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Simon Tong (born 9 July 1972, Lancashire, England) is a guitarist and keyboardist who was a member of The Verve between 1996 and 1999 and is currently a member of Erland and the Carnival and Transmission. He has also played as part of Blur, Gorillaz and the unnamed supergroup responsible for The Good, the Bad & the Queen.
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Biography
The Verve; 1996-1999
From 1996 to 1999, Simon was a guitarist and keyboardist for The Verve. He was brought in to replace lead guitarist Nick 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. He played on many of their hits from that time such as The Drugs Don't Work,Bittersweet Symphonyand Sonnet. The Verve disbanded in 1999 and later reformed in 2007, this time without Simon.But by 2009 they had disbanded again.
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 frontman Damon Albarn by contributing guitar to Gorillaz' 2005 album Demon Days. In November 2005 he performed as part of the Gorillaz live band at the Manchester Opera House, sharing guitar duties with another ex-Verve member, Simon Jones.
Erland and the Carnival/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 bassist Paul Simonon and drummer Tony Allen. The band released their first album The Good, the Bad & the Queen on 23 January 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 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 (of Dreadzone) which has released a single called "Noctolucent" and an album "Beyond Light" in 2006.[1] He has also played guitar on several tracks on the 2007 Client album "Heartland". He is also recording and performing as a member of heavy weight folk rock band Erland and the Carnival.[2]
Other projects
Tong also set up a record label with the uber-producer Youth (of Killing Joke) called 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, Samatha Marais and Indigo Moss.
External links
- Transmission at MySpace
- The Good, The Bad, The Queen at MySpace
- Carnival at MySpace
- Gorillaz - Official Website
- Blur - Official Website
- The Good, The Bad, The Queen - Official Website
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