Organiser Sean Simmons plays in his own band, The Spoils, and has recently embarked on a solo national tour. Simmons was a staff member as well as having his own shows on PBS and RRR for donkey’s years, and now books for Premier Artists. Put another way – he knows his stuff and anything he puts on is sure to be good. Simmons had a super cool introduction to music. His grandfather played in swing and jazz bands and urged Simmons to pick up the violin.
“That was my first kind of exposure to live music. His band was playing Glenn Miller, Count Basie kind of stuff, but I guess, like any other kid, I was seduced by rock’n’roll from watching too many musical documentaries and listening to radio.
“So, even though I was exposed early on to this refined side of jazz and swing – I kind of departed from that as a teenager and became besotted with The Rolling Stones and Lou Reed and all of those kinds of people… it all just rolled on from there.”
Simmons is in an enviable position work-wise and he clearly loves his job. “When the opportunity arose at Premier to be more involved with bands I jumped at it. Sometimes I lament leaving radio because I loved those years. I’d been in radio since I was 19 years old, but it still wasn’t fulfilling that need to work with musicians. I always joke that I now book all the bands that I used to like playing on radio.”
All of which means that the Winterbound bill is eclectic and reflects Simmons’ roster. If there’s a theme at all, it’s that things will start quiet and get progressively louder. The lineup is pretty damn illustrious: Matt Bailey (formerly of Paradise Motel) does music best described as haunting and captivating; Harry Howard (formerly of Crime & The City Solution) now fronts his own band, Harry Howard and the NDE, together with Edwina Preston, Dave Graney and Clare Moore; Early Woman does a cool indie, Phil Spector wall of sound thing; The Orbweavers specialise in surreal, lush country and pop; Jimmy Tait do beautiful shoegaze; The Spinning Rooms are wild and cacophonous (“imagine if the Stooges came from Germany,” is how Simmons puts it); Black Cab run from kraut rock to German electronica; and The Infants are downright gripping and sound like something from the New York no-wave scene. It’s a diverse and inspired collection.
Incidentally, The Spoils are on a break for good reason – Simmons’ wife is pregnant with twins. Is it terrifying? “Yep,” he laughs, “but we’re as prepared as we can be. We’re seven months in now. I enjoy the bustle of it – the fact that we’ll have our own band at home, with a rhythm section that can be trusted.”
BY MEG CRAWFORD
