meet
Seth Pitt
also
click here to read Seth's
interview with the Somerset Guardian
(17 Aug 2006) [691kB]
 Introducing
Seth
Pitt,
guitarist, vocalist and percussionist of The Mangledwurzels. Seth
- aka Dave Sampson - claims that he was so named because at his
christening the Vicar had a lisp. He was born and raised in good
ole’ Zummerzet in the early 1960's with
a lineage which included a pig-farmer, a poacher and a gamekeeper.
Having always lived and worked not far from Farrington Gurney, his
boyhood home, he has since 'immortalised' this village in song.
'After all', said Seth, 'how many villages can boast a farm shop
with a full size half-cow sticking out the wall?' Seth
clearly remembers listening to The Wurzels playing at the village
fayre as a child out of his bedroom window, being too young to attend
the concert.
One
of the singer-songwriters of The Mangledwurzels, Dave has spent
a lot of his musical career in similar roles, being in a variety
of groups before jointly forming The Mangledwurzels in early 2005.
One of the first groups he joined while still at school was a sixties-style
folk group called New Harmony. They
played a first set of folky numbers, then re-appeared for their
second set dressed in smocks and 'kerchiefs as
their 'alter egos' The Scrumpy Bashers
and played the
original Adge Cutler songs.
This would explain why Dave
is always spot on with his guitar playing - he has been playing
these songs for 25 years longer than the rest of the band!
After
leaving New Harmony,
Dave jointly formed a rock band called Zion with
the guitarist to write and perform a rock opera (as was the style
of that time) called Blind, based on the life of Saul (St.
Paul). At the end of that project, Dave went on to form and join
a variety of bands playing covers and original compositions with
a variety of names such as Neurosurgeon, C
Division, Fred And The Apprentices, Emulator,
White Knuckles and Louder Than Words.
In
the 1990s Dave changed identity and became Ronnie 'Rothman'
Woodbine guitarist and founder member of the Rolling
Clones, a Rolling Stones tribute band who gained notoriety
(both locally and nationally) by being threatened with litigation
by the Stones' lawyers for their use of the 'tongue and lip logo'
combined with the closeness of the band's name to the originals.
The band agreed to stop using their derivation of the famous logo
and Dave re-designed the logo was placing his tongue firmly in his
cheek and replacing the tongue and lips with a set of false teeth
in an 'homage' to the age of the originals! The lawyers being suitably
placated, the band rode the wave of publicity enabling them to obtain
the status as one of the best Stones tribute acts around - until
Dave
and the bassist
Bill Wigman were unexpectedly evicted from the band due to 'personal
differences'. Over time, the other guitarist and bass players were
also thrown out, and the vocalist left, so while the Clones are
still playing, it is with none of the original members...
 Departure
from the Clones saw Dave's metamorphosis into Ziggy
Sawdust to form a 1970's glam rock covers band with
Bill Wigman,
now renamed Nobby Holder. Originally a four-peice called
Glam-R-Us, the group expanded to a five-piece and
was re-named The Glambusters
with Ziggy and Nobby joined by Audri Quattro, Cozy Towel and Tricky
Stringbender. Ziggy shared lead vocals and played lead, rhythm,
slide and MIDI guitar dressed in thigh-length white platform boots
with six-inch stilettos, a huge bright red illuminated wig and flashing
devil horns, a purple Ming The Merciless cloak, and outrageous glam
make-up! The Zigster left The Glambusters in 2006 to concentrate
on being a Mangledwurzel.
 At
the same time as The Glambusters were born, Dave joined an established
band formed a couple of years earlier called the Circle
of Blues, later renamed Dressed
to Kill. This five-piece rhythm and blues band sees
Dave in almost normal stage attire playing lead, rhythm and slide
guitar and backing vocals. Dressed To Kill play across the South
West, and have supported The Wurzels as well as playing at the Glastonbury
Festival in 2000. It was in DtK that Dave met lead vocalist Kev
who, due to a combination of his distinctive look and his madcap
on-stage antics, would be asked to join Dave in a certain Scrumpy
and Western tribute band as Hedge Cutter of The Mangledwurzels.
 Away
from the band, and after a career in print origination, Dave is
now a published freelance graphic
artist who is developing a reputation with his portraiture of
people's pets amongst the other categories of his portfolio. Using
a digital medium allows him to produce original portraits in a variety
of sizes, which can also be used to produce items including t-shirts,
mugs and key rings.
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