Over nine million subscribers tune in to Davide Biale, known to all as Davie504, on YouTube. He’s a phenomenal bass player, with a sharp sense of humor that gives his videos an edge. In a rare interview, he tells us about his life before the internet came calling...

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Davie, we know you were born in 1994, but no-one knows much about your early life.

I grew up in a very beautiful town near the beach called Albisola Superiore, near Genoa in north-west Italy. Before bass I had other passions such as astronomy and geology: I loved to collect minerals. Italy winning the 2006 World Cup really inspired me to start playing soccer as a goalkeeper—I am very tall—and becoming one of the best goalkeepers was my goal. Unfortunately, while I was good in training, I just didn’t have the right mindset, and I would get very anxious while playing official matches, so after a few years I quit, and switched to bass. I was okay in elementary and middle school, but then I suddenly started getting very, very good grades in high school, right after I started playing bass. That’s the power of the instrument, I guess.

I’ve read that you started playing bass in November 2009. Is this right?

Correct. It all started because of a video game I used to play a lot: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. That game’s soundtrack is iconic, and there was one particular song that I always enjoyed listening to. After intensive research I managed to find out that the title of the song in question was ‘Strutter’ by Kiss. I did a quick search on YouTube and the first video that came up was a live version of it. Between all the band members, the bassist, Gene Simmons, really caught my eye, and made me interested in the instrument he was playing. Before that I didn’t even know what a bass guitar was.