The Simpletons

THIS IS A FANSITE - The Simpletons are no longer together. It is intended as a lasting homage to one of Australia’s finest young songwriters, Shane Gelagin. Shane wrote great lyrics and made very good music. He left the planet on the 17th January 2003.
’ And under the steps, is where i’ll leave one cigarette, for when i come back. For IF i come back......’
A HISTORY OF THE SIMPLETONS
Taken from the Candle Records website;
Cheyne Gelagin formed the embryo of the band in April 1992 at Lismore, NSW. Hooters and Hummers was the first band name which would later become The Simpletons. He literally raced to put a band together for the National Campus Band Competition, which is a contest to find the best University band. The Hooters and Hummers line-up was Cheyne (acoustic guitar and backing vocals), Carrie Haines (lead vocals), Brad Cheers(bass) and Stephen Meldrum (drums).
Their first performance was a heat of the band competition, and straight away they impressed with acoustic pop songs with amazing insightful lyrics (especially for a newly formed band.) They actually won the heat and made it to the Lismore final where they came runners up. They quickly established a strong live following in Lismore, where they stood out as not being the usual funk or covers band that was the standard offering from the town. Stu Hayes at this early stage took over managing the group.
Six months later Carrie left the band and Cheyne (who wrote all the songs) took over the lead vocal duties. The band were now a three piece and changed their name to Playground. In 1993 they again entered the band competition. This time they won the Lismore final, the Queensland final and the ultimate prize - the National final. Up against the odds and plenty of heavy rock bands, the acoustic witty pop group beat them all. Just before the final they dumped the kiddie ‘Playground’ and on Steve’s suggestion they were crowned The Simpletons. An extremely ironic name considering the nature of their lyrics.
Smother To capitalise on winning the band competition, The Simpletons decided to tour in early 1994 and put out their debut EP. 6 tracks were recorded for Smother in Lismore, January 1994. Darren Hanlon joined as guest guitarist for the recording and ended up staying for years to come. His catchy jangly guitar work would become a familiar trademark for the band.
The Simpletons toured all around the country in a rented van and then manager Amanda. They impressed crowds instantly with their catchy acoustic pop songs. Smother sold extremely well at shows and became an instant classic. Every track on the CD remained a hit at live shows to come, even ‘2480’ a song about living in Lismore found life in different towns. The first 1,000 copies of Smother quickly sold out within 6 months and band refused to repress it. Smother was reborn about 2 years later when The Simpletons re-released it with new mastering and artwork changes. ‘Buzz Aldrin’ (about the second man on the moon) won Song of the Year at the North Coast Music Awards.
‘The Simpletons. Now there’s a great name for a band. Come to think of it, there’s a great name for several thousand bands. The one in question is actually relatively cerebral. the clarity is crystalline, the sound is semi-acoustic, the words are often funny and the style is eccentrically restless. There are lots of sharp lines.’ - Rolling Stone Magazine
After the tour they continued to base themselves in Lismore, playing a lot locally and making regular trips to Brisbane where their following was quickly growing. One of the more bizarre shows was playing in front of what would be their biggest crowd at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre supporting Willie Nelson. In no way was the band slightly country, so Darren played as many cheesy country licks as possible. They still sold over 50 CD’s to a bewildered audience who had no idea who the band were.
Mid-year the band took on Chris Crouch as their manager. Chris was a friend from Lismore who had studied with Cheyne and happened to be a huge fan of the band. Mid 1994 The Simpletons did an official ‘Smother’ launch at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney. On a Wednesday night the place was packed, and the band knew they definitely had an audience outside of small town Lismore.
‘Quite simply, an excellent live band.’ - Drum Media, Sydney Music Paper.
Nod The follow-up to Smother was a great leap forward called ‘Nod’ released October 1994. They lost the derivative Billy Bragg overtones and found their own sound. Of course a feature of The Simpletons sound was no 2 songs ever sounded the same and they continued to be extremely eclectic throughout their recordings. Nod featured some great co-writing between Cheyne and Steve in the shape of ’Tall Poppies’ and ’Cooking Claret’ (two Simpletons classics). To support the release of Nod they did their second National tour, again to enthusiastic audiences all around the country. Triple J (Australia’s National Radio Station) got the band in to play live on the OzMusic Show. They liked ‘Tall Poppies’ so much they added it to their general playlist.
Highlights at the end of 1994 came in the form of playing their first Weddings, Parties, Anything Christmas show and the Byron Bay Festival. At this stage Cheyne was still being extremely prolific in his songwriting and planned to record their debut album early 1995.
‘...in other words, there are no real comparisons. This band is well worth keeping eyes and ears alert for; all here is splendid and only the beginning!’ - On The Street Music Paper
In early 1995 they went back into the studio to record their first ever single ‘Crash Out’. The 3 track single was recorded before the recording of the debut ‘Matter’ album. To support the release of Crash Out the band went on another 5 week National Tour. Despite it being a popular song it unfortunately failed to capture radio’s imagination. The single also marked another first, Cheyne made The Simpletons a super 8 video clip for the song.
Matter The Matter album was recorded in Newtown, Sydney and produced by Rob Clarkson (now in Ruck Rover). The band relished recording the album as it gave them scope to show what they could produce with 15 tracks. They experimented with rock in the form of ‘Occupation’ and stripped things back with ‘Solitaire’ and ‘Postcard’. Popular songs like ‘I Do’ and ‘Tall Poppies’ were reworked and given a new lease of life.
