde band, "The Amazing Humans" which featured members of "The Young Americans," most notably multi-instrumentalist Dan Mareen who would go on to play bass clarinet for Harry Partch[1] before finally settling in Zurich.[2] The band garnered immediate interest in the scene but was short lived. In 1979, Nino became a founding member of "The Puppies"[3] along with Dane Conover (Trees), Richard Filaccio, James Krieger, and Irene Liberatore. The New Wave band was discovered by Kim Fowley and recorded the single, "Mechanical Beat" on the Stiff America label.[4] The single was produced by Liam Sternberg.[5] From 1981–1983, Del Pesco played with "Country Dick & the Snuggle Bunnies"[6] before moving to Los Angeles and co-founding "The Lonesome Strangers" with Jeff Rymes, Randy Weeks, and ex-Wall of Voodoo drummer Joe Nanini. The band's debut album, "Lonesome Pine", was produced by Pete Anderson and featured such notable artists as Chris Hillman and Al Perkins.[7] The album was well received and garnered critical acclaim, but was not a commercial success for the band. Nino left the Lonesome Strangers in 1987 to form "Snake Farm" with Barry McBride (The Plugz) and Gurf Morlix.[8] Del Pesco also worked as an actor, most notably as the guitar player in David Bowie's video for Day-In Day-Out and This Note's for You by Neil Young & the Bluenotes.[9]
In 1988, Nino joined the "Knights of the Living Dead," who had demos produced by Dave Jerden and Warren Zevon[10] (Zevon also wrote the band's bio).[11] Between 1991–1996, Del Pesco went on hiatus to attend college, earning himself a BA degree in psychology from UCLA in 1996. Though college was the priority during that period, Nino still found time to play with various bands and continued to do session work.[12] Del Pesco returned to music full-time in 1997, when he co-founded AntiProduct with Alex Kane from Life, Sex & Death, and Eddie Reuter. After Kane left the band in 1999, AntiProduct became the "Black Tongued Bells" which also featured guitarist Steve Dior. Both Dior and Del Pesco left the band in 2003.[13] Del Pesco and Dior reunited in 2007 to record "Pretty Dope Fiend" which appears in the film, "Who Killed Nancy?" and is featured in the opening of the official trailer.
In 2005, Nino took a break from music to focus on screenwriting[14] and in 2008 his first script, THE THIRD REALM, won the CineStory Screenwriting Contest,[15] [16] the deadCENTER Screenwriting Award,[17] and took First Place in the Omaha Film Festival's Feature Length Screenplay category.[18] [19] The Third Realm was also a Finalist in Scriptapalooza[20] and the Sweet Auburn International Film Festival’s Screenplay Category, a Semi-Finalist in Final Draft’s Big Break Contest,[21] the ReelHeART International Film Festival, Writemovies.com Screenwriting Contest #18[22] and made the Top 10 in the Bare Bones International Film & Music Festival's Screenplay Competition.
| Year | Album | Label | Artist | Songs On Which Nino Played Bass | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Fun Is Right | High Rise | Puppies | All Tracks | |
| 1982 | Who's Listening? | Government Records | Puppies | Slang Lingo | |
| 1986 | A Town South of Bakersfield, Vol. 1 | Enigma Records | Lonesome Strangers | Lonesome Pine | |
| 1986 | Lonesome Pine | Wrestler Records | Lonesome Strangers | All Tracks | |
| 1989 | What Kind of Dreams Are These | New Rose | Snake Farm | Before The Summers Over; A Norther's Blowin In; Sidewinder Strikes; This Old Town | |
| 1994 | Sweet Spot[23] | Zuma Records | Russ Tolman | All Tracks | |
| 2003 | Bootleg Demos Volume 1 | White Devil Music | AntiProduct | Hey, Let's Get It On; "Sometimes"; One More Last Thing | |
| 2003 | Bootleg Demos Volume 2 | White Devil Music | AntiProduct | Everybody Stares; Science Fiction | |
| 2008 | Days Went Around | Wooldridge Brothers Records | The Wooldridge Brothers | Hey |
| Year | Single | Label | Artist | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Mechanical Beat | Stiff America | Puppies | Single Only | |
| 2009 | Pretty Dope Fiend | Peace Arch Entertainment | The Delinquents | "Who Killed Nancy?" Soundtrack |