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About Simon
Melbourne based, 26 year old Singer/Songwriter Simon Imrei is about to return with all new songs, a new band and a brand new sound, and he couldn't be happier.
Having spent the last 3 and a half years recording, performing and self promoting his own brand of Acoustic Folk/Pop around central and south eastern Melbourne, as well as Ballarat, Mt Gambier, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, the focus has firmly shifted onto playing the music he loves.
"I grew up on a mixture of old jazz and 70s/80s pop/folk music", Simon remembers. "I was stuck somewhere between the moods and heart of jazz, and the storytelling of James Taylor, Paul Simon and The Police. From then i just started to pick up other styles on the way."
With high school, Simon started taking drum lessons and was introduced to Soul music and the rhythms of Funk & Reggae. When school finished, he turned to the Acoustic guitar, wanting to tell his own stories, and fell into the world of blues and the firy playing of Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton.
"I think Hendrix, Clapton and Stevie are 3 players that everyone goes through, learning guitar. Or at least blues guitar." Simon says. "When i got to them, it wasn't the flashy licks or riffs that caught me offguard, I'd just never imagined that so much feeling and emotion could come from something so simple and structured as the 12 bar blues pattern."
When he got to actually writing and playing his own music, he almost didn't know where to start. With influences all over the place, he began to discover the music of people like John Mayer, Shawn Mullins, Jason Mraz, Jamie Cullum and Dave Matthews. "These people were essentially pop artists, but with massively unique sensibilities. I love the idea of taking blues, folk or jazz and bringing into the pop arena."
Simon recorded his first demo EP and started playing shows Acoustic, because, simply, that's all he had to work with. From these shows he did live radio appearances, played festivals and interstate shows and promoted/managed himself the whole time creating Internet, Print and Poster/Flier advertising for each step. But when it came to promoting and producing his latest EP, he reached a crossroads.
"I did one show, in regional Victoria, that turned everything upside down. I'd been messing around with a bunch of newer songs and ended up putting them together with a bass player and drummer for this gig, and i cant ever remember having more fun playing music! I'd always kinda taken the short cut of 'i'll do acoustic cause it's all i've got/can afford', but at that moment i'd found the setup. I'd found the right format, and was playing music that was born out of everything i loved! From then on, everything was different, but in a great way."
Now, currently in the studio recording these songs and more to appear on his debut album, Simon is doing some upcoming shows with some of the talented artists he's been working with during his break from performing.
So stay tuned!
2009
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