‘I’d even go so far as to say that they may one day be one of the best bands in the world, and I do not exaggerate.’ - Time Off, Brisbane Music Paper
April/ May saw the band tour yet again to huge crowds whether they went. ‘Matter’ was an instant success amongst fans. It had enough similar ingredients of the first 2 EP’s and then went further. Lyrically the album was amazing, full of clever wordplay and great imagery.
Up until this stage the band had been constantly touring and recording, so they decided to take 3 months off. In the down time, ‘Nice’ from the album was picked up by Triple J. Within weeks it was a big hit on the station receiving lots of airplay across the country. The band were unable to fully capitalise on the songs success due to their break. The unlikely radio song ‘Postcard’ also received a sprinkling of airplay.
‘After being blown away last time by The Simpletons, what I got wasn’t the same. It was better.’ - Rave Magazine, Brisbane Music Paper
A copy of Matter made it’s way into the hands of Billy Bragg. Chris ran in to Billy at Glastonbury 95 where he mentioned how much he loved the album, especially the lyrics. Billy promised next time he came to Australia he worked try to get The Simpletons a support spot. Naturally the band were over the moon hearing such high praise from the man that was an early inspiration.
The extended break served the band well and they hit the road again in November for the ‘Nice To Be Home’ tour. Despite the break no one had forgotten them and their live shows were packed. Good news followed this tour when they picked up the National support for Weddings, Parties, Anything Christmas Tour. Famous for their huge tours and big nights, the Weddings tour was one of the best times the Simpletons had on the road.
Early 1996 was another boom period for the band. They played the Byron Bay Festival and Sydney Fringe Festival and true to his word, Billy Bragg gave The Simpletons the support for his Sydney Enmore Theatre show. It was one the best Simpletons shows ever, making themselves right at home on the big stage. Meeting Billy and playing support act was a great highlight for everyone involved.
‘The Simpletons had the crowd wrapped around their little fingers. The atmosphere in those closing ten minutes was enough to rival even the greatest You Am I gathering.’ - Beat Magazine, Melbourne Music Paper
By this stage Cheyne was accumulating new songs for the next album. The band re-released Smother and hit the road in March/April to roadtest some of their new material. At the end of the tour The Simpletons lost Steve Meldrum as their drummer. He was a huge loss to the band not only because of his great drumming but the great songs he bought to the band.
Tandem The follow-up album ‘Tandem’ was recorded in Sydney by David Trump (producer for Pollyanna, Big Heavy Stuff). Doug Threlfall (ex-Cartoon) played guest drums on the album. This album took things a lot further than Matter ever did. At the forefront was a bigger guitar sound. The acoustic influences were still there but placed on the second half of the album to give more consistency. All the strengths of the band feature on Tandem, but again pushing their limits. ‘Soup’ had a dance beat, ‘Loot’ was virtually punk and ‘These Days’ could easily be one of the best modern folk songs.
Ryan James (who now plays for The Mabels) was recruited from Lismore to play drums for the Tandem tour in August/September. He fitted in extremely well and the tour went off without a hitch. The band probably lost a few diehard fans with the more guitar conscious album but again the reviews were fantastic. ‘Bullets’ an instant crowd favourite, got played a lot on triple J and stations all around the country despite never been released as a single.
Great Supports and 3 EP’s Before the end of the year finished The Simpletons went back in the studio to record the ‘Light A Candle’ EP. Again this CD shows a lot of experimentation for a band not willing to stay creatively still. It also marked the recording debut of Ryan for the band and Darren offering his crowd favourite ‘Danielle.’
1997 heralded another boom period for the group. It started off in fine fashion when they played at the Gold Coast Big Day Out. Light A Candle was released and it become another hit on Triple J. Huge news came in the form of the National support for They Might Be Giants. The band flew and drove everywhere to do the shows for a band they held in very high esteem.
Straight after the Giants tour and their own tour for Light A Candle, came the news that the Clouds were splitting up. The Simpletons were proud to do the Sydney and Brisbane final Clouds shows.
The regular touring and recording regime continued. Back in the studio to record the next EP called F. Due to time constraints F was only recorded solo for Tandem. This time they wanted to record it with the band, how they originally intended. The experimental b-sides included spoken word tracks by Cheyne put to music.
At the end of the year the band put out their third and final EP from the Tandem album. ’Till The Sky’ was released with 4 news songs tilting back again to their acoustic roots. The band re-recorded Till The Sky as they were never truly happy with the album version. The new version more represented how they were playing it live. To wrap up an incredible year the band also supported Juliana Hatfield for her Sydney show.
End of a Era On their final tour for 1997, Chris their manager decided to call it quits. After all the work and pressures he simply had enough. Shortly afterwards Brad Cheers (bass) and Darren Hanlon (guitar) also decided to leave. Although, Darren would appear on the next Simpletons single ‘Eight.’ So after all the highs and lows of The Simpletons a big core of the band decided to pursue other things. Their loss was big a blow to the band and although The Simpletons name continued the spirit and heart of the group was gone.
Cheyne and Ryan continued, recruiting new members for the third album ‘Popcore’. The album again combined some of the Simpletons trademarks, great lyrical pop songs. After a 9 month absence on the live scene, the band emerged for a live tour for the new line-up. The shows were indeed different and then infrequent. Now finished for good.
For those who saw the band in their heyday, they would understand the great spirit and joy of seeing The Simpletons live. They were truly a great original band and we were better for it. That spirit still lives on in their priceless recordings and the great memories they gave us.