Peg doll designed and created by Linzi Ellen
With a great new album just released, Simon Waldram is probably producing his best sounds so far and for a prolific artist like Simon, that's not an easy thing to do. The 9 tracks on So It Goes are all written, produced and mixed by Simon but it's not a totally solo effort, with worthy contributions from friends and session musicians. Simon kindly took time out to talk about his music.......
Thanks for taking time out for this interview Simon, can you tell us about your musical background, where we might have heard your sounds and how would you describe your style?
I grew up on 80s pop, then 90s indie rock and I've tried to embrace everything else since. I don't like to think of myself as having a particular set style, I find that too limiting. I try and make all my records quite distinct from each other. So It Goes, has more of a pop influence than probably anything I've done before.
I started making music in the early 2000s and released my first album, Conchology, in early 2009. I've released 8 solo albums so far. I also have a punk band called Dynamite for Partisans, an ambient noise project called Manko Force and an indie rock duo with Dan J. (Snot Patties/Dirtman/Rectangle Creep) called Cake Sloth. We're working on our debut album at the moment. There's also an album I've just made with Clarke Blacker from Stick Men With Ray Guns which I really love, but I've no idea how to describe it.
Has lockdown impacted you creatively at all, and how have you coped over the past 12 months?
For most of the lockdowns I was stuck in a small ground floor flat next to a main road with noisy upstairs neighbours and only occasional opportunities to make music. I did what I could when I could but it was difficult, especially as I fell into quite a deep depression for a while. Things are much better in my life now though and I'm even moving to a place where I'll hopefully be able to record regularly again.
Your latest release album So It Goes is one of my best listens so far this year, can you tell us the idea or theme behind the project and who's worked with you on it? So It Goes was most written and recorded in a just a few weeks in late 2019 as a way to work through and understand some really difficult emotions. It's kind of a song cycle about love, loss, acceptance and moving on. The album is supposed to represent a full day too, with the first 5 songs being the morning and the last 4 being the afternoon/evening. I worked with some of my very talented friends again like Dan J, Andrew Skelton and Rebecca Mileham, but I also decided to work extensively with session musicians for the first time too. It worked out great and I found some really talented people like Alex Scott (bass) and Alex Rodriguez (drums). Some of my favourite parts on the album are Isidora Novakovic's cello on You, Jessie Morgan's fiddle on Moonstone and Krysten Henry's bass playing on Windswept.
Where can folks get to listen to your music? https://simonwaldram.bandcamp.com
What's next for you?
I'm making an album of older songs from my past live sets that I've never gotten around to recording before. They'll hopefully be new Dynamite For Partisans and Cake Sloth releases in the non-too-distant further and also my album with Clarke Blacker too.
Photo by Sian Eldridge
Anything else you'd like to add about the project, or a message for the readers? Don't let anyone ever tell you that you can't sing or play or that only certain people can make music. If you want to do it, then you can do it too. Follow your own path. Other people's opinions about you mean nothing!
Many thanks to Simon for the interview and please check out his music.......