At the age of 14, Mitch was immediately drawn to the deep, low frequency tones that are a bass guitar’s hallmark and knew he wanted to be a bassist from the moment he played one. He started on a 4-string bass but later started playing a 6-string, which allowed him to significantly expand his tonal range. A few years after adopting the 6-string, he started playing a fretless, which was inspired by Dominic Lapointe’s song, Simian Cattle. On Pirate Radio, his fretless playing can be found in Dragon’s Den and Beethoven’s Caprice.

From the bands Augury, First Fragment and Teramobil, Dominic Lapointe has been his greatest influence due to the artist’s original playing style and exquisite basslines that are both groovy and melodic. Some of his other influences are Cliff Burton, Les Claypool and Linus Klausenitzer. He admires Cliff Burton for his sense of melody and aggressive right-hand technique, Les Claypool for his generally unique approach by using the bass as a lead instrument and Linus Klausenitzer for his fretless bass melodies.

Mitch combines his favorite attributes from these influences to produce his own melodic and rhythmic style. He is most known for aggressive slaps, multi-finger tapping and full-bodied bass chords that one would normally only find on an electric guitar. He employs arpeggios that are reminiscent of Classical music and uses almost the entire fretboard, like in Jasmine by Curtail The Noise, which he describes as a complex and cataclysmic adventure from start to finish.

Mitch has been a part of the Bay Area music scene since the early 2000’s and joined Ominous Ruin in 2014. He played on the album, Amidst The Voices That Echo in Stone, where Deception, Simulacra and Ritual were his favorite compositions. He has performed many times with Ominous Ruin, including as an opening act for Deep Terror at The Rock Shop in San Jose, and numerous gigs at X Bar in Cupertino and Blue Lagoon in Santa Cruz.

He has been playing with Curtail The Noise since 2022 and describes the band as a “genre bending powerhouse.” The songs contain elements of Rock, Blues, Jazz, Metal and Progressive Rock, which make them more complex than his previous assignments. He has found that while there’s a sincere emphasis on rhythm and melody, the songs are also high energy and the dynamic range steers the compositions away from the abrasiveness that often characterizes Metal.