Peter Gifford
Australian musician
Peter Gifford (born 6 April 1955), sometimes known as "Giffo," is an Australian musician. From 1980 until 1987, he played bass guitar, Chapman Stick and sang backing vocals for Australian rock band Midnight Oil.
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 (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 (1980) and Species Deceases (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 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 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 Chapman Stick on the tracks "Sleep" and "Who Can Stand in the Way" on the Red Sails in the Sunset album, and in concert.
“Peter Gifford” enters the record as australian musician. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Peter, Gifford and Australian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3376608. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1955, 1980, 1987 and 1981.
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This entry incorporates text from “Peter Gifford” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.