Simon is new to The Big Takeover in writing terms but has been a subscriber for most of the last 20 years. He’s since atoned for a lapse in the late 90s — there were extenuating circumstances and the back issues have been purchased!

A definite subscriber to the notion that, “without music life would be a mistake”, a pivotal
moment in Simon’s life was the day in 1980 when his dad thrust his first Melody Maker into his hands with the suggestion he should try that, NME, Sounds and Record Mirror and then decide which one to buy every week. It didn’t take long before he was buying all four and devouring every nugget of news. Singing in bands and writing about music in zines and elsewhere followed as surely as night follows day.

Simon lives in Bristol, England, still goes to more gigs than he probably should and buys more CDs than can feasibly be stored in his apartment.