Author: infernalsymphony
The words "Demonic Bishop" and "Infernal Symphony", are one and the same. Born in Nottingham, England, and now residing in Cannock via an interim stretch in Derby, Demonic Bishop is a twenty-something with a chip on his shoulder and a fire in his flaming belly.
Growing up surrounded by music (Motown, 50s Crooners and 80s pop megastars on his mother's side, and psychedelic, progressive rock, electronica, and 60s rock on his dad's), his first instrument was a living room piano at the age of seven, where he would play ditties, little melodies, and Christmas carols in rudimentary ways.
Strangely enough, music has always been in his family - his Dad, Paul Bishop, is an avid singer, keyboardist and guitar player who formed a band and recorded tracks at home for decades, his grandfather Claude Navarre sung in practice halls and on television, and his great great grandfather, John, was a piano tuner in the late 1800s.
After those early dabblings on the piano, Bishop then moved to his father's collection of keyboards, teaching himself tunes, songs, and themes by ear from a young age, bypassing musical theory altogether, after having previously been turned off of music to a degree by compulsory primary school recorder lessons. It was after this point that Bishop vowed to never have another music lesson again.
A time after this, Bishop discovered one of his Dad's guitars, and began to attempt playing it like a lap steel guitar, because the frets were too large for his fingers and the guitar too heavy for him to hold, notwithstanding the fact that at this time he discovered that he was partially ambidextrous - meaning he was a left handed guitarist.
Using the pseudo-lap steel method, Bishop got involved in a few bands with friends he was familiar with in high school. He never really gelled with them musically - he could play, in a fashion, but without any prior musical tuition or knowledge, and being baffled by their influences at the time (emo, metal core and mallcore) he never quite felt like he fit in.
Eventually they required a bassist and as luck would have it, Satan would provide...
On his 15th birthday, the Demonic one was gifted a bass guitar, a gift that sparked his in-built musical talent, channeling his heritage, boundless creativity, and teenage anger. Being initially ambivalent to this four stringed marvel, over time he took to it and before long became a respected and renowned bassist in his community, playing anywhere and everywhere he could with whomever needed the thunder of his playing.
After spending 6 months or so with this
As a bassist, Demonic Bishop was different to most - his approach was that of a guitarist, whilst still respecting the place of the bass within the unit of a band. Taking inspiration from one of his earliest musical inspirations, Motorhead and Lemmy in particular, Bishop detested the traditional role of bassists of the time merely playing root notes or uncreative lines that followed the guitar, and instead determined to break the rules, rather than play to them.
Distortion pedals, plectrums, bass chords and wickedly complex bass runs were his antidote, and they made him stand out from the pack, and as such he was in high demand, enabling him to play in a variety of bands and in a variety of settings.
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Infernal Symphony 