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Paul Simpson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Huyton, Merseyside, England |
| Genres | |
| Years active | Mid-1970s–present |
| Labels | Astral Girl |
| Website | paul-simpson |
Paul Simpson is an English musician, vocalist, lyricist and writer from Liverpool, England, best known for his work with the Wild Swans and Care. Musically, his contributions have crossed the genres of synth-pop, post-punk, neo-psychedelia, new wave and ambient.
Born in Huyton, Simpson studied at Hugh Baird College in Bootle, and later shared a flat (vacated by Julian Cope and his first wife after they broke up) on Devonshire Road with Pete de Freitas (and later Courtney Love). [1] [2]
His music career began in the mid-1970s punk rock band Psycho Mesh, after which he joined up with his school friend Will Sergeant as Industrial Domestic, and then the bedsit collaboration with Cope, Ian McCulloch and others under the name 'A Shallow Madness'. This later transformed into the Cope-led Teardrop Explodes, while McCulloch went on to form Echo & the Bunnymen.
He left the Teardrops in 1979 to form his own band the Wild Swans in 1980. [1] [3] Between the two incarnations of the band, he was also co-founder of the duo Care with Ian Broudie, later of the Lightning Seeds. [1]
Care broke up around 1984 and after a while, he and a Mark II version of the Wild Swans reformed to record 1988's Bringing Home the Ashes and 1989's Space Flower. [1]
After the Wild Swans split in 1990, Simpson embarked on a variety of more-or-less solo projects, including 'The White Capsule', the ambient instrumental 'Skyray', and the spoken work project The Dream Diaries, which came out of his fellowship at John Moores University. [1] [3]
Simpson re-formed the Wild Swans in 2009 with original member Ged Quinn, releasing a third studio album in 2011. After a virus contracted in Sri Lanka damaged his lungs, he stopped singing and has focused on instrumental pieces and writing. [4]
For several years, he worked on his crowdfunded autobiography, Incandescent. [1] [4]
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson. By 1980, Pete de Freitas joined as the band's drummer.
Big in Japan were a punk band that emerged from Liverpool, England in the late 1970s. They are better known for the later successes of their band members than for their own music.
Julian David Cope is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side projects such as Queen Elizabeth, Brain Donor and Black Sheep.
Peter Louis Vincent de Freitas was an English musician and producer. He was the drummer in Echo & the Bunnymen, and performed on their first five albums.
The Crucial Three were a short-lived band that existed for approximately six weeks in early 1977. They are nevertheless notable on account of the individual success of all three founding members: Julian Cope formed The Teardrop Explodes and has enjoyed a long and successful solo career as an author, photographer and singer, Ian McCulloch formed the very successful Echo & the Bunnymen, while guitarist Pete Wylie formed Wah! Heat and enjoyed major chart success with "The Story of the Blues". In those early days, McCulloch sang, Cope played bass, and Wylie played guitar. A drummer, Stephen Spence, also joined at some point in their brief life.
Ian Zachary Broudie is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer from Liverpool, England. After emerging from the post-punk scene in Liverpool in the late 1970s as a member of Big in Japan, Broudie went on to produce albums for artists including Echo & the Bunnymen, the Fall, the Coral, the Zutons and the Subways.
The Teardrop Explodes were an English post-punk/neo-psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single "Reward", the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s. The group also launched the career of group frontman Julian Cope as well as that of keyboard player and co-manager David Balfe. Other members included early Smiths producer Troy Tate.
Ian Stephen McCulloch is an English singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Echo & the Bunnymen.
William Alfred Sergeant is an English guitarist, best known for being a member of Echo & the Bunnymen. Born in Walton Hospital, he grew up in the village of Melling and attended nearby Deyes Lane Secondary Modern. He is the group's only constant member.
David Balfe is a musician and record company executive, most notable for playing keyboards with the Teardrop Explodes, founding the Zoo and Food independent record labels, signing Blur and for being the subject of their first number one hit, "Country House".
Kilimanjaro is the debut album by the neo-psychedelic Liverpool band The Teardrop Explodes, released on 10 October 1980. It contains versions of the band's early singles – "Sleeping Gas", "Bouncing Babies", "Treason" and "When I Dream" – as well as their biggest hit, "Reward". The album also includes the song "Books" – originally a song by Julian Cope's previous band, The Crucial Three, it was also recorded by Echo & the Bunnymen. In 2000, Q magazine placed Kilimanjaro at number 95 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
Care were an English new wave band formed by Paul Simpson and Ian Broudie in 1983 in Liverpool, England. Care was created after the split of the Wild Swans when singer Paul Simpson came together with guitarist Ian Broudie. The first single was released in June 1983.
Peter James Wylie is an English singer/songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of the band variously known as Wah!, Wah! Heat, Shambeko! Say Wah!, JF Wah!, The Mighty Wah! and Wah! The Mongrel.
Zoo Records was a British independent record label formed by Bill Drummond and David Balfe in 1978. Zoo was launched to release the work of the perennially struggling Liverpool band Big in Japan. The label also released two singles by Lori and the Chameleons, a Balfe and Drummond band which they formed after Big in Japan folded. Zoo Records went on to release early work from The Teardrop Explodes and Echo & the Bunnymen. The label also released the first single, "Iggy Pop's Jacket", by the Liverpool band Those Naughty Lumps.
Neo-psychedelia is a diverse genre of psychedelic music that draws inspiration from the sounds of 1960s psychedelia, either updating or copying the approaches from that era. Originating in the 1970s, it has occasionally seen mainstream pop success but is typically explored within alternative rock scenes. It initially developed as an outgrowth of the British post-punk scene, where it was also known as acid punk. After post-punk, neo-psychedelia flourished into a more widespread and international movement of artists who applied the spirit of psychedelic rock to new sounds and techniques.
The Wild Swans is a post-punk band from Liverpool, England, which originally formed in 1980 shortly after Paul Simpson (ex-keyboards) left The Teardrop Explodes. The band's personnel has been subject to regular turnover, with vocalist Simpson being the only constant member.
Fire Escape in the Sky: The Godlike Genius of Scott Walker is a compilation album of material by singer Scott Walker, compiled by musician Julian Cope and released by independent Zoo Records in August 1981. The material on the album was drawn from Walker's orchestral pop solo albums released between 1967–70, and focuses on songs that the singer had written himself. After Walker's popularity declined in the 1970s and his albums became out-of-print, Cope conceived the album to rescue Walker from obscurity and present his material to a new audience. Whereas he had previously appealed to middle-of-the-road fans, the compilation was created to help promote Walker to a post-punk audience.
Leslie Thomas Pattinson is an English musician, best known for his work as the bassist and co-writer of the Liverpool-based band Echo & the Bunnymen, along with vocalist Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant. He was brought up in Aughton, Lancashire and attended nearby Deyes High School in Maghull, where he and Sergeant were classmates and became friends.
Longstone are an experimental, electronic music collective formed in 1996 in Cheltenham, England, coalescing around the core duo of Mike Ward and Mike Cross.
