Airplay, party, gigs and snow: The Simmertones look back on 2011

With a new EP launched and plenty of airplay, 2011 has been a good year for The Simmertones, Rich Mills explains

By Rich Mills, on Friday, December 30, 2011

The Simmertones: another EP looks likely and gigs begin again in Newton Abbot in January

2011 has been a pretty good year for The Simmertones for many reasons not least of which is our being invited to write a regular blog for this site (note to self – make it more regular for 2012!)

Snow
The year started off slowly with us snowbound and delaying our recording sessions for our planned new EP but we were quickly back on track. I wrote about the recording, mixing, mastering, release process here.

Party!
The EP was eventually released in July at a packed launch party at Torquay’s Rainbow Hotel which featured guest appearances by DJ Eddie Piller and guitarist Steve Cradock. You can read about here.

Radio
We got some great airplay this year including first plays on BBC 6Music courtesy of Steve Lamacq, Chris Hawkins but we have to thank our local DJs – the wonderful Mr John Govier of BBC Radio Devon, Richard Gunton of Radio Plymouth, Jackson Cooper and Guy Henderson of Riviera FM and Chris Glew of Phonic FM, Exeter. Cheers guys, it’s appreciated and your support of local music is a wonderful thing.

There are also some great specialist, internet shows which picked up on us this year. Barnsley Sime of Scooter Forums Radio and his colleagues including Rich Hill of Exeter have played us loads and I can’t thank them enough. Nate Taiapa of Hamilton, New Zealand also played us on his Go Feet Radio show which is downloadable as a podcast every week if you miss the actual broadcast.

Injury
It wouldn’t be The Simmertones without a problem or two and something we didn’t foresee was our singer Glyn slipping a disc and effectively putting us out of action for a couple of months. Fortunately he’s all fixed now and anyone who has been to one of our recent gigs will vouch for the fact that Wilcox back is back and boogieing.

Deps
It’s difficult keeping a nine-piece band gigging as often members can have other commitments and because of this we have a number of stand-ins or “deps” as they’re known in the trade. It would be a pretty poor show if they didn’t get a mention as I wound up the year so step up and take a bow, Gaz Southcott, regular sax player of The Loose Cannons, trombonist Alex Wesson, classical sax player Jade Gall and another trombonist, Chris Spreadbury. Thanks, we really couldn’t have done it without you!

Venues
We played a few gigs throughout the year, including our regular haunts such as The Spinning wheel, but it’s always sad when a venue falls by the wayside which is what happened to The Bank in Plymouth. After a couple of packed Thursday night shows there the owner decided to focus on cheap drinks and food rather than music to get the punters in. Hmm, all that effort to build up a following there…

Moustaches
But it’s not all doom and gloom as we found a new Plymouth venue at The Junction on Mutley Plain. We played our first gig there in late November and it felt like coming home – packed solid with dancing friends and fans – and we are booked for return gigs in 2012. It was also notable for the hairiness of many of the crowd and also Glyn and I as we took part in the Movember charity moustache growing!

Other new venues for The Simmertones this year were The Garden in Torpoint and The Attic, Torquay. Both saw us play in November and The Attic kindly invited us to play at their Christmas thrash so we must be doing something right! We’re going to be returning to both in the new year.

Next Year
We’ve got plenty planned for next year, including gigs at venues new and old. Our first show of 2012 will be at The Jolly Farmer in Newton Abbot on Friday, January 27 so come along, have a sing and a dance with us and work off any excess Christmas baggage.

We’ll also be recording again so stay tuned for news of that as we gear up to start the whole process again. Another EP looks likely.

Lastly, thanks to everyone who has come to see us, bought a CD, worn our t-shirt, downloaded a tune, requested us on the radio or took the time to say you like the music. It makes it all worthwhile and because of that you’ve got us for another year!