Anthony Rossomando

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Anthony Rossomando bigraphy, stories - American guitarist

Anthony Rossomando : biography

February 21, 1976 –

Anthony Rossomando (born February 21, 1976) is a writer-producer, composer, guitarist and musical director. most recently with Carl Barat’s rock band Dirty Pretty Things. He previously stood in for Pete Doherty in The Libertines. He is also a live member of the British dance punk band Klaxons. He was an original member of Boston-based band, The Damn Personals.

After dropping out of university in his first year he relocated to Boston. He started The Damn Personals with ex-JC Superska band mate, Ken Cook. The band’s first tour was with The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Shortly after, The Damn Personals became a mainstay at popular Boston, Providence, and New York indie venues, usually bringing half of the audience back to their rehearsal space for after parties.

The band recorded their first album, Driver/Driver with producer Darron Burke, who now works for Tape OP. Their second release entitled Standing Still in the USA, was produced by Michael Demming. Anthony, Ken, bassist Jim Zavadoski and drummer Michael Gill comprised The Damn Personals, who lived hand-to-mouth and toured the US nearly ten times sharing the stage with the likes of The Walkmen, The Hives, Jimmy Eat World, Piebald, Cave-in, the Explosion, Hot Snakes, Dismemberment Plan, and the Make-up. They also toured Europe and UK once.

In 2003, introduced in a roundabout way by Isaac Green of Startime records, Rossomando met Barât in NYC and agreed to fill in for Doherty in an upcoming US tour for The Libertines; then came back to London to play Top of the Pops and Reading and Leeds festivals. Eight months later he rejoined the Libertines, Doherty having gone AWOL again, to help support the entire worldwide touring campaign for the their self-titled second album. It was during this time when Rossomando and Barat began to formulate their ideas that would later embody the Dirty Pretty Things. Following the demise of the Libertines, he relocated to London; his first real flat after being evicted out of his Boston home a year previous.

In May 2006, Dirty Pretty Things released Waterloo To Anywhere which reached No. 3 in the UK charts, while the first single "Bang Bang You’re Dead", where he plays the cornet, peaked at No. 4. The band toured extensively in the UK, US, Europe and Japan.

Anthony also played on:

  • Chisel – "Set You Free" (trumpet)
  • Piebald – "We Are The Only Friends We Have"
  • The Cribs – "The New Fellas" (trumpet)

In November 2007, he played the role of Pete Neon in the first episode of the third series of The Mighty Boosh. He spoke about his appearance in the series in the documentary The Mighty Boosh: A Journey Through Time and Space, which aired on BBC Three on March 22, 2008.

Anthony, as well as the rest of Dirty Pretty Things, has been a longtime supporter of the Love Music Hate Racism Campaign, appearing at numerous gigs, shows and festivals for them. On March 1, 2008 he spoke at the LMHR session as a part of the Unite Against Fascism annual conference, discussing racism in his life and why he has so strongly supported the campaign, stating "It is the most important of all the campaigns out there." The band are also supportive of the Make Roads Safe Campaign, and in November 2006, Anthony appeared on Sky News to promote the cause. Dirty Pretty Things split up in the summer of 2008.