- Simon Tong
Simon Tong (born
July 9th 1972 ,Lancashire ,England ) is aguitarist andkeyboardist who was a member ofThe Verve between 1996 and 1999 and is currently a member of Transmission. He has also has played as part ofBlur ,Gorillaz and the unnamed supergroup responsible forThe Good, the Bad & the Queen .Biography
The Verve; 1996-1999
From 1996 to 1999, Simon was a
guitarist andkeyboardist forThe Verve . He was brought in to replace lead guitaristNick McCabe after the band's first short-lived split, but remained with them when McCabe returned. Their third album was 1997's highly acclaimed "Urban Hymns ". The Verve disbanded in 1999 and later reformed in 2007, this time without Simon.The Shining; 2002-2003
After The Verve disbanded, Simon remained relatively active. He was a member of short lived band The Shining from 2002-2003, where he contributed guitar, keyboards and songwriting.
Blur/Gorillaz; 2002-2005
Following
Graham Coxon 's departure from Blur in 2002, he was recruited as guitarist for some of the band's live performances. He continued the relationship formed with frontmanDamon Albarn by contributingguitar toGorillaz ' 2005 album "Demon Days " including top 2 hit "Feel Good Inc. " In November2005 he performed as part of theGorillaz live band at the Manchester Opera House, contributing guitar.Transmission/The Good, the Bad & the Queen; 2006-present
In July 2006, it was reported that Tong would again be working with Damon Albarn.
NME reported that Albarn had foregone plans to record a solo album and instead formed a new unnamed group which featured Tong with Albarn, former Clash bassistPaul Simonon and drummer Tony Allen. The band released their first albumThe Good, the Bad & the Queen on January 23, 2007, with the single "Herculean" in October 2006. The album has enjoyed very good reviews and a second single, "Kingdom of Doom ", was also released in January 2007 as part of their [http://www.thorstenneuhaus.com/neu/GBQ pan European tour] . While The Verve reunited in 2007, Tong remained with The Good, the Bad, and the Queen (it is not known whether he was invited to return to The Verve).He is a member of the band Transmission with Youth, Paul Ferguson (of
Killing Joke ) and Tim Bran (ofDreadzone ) which has released a single called "Noctolucent" and an album "Beyond Light" in 2006. [http://www.myspace.com/transmissionofficial] He has also played guitar on several tracks on the 2007 Client album "Heartland".Other Projects
Tong has also set up a new record label with the uber-producer Youth (of
Killing Joke ) called [http://www.butterflyrecordings.com/ Butterfly Recordings] . The first acts to be released are Indigo Moss and Duke Garwood along with a compilation entitled "What the Folk".As a producer Simon has worked with Petra Jean Phillipson, Duke Garwood and
Indigo Moss .External links
*MySpace-music|transmissionofficial|Transmission
*MySpace-music|thegoodthebadthequeen|The Good, The Bad, The Queen
* [http://www.gorillaz.com/ Gorillaz - Official Website]
* [http://www.blur.co.uk/ Blur - Official Website]
* [http://www.thegoodthebadandthequeen.com/ The Good, The Bad, The Queen - Official Website]
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