Simon, who hails from Hindley, and Nick McCabe are part of experimental rock group Black Submarine, along with string arranger and violinist Davide Rossi, former Portishead drummer Michele Schillace and Bristol singer-songwriter Amelia Tucker.The group has just released debut album New Shores.
Simon, 41, told Goss: “It’s been a long time getting it all together and it’s fantastic to get out there and play. It’s the start of something new with great musicians and it’s very exciting."
“The Verve played Glastonbury with Davide and we knew it was coming to an end after the festival season, but Nick, Davide and I still wanted to carry on making music together."
The drummer from The Verve was thinking about joining but decided he wanted to stay out of the politics. Mig was an old friend of Nick’s so he was the obvious choice.
“Finding a singer was very difficult. We thought about a revolving door of vocalists and guests, but it was quite difficult to get an identity for the band. Mig knew Amelia so he sent her a track to give her an idea of the free-flowing way we worked, but she turned it into a song and we were gobsmacked when she sent it back.”
Simon, whose parents live in Up Holland, added that he always reflects fondly on his time with The Verve. He told The Sun: “We loved that band. Being in The Verve was an amazing experience for us all.
“We used to have this analogy that we were cavemen coming from Wigan, down to London. We’d only eaten pasties and fish fingers and chips and suddenly our record company was taken us to posh restaurants in LA. The Verve certainly broadened my horizons.”
So is there a future for The Verve? Nick said: “Richard kind of just went ‘I don’t know why I’m doing this.’ So I don’t think it could ever happen again. I’m just glad we have Black Submarine now and we’re already looking ahead to the next album.”
- Source: Wigan Today
