Peter Gifford (born 5 April 1955), sometimes known as "Giffo," is an

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of ...

ian. From 1980 until 1987, he played

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Chapman Stick The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines, ...

and sang

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

for Australian rock band

Midnight Oil Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by ...

Midnight Oil

Gifford is credited with creating a significant part of the Oils' tight, driving sound, and has been described as being an aggressive bass guitarist. He played on the albums ''

Place without a Postcard ''Place Without a Postcard'' is the third studio album by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, released in November 1981 under Sprint Music and the Columbia Records label. It peaked at No. 12 on the Kent Music Report albums chart and the r ...

'' (1981), '' 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1'' (1982), '' Red Sails in the Sunset'' (1984) and '' Diesel and Dust'' (1987), as well the EPs ''

Bird Noises ''Bird Noises'' is the first extended play by Australian rock group, Midnight Oil, which was released on 24 November 1980 under the band's own independent label, Powderworks Records / Sprint Music. It was produced by Leszek Karski and manufactu ...

'' (1980) and ''

Species Deceases ''Species Deceases'' is an extended play by Australian rock music group, Midnight Oil, which was released on 26 November 1985 under the CBS record label. ''Species Deceases'' debuted at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Char ...

'' (1985). Gifford joined the band in 1980 after hearing on the radio about the auditions for a replacement for bassist Andrew James, whose poor health required him to withdraw from the band. He was actually driving over the

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The view of the bridg ...

to work as a roadie at the time. The band was looking for a more aggressive style of bass playing (an 'animal' in the words of guitarist Jim Moginie). Gifford predominantly played a

Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "P-Bass") is a model of electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrum ...

guitar and this can be seen in the ''Oils on the Water'' concert, performed on Goat Island in 1985. His bass solo work in live performances of "Stand in Line" was his signature. He also played the

on the tracks "Sleep" and "Who Can Stand in the Way" on the ''Red Sails in the Sunset'' album, and in concert. Gifford provided many backing vocals for the band, and is credited by longtime producer

Nick Launay Nicolas Launay is an English record producer, composer and recording engineer. He is one of the most sought after record producers in the world due to his success with recent albums by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Anna Calvi, IDLES, Black Reb ...

as being a significant contributor in the recording studio. In 1987, he left the group, due to personal reasons. He was later replaced by

Bones Hillman Wayne Stevens (May 1958 – 7 November 2020), known by the stage name Bones Hillman, was a New Zealand musician best known as the bass guitarist for the Australian alternative rock band Midnight Oil, which he joined in 1987 and remained with un ...

Discography

With Midnight Oil

Studio albums

*''

'' (1981) *'' 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1'' (1982) *''Red Sails in the Sunset'' (1984) *'' Diesel and Dust'' (1987)

Extended plays

*''

'' (1980) *''

'' (1985) *''The Dead Heart'' (1986)

Live albums

*'' Scream in Blue'' (1992), tracks 1, 4, 5, and 12 *''Best of Both Worlds'' (2004)

With
Warumpi Band Warumpi Band () were an Australian country and Aboriginal rock group which formed in the outback settlement of Papunya, Northern Territory, in 1980. The original line-up was George Burarrwanga on vocals and didgeridoo, Gordon Butcher Tjapanang ...

*''Go Bush'' (1987)

With
Neil Murray (Australian musician) Neil James Murray (born 1956) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter-guitarist and writer. He was a founding member of the Warumpi Band (1980–88, 1995–2000) which was the first major influential Aboriginal rock group with mostly Indige ...

*''Calm and Crystal Clear'' (1989), tracks 1, 2, 3 4, 6 and 8 *''These Hands'' (1993), track 1

Business interests

After leaving the band, Gifford started the

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah)'' is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia on Bundjalung Country. It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a hea ...

-based Wicked Weasel, a

direct marketing Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as ''direct response marketing''. B ...

business specialising in micro bikinis and short shorts. The company has built an international reputation for female swimwear and underwear. In early 2016, he sold all his interests in Wicked Weasel and related entities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Peter 1955 births Living people Australian rock guitarists Australian rock bass guitarists Male bass guitarists Midnight Oil members Australian company founders Australian male guitarists