Lee Simeone

Lee Simeone (born 20 March 1980 in Rochford, Essex) is an English musician.
Simeone (which became his recording name) studied hard at his influences and started writing his own ideas and early recordings as a young teen; this was to take place at home on a synthesiser which his mother had purchased for him when he was 11 years old. He had his first drum lessons a year later. Simeone got an electronic drum machine when he was 14 and based songs around his drumming using his synthesiser. He discovered electronic music in his exercise lessons at primary school where the physical education teacher had brought in his own records. Simeone was to find the sounds fascinating on these recordings which were sound effects mixed with ambient textures. He recalls the teacher had bought in a copy of the classic 1970s masterpiece "Oxygene" by Jean Michel Jarre; it was then that Simeone slowly got heavily into Vangelis, Mike Oldfield and the English folk guitarist and poet Roy Harper. Harper had also been cited as an influence, namely by Kate Bush who also guested on his recordings.
The idea that Simeone had for his music was to make a big soundtrack of soundscapes awashed with electronic effects and synthesisers; he then started to work in graphic design, he wanted to give the listener an image of what was going through his mind at the time of writing the music, which resulted in creating futuristic imagery. His early material was of mixed ideas which had a very dark and ethereal mood set. Simeone has said that he went through some painful times while recording back in the late 1990s. He recorded on quite lo-fi equipment, which he pointed out was not intentional just lack of funds at the time. Slowly Simeone started gaining interest from other electronic music fans after releasing early demos, then some reviews came about, one of which Kaleidoscope magazine picked up on a demo track called "Alone" who found it reminiscent of John Foxx (Ex-Ultravox) and Robert Rental (a pioneer of the post punk DIY industrial electronic music) That same featured track was to end up on Simeone's debut release. In 2007 a myspace page for his music was put together and has gained big interest with music lovers across its vast network. In 2008 a mini tour of Berlin took place which saw Simeone alongside The Lavender Pill Mob featuring former Adam And The Ants bassist Kevin Mooney and former frontman of Renegade Soundwave Gary Asquith who performed at various live music venues including 'White Trash' and 'Lovelight' which are both at the heart of Berlin's underground music circuit. In March 2008 Simeone appeared in a scene which reenacted a 1980s new romantic nightclub called "Billy's" alongside Visage's lead singer Steve Strange for the BBC series Ashes to Ashes, a gripping finale to the critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning Life on Mars BBC series.
2009 sees two releases from Simeone, the debut album The Dream Weaver; Kevin Mooney guests on one track. The album features a lot of dreamy and ambient-textured soundscapes awash with analogue synthesiser adding a melancholy feel to the work mixed with some very soulful and personal lyrics. A track from the album was used as an installation at The Tate Modern Gallery in London. The second release from Simeone is an EP titled "Magic Star" featuring Karel Fialka & Renegade Soundwave's Gary Asquith, both the album and EP were released on the London-based label of Kevin Mooney and Gary Asquith (Le coq musique).
Simeone has also worked for the UK's largest manufacturer of office products Rexel ('ACCO Brands') composing soundtrack music to a product advert. He has gone on to win some great reviews, namely the pro music magazine Future Music of Future Publishing who reviewed his music as having a huge sound and that it could be quite special. Canadian music magazine Minni Musique cited Simeone's sound as very much his own, and would be termed as indefinable.
Discography
* The Dream Weaver CD (2009)
* Magic Star E.P. CD (2010)
Television appearance
*BBC Ashes to Ashes (2008)

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