AUSSIE ROCK EX-PAT RELEASES

DEBUT SINGLE `HISTORY'

UK-BASED Australian musician Simon Densley has created the perfect debut rock single – History – and is gearing up to release it in his home country this month.

The ex-pat Aussie, who has spent the better part of the past few years living and working in London, has been quickly establishing himself as one to watch.

Simon Densley has released his debut single `History'.

While `History' is also available in Britain, it was important for the ex-Melbourne artist to release the track back home, especially considering the influences the Australian music scene has had on his music.

Creatively, Simon has been turning heads with his live energy performances since he started busking on the streets of Melbourne.

He gained the interest of British music promoter Matt Connolly, notorious for the successes of INXS, Paul Kelly, Marilyn Manson and The Cult, after the two had a positive meeting over the release of `History'.

In fact, Matt has been in the role of mentor since: “I only work with those who have what it takes to reach the top, and when I heard Simon’s work I knew there was something special there,” says Matt.

Simon has a long history working within the music industry, experience that he has drawn upon when it comes to his performing career.

He entered the music industry aged 15 with work experience at Allen Eaton studios in St. Kilda.

Eventually he established his own recording studio – Sandringham Audio – where he developed a reputation for working hard and achieving great results with limited resources, an aptitude he has since applied to his own music.

History was produced as part of a demo in a small home studio belonging to a friend.

After the initial recording, he took the track into the professional Paul Madden-owned Wapping Studios – also known as The Smoke House – to achieve the sound he envisioned.

Paul, who is known for his work with the likes of Gary Numan to Bobby Womack and The White Stripes, worked alongside Simon creating the perfect track.

“I like recordings to sound ‘real’, as if they were played live, even if they were multitracked over time,” he says. “That means trying to capture a spontaneous energy and groove if possible and that only comes from people enjoying playing the music.”

History’s recording features famous film composer Andrew Raiher with some truly gobsmacking slide guitar, along with Martin Ditcham, who is known for his session work with The Rolling Stones and Status Quo, on percussion.

The writing and recording process on `History' was organic and Simon admits it feels a bit like the song almost instinctively wrote itself.

“The lyrics in `History' flowed almost as a stream of consciousness and have hardly changed at all since I first wrote them,” he says. “They felt quite abstract to start with but strangely came to loosely describe my relationship with a girl I knew – almost as if the lyrics were sort of a premonition.”

From working as a producer to focusing on his own performance material, Simon’s path to music success has followed a non-traditional route.

Growing up in Melbourne on a healthy diet of Australian bands such as INXS, Cold Chisel, Hoodoo Gurus and Midnight Oil had a pretty strong influence on Simon’s sound. Listening to alternative Melbourne radio stations featuring artists such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin opened up Simon to new ideas and sounds.

All these influences filter through into `History', which has a distinctly nostalgic feeling – from the opening bars, it feels as if you’ve heard this song your entire childhood.

There is no doubt History is a special single release, one that embodies the great spirit of Aussie rock! It is an impressive debut and one that will no doubt launch the next part of a long career in music.

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