Occupation(s) Musician Name Simon Underwood | Years active 1977–present Instruments Bass guitar | |
Associated acts Instinct, Pigbag, The Pop Group | ||
Audio only - Simon Underwood and Caroline Kraabel - Free Improvisation
Simon Underwood is an English bass guitarist best known as a member of the influential post-punk bands The Pop Group and Pigbag. As described by punk rock producer Denis Bovell, Underwood was "a wicked bass player... Together Simon and Bruce [Smith] were the Sly & Robbie of the punk period."
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Biography
Underwood joined The Pop Group in 1977. Underwood knew Mark Stewart and Bruce Smith because they would frequent black blues clubs together. This blues influence has been cited in many punk histories as contributing to the band's unique multigenre sound.
Underwood played on the Pop Group's 7" single, featuring "We Are All Prostitutes" and "Amnesty International Report on British Army Torture of Irish Prisoners." He left the band shortly after the release of its first album and was asked to join Pigbag in 1980. As noted by The Quietus, after leaving The Pop Group "Simon Underwood ended up having one of post-punk funk’s biggest smash hits with Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag."
In 1983, he married bandmate Angela Jaeger at Hammersmith Registry Office. Lackluster sales and critical reception of Pigbag's new work caused them to disband in June 1983. Underwood then formed the short-lived Instict with Angela Jaeger and James Johnstone.
As of 2015, Simon Underwood is a member of the experimental noise ensemble Conspirators of Pleasure, along with Poulomi Desai. In 2015 Simon Underwood and Poulomi Desai joined the Waywords and Meansigns project, a collaborative project setting James Joyce's Finnegans Wake to music.