Robin Simon

Early career

Robin Simon began playing guitar in the band, Kandahar, in Halifax west yorkshire uk, in the early- to mid 1970s.He also met and jammed with future Ultravox keybords player Billy Currie at that time. .. After leaving his family home at 17,due to his mother passing away, he lived in the countryside close to Hebden Bridge, west Yorkshire. He formed a new band there with his brother, on drums. From placing ads in the melody maker, they attracted the attention of American soul singing star Limmie Snell. After they sucsesfully backed the singer for several months,Limmie however returned to London. Robin moved to London himself in 1975 and after another stint with Limmie,whilst staying on the outskirts of London, he moved into a squat on Stansfeild Road,south London, close to the birthplace of David Bowie. He took various manual jobs and began searching for a band in the Melody Maker ads. From the phone box on the corner of Stansfeild road, he replied to the ad in melody maker, placed by Malcolm Mclaren , for a guitarist to join the Sex Pistols. He was not asked to audition however,due to not having heard of Jhonny Thunders at the time and his description of wanting to do a stylish type of band as too vague. He later joined the punk pop band fronted by New york born singer songwriter, guitarist, Ian North, called Ians Radio, though North later changed there name to Neo. (later called Neo) The band also included his brother,Paul Richard Simon, on drums, who had also moved to london in early 1976 and ex Sparks bass player, Martin Gordon. Neo were one of the bands on the emerging London punk,new wave, live scene. They featured on the Live at the Vortex album and later supported Ultravox several times at the Marquee club in London, before Robin was offered the guitarist position in Ultravox.

Ultravox

Simon joined Ultravox, replacing Stevie Shears, in 1977, bringing a more multi-dimensional sound to the band. His co-wrote the single, Slow Motion, from there 1978 third album,Systems of Romance, the original Ultravox line-ups only official hit.

In addition to playing all guitars on the album Systems of Romance, he co-produced it with the band, Conny Plank (of Kraftwerk fame) and Dave Hutchins. He also pioneered the use of synhesizers that were put through guitar effects pedals, prior to Gary Numan's echoing of the technique, notably on the track Quiet Men, a song which used a Big Muff fuzz through a car stereo speaker, with envelope follower on parts, to achieve a unique sound. He also pioneered the use of multi-effects for guitar on Systems of Romance, to create an early grunge type of sound using Electro Harmonix and MXR effect pedals, such as Big Muff fuzz,memory man delay echo, compressor, wah-wah and flanger, chorus, plus amp tremolo. These were sent through a Music Man amplifier and cab, then to tape. Some tracks were fed back from tape to be re-recorded through a vintage Fender Princeton amp, reamping in modern day terms. This was possibly the first use of a full compliment of multi-effects guitar sounds, as a guitarists integral sound, prior to recording, very much like modern day guitar pedalboards and multi effects units, as compared to the use of just one or even several pedals, used by earlier guitarists and if so usually for a specific application. A direct guitar into amp sound was the norm for most guitarist of the era compared to modern times. Two other songs on the album were however his vintage Les Paul custom or Fender Stratocaster put through a single overdrive pedal into a vintage Fender Bassman amp and cab for a contrasting sound. The guitar sound on Slow Motion, the song he instigated and cowrote with the band, also featured a second delay, echo, added to the verse guitar riff at the mixing stage, as well as the shorter, memory man echo, of the initial guitar. The second echo is a timed, dotted quarter note repeat; achieved manually on the mixing desk fader for on and off of the effect, in modern times identified as a ducking delay effect. This was a use of a timed rhythmic guitar echo effect,combined with the first memory man echo, that has some similarity with the one later created and widely used by guitarist The Edge, of U2. Other effects such as deep chorus and ring modulation were added at mixdown to create occasional Synth-like guitar sounds.

In early 1979, after the US tour with the band and no longer on island records, having been dropped by the label despite increased sales over previous releases,plus positive reviews, John Foxx left Ultravox. Robin Simon left some months later. He felt that without John Foxx, who founded and named the band,was its main songwriter,plus the person mainly responsible for the ultravox style and direction,a new singer could cause the band to lose its integrity. Also the emerging direction,after Systems of Romance, towards a more electro, style started to exclude the guitar more. He was however, a keen Kraftwerk fan at the time,even having copied their Man Machine,red shirt black tie, image on tours prior to recording Systems of Romance. While on the USA tour,he met Grace Weisbard, and returned to New York three months later to marry her on 25 April 1979. He lived in Coney Island, New York,for a year, and jammed with, among others, a local electro post-punk band called The Futants (along with Defunkt keyboardist Martin Fischer). Grace Simon (formerly Weisbard) moved to England with him, during his time with Magazine,before returning to New York. Ultravox were at the forefront of the new German influenced electro scene,with Systems of Romance featuring drum machine and synth bass plus electronic sequencing on various songs,prior to any other uk rock band certainly of the new wave punk genre of the era, with a direction and style similar to later acts that achieved worldwide success such as U2. Robin Simon and Billy Currie had been trying to find a new manager for Ultravox at the time,but without success. Ultravox used a stand in manager from the record company in there Island record days, having parted with their original manager who discovered the band over a business disagreement. It seemed there manager only intended a temporary role at the time of the deal. Robin and synyh player,violinist, Billy Currie began visiting the Billy's nightclub in Soho around the time.The club was at the heart of a new electronic music scene, inspired by all things European and cinematic, and would go on to become a major influence on the New Romantic scene.Prior to this Robin had chanced upon earlier Soho club nights, based around a David Bowie fan club, though as it wasn't Bowies official fanclub, this was a sparse scene,despite Steve Strange and Rusty Egan,then relatively unknown, as DJ, being there.

Magazine

After Returning to England, he joined Magazine in 1980 replacing John McGeoch. After Magazine's tour of the United States Australia and New Zealand, plus a final live appearance with them on the German TV show Rockpalast,he played on a few early recording at the Manor studio,for the album that was to become,Magic Murder and the Weather.He moved on from the band to be able to have time to record with John Foxx again on the album The Garden. He is guitarist on Magazines 1980 live album,play. He also co wrote the song ,So Lucky,from the Magic,Murder and the Weather album,but is not credited,having sold the band his rights to the song on his departure. He is featured on a song,The saddest quay from Magazines keyboard player Dave Formulas 2009 solo album ,Satellite Sweetheart.

John Foxx

Simon contributed to Foxx's solo albums The Garden (1981), The Golden Section (1983) In Mysterious Ways (1985) and performed on stage during his 1983 tour and at a special John Foxx & the Maths show at London's Roundhouse in 2010.

Humania

Ultravox had gone on to greater success with Midge Ure fronting the band, but when he left the band in 1988, Billy Currie formed a new band which later included Simon. Using the early name of Uvox at rehearsal stage, they later used the name Humania. Live gigs at London's Marquee club and the borderline followed, though Currie later moved on from the project to reform a new line up of Ultravox. The band was short-lived, with Currie subsequently forming another incarnation of Ultravox without Simon. Simon also worked with Ian North and former Ultravox frontman John Foxx during their solo careers.

Discography