About Me
Christmas Eve - 1976....a night that would change the lives of the Simmons Brothers forever. As the three boys laid in bed, they could hear the sounds of Judi and Dave (mom & dad) crashing cymbols against the door jams of the old house on Clearwater Dr. Mike and Paul knew there would be no more Kiss concerts for the neighborhood kids with full make up, wood guitars and pillows lined up on the piano bench for the drum set. No more friends hiding in the closet with cans of Lysol and lighters. No more spitting blood into the cat box....... Yea, it was time for the Simmons Brothers to start a long journey of rock.
Mike and Paul began their music career that Christmas morning. Jamie on the other hand would wait 5 more years to get his rolling. Mike and Paul played in a few different bands back in those days. WIth names such as "Speed Limit", "Aura", "Ezekiel Steel","Natas Dog" and others I'm sure, the brothers played anywhere they could. They soon added bassist John Downey, "Scully" (The Ultimate Scull) and Mike Easley on vocals and polished their chops. They named the band "Assault". After playing the local club scene for a couple of years, the brothers decided it was time to hit the L.A. scene. Jamie stayed behind listening to Rush and Deep Purple. He knew his destiny would be to play the bass like Geddy Lee and Scully. Mike and Paul left behind an 8 song demo tape of Assault recorded at Tom T Halls studio "The Toy Box" (Their mom was Tom T's buisness manager at the time). They told Jamie that when he's good enough to play those songs, he would be in the band.
At that time Jame met his long time friend Bob Langley. Bob was already playing guitar. He knew of Mike and Paul and couldn't believe Jamie wasn't playing bass yet. He told Jamie to borrow his step dads bass and he would show him some riffs. The rest is history. Bob and Jamie joined up with a band of older guys (they wern't even driving yet) and started playing talant shows and parties in a band called "Mad Habit". A couple of years later Bob and Jamie formed a band named "Dreamer" with Kenny Earl (Rhino from Manawar - years later of course) on drums and Bobby Lee Morgan on Vocals. The guys started hitting the local club scene, playing at The Brass A, Roosters, The Cannery, Cantrells, and Sals Rock Block (The old Sals on Haywood Ln. for the die hards). Dreamer pretty much ruled the local all original metal scene in those days........or at least they thought they did..haha. A year or so later Bob and Jamie formed another band called "Asassan" with drummer Jim Phipps. He later joined "Every Mothers Nightmare" and toured the big country.
Not long after that, Mike and Paul returned from L.A. After playing the L.A. club scene for a while, it was time to return home. Jamie soon showed the older brothers what he could do on bass. The circle was now complete. SIMMONZ was formed. Mike, Paul, and Jamie Simmons along with Mike Easlo on vacals began taking over the Nashville club scene. Simmonz parted ways with Easlo after a couple of years. The Ease started palying bass in another local band called Lust, who went on to become Hocas Pocus. Paulie went on to play drums with Black Oak Arkansas. Mike and Jamie stayed home and fathered two beautiful girls named Veronica and Brittni. Mike, Scully, Kenny Earl and Cindy Shelton formed a band called "Voices". Jamie and Jim Phipps took over for The Skull and Kenny not long after. Months later Mike was approached by Gus Palas (GVPIII) and Preston Sullivan to put a band together with all the brothers and Gus singing. They would sign to a local record label. Yes vinyl was still around in those days. Gus and Mike coaxed Paulie back off the road to reunite SIMMONZ, who changed their name to "The Rock" and then to "The Stand". The Stand signed to Carlyle Records, recorded a four song EP and toured up and down the east coast for a couple of years. The big record deal just never appeared. The band did manage its way, with three other local Nashville acts, to go to France for a week. They Played in Nice at the Whiskey-a-Gogo and The Palais-de-Festival (or something like that - its where they hold the Cannes film festival). The boys made contacts with Metal Hammer magizine and landed a song on a compilation CMJ CD with Ozzy, Motorhead, Helloween, and others. The Stand toured and played around town for years. But the SIMMONZ foundation soon had another go at it with Easlo. SIMMONZ was reformed, the guys recorded a demo and started shopping for deals. They won a local battle of the bands and opened for Bad Company and Damn Yankees at the late great Starwood Amphitheatre. Lots of fun and months later, Easlo departed again. Mike, Paul, and Jamie teamed up with vocalist Clay Plunk and went an entire new direction. It was the 90's now, and with the Seattle scene taking over something had to change. The name changed again to "Dorcha", and then became "Passion Temple" upon signing with Marlboro Music. Yes the cigerette company was looking to get into the music buisness and chose the Simmons Brothers as their guinea pig. They teamed up with writer Paul Ebersold (he wrote Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down) and recorded the album called Part of the Wild, and shot a video for their single Break it Down. Well, as you can imagine the deal went south and the boys were back where they started. Mike, Paul and Jamie soon began recording with Aashid Himons, Giles Reeves, & Reggie Wooten and formed "The Pyrimid Underground". What came out of this collaberation was awsome. Words can't even explain. Aashid and The Prymid Underground recorded approx. 50 songs. They were released on MP3.com
As 1996 rolled around the Simmons Brothers and Easlo decided to give it a go again after playing an "Assault" reunion show at 328 Performance Hall. They teamed up with producer Chuck Allen and ("The Master") Michael Wagener. Days Like These was soon recorded. The guys decided searching for that "deal" was way behind them. It was time now to just have fun and do their thing. They played many shows in Nashville at The End, Exit In, 328 Performance Hall, opening for Sebastian Bach, The Outer Limits, opening for Black Label Society, and Wildhorse Saloon, opening for Blue Oyster Cult. Metal would never leave the brothers entirely. Preston Sullivan would call on the brothers again to try something different. It was time to "broaden their horizons" and try some southern rock (could it be country?). They teamed up with vocal-guitar player John Brannen, and recorded the CD "Fireball" and named the band "Johnny Reb". How-bout-cha???? That didn't last very long......... But they did come out with some good tunes and good times. During the Johnney Reb project the brothers developed a relationship with Perry Baggs. He plays drums for "Jason and the Scorchers. Perry sang background vocals on the Fireball CD. Perry had the brothers play on his 6 song demo recorded by Paulie on his Pro Tools rig at The Wagon recording studio in East Nashville. The band was called "Chilhowee". They never performed live.
Mike at this time decided he would start singing. He wrote many tunes, and he and Jamie started playing local coffee houses and various NA and AA benefits. All the brothers had gone through some serious life changes at this time. No more "BULL" was their motto. Get more info on Mike at "mikesimmonsband.com". The Simmons Brothers recorded a ten song instrumental CD around this time. They got out and played a few clubs and benefits. You can find them on garageband.com. showcasing four of the the instrumental songs. Search "The Simmons Brothers" and you'll find them. Soon after, Paulie started playing drums with "The Legendary Shackshakers" and then joined up with "Petra", christian rocks original heavy metal bad boys (Good boys.....you know what I mean). Paulie stayed with Petra until thay decided to retire on New Years Eve 2K5. Jamie went out and played bass with the opening act "Bread Of Stone" for Petras Final two shows. Mike at this time was guitar teching for Peter Frampton and traveling the world. Paulie joined up with the "Reverened Horton Heat" soon after Petra disbanded. They still tour the country to this day. Mike and Jamie have recently formed a band with Gene Cook called "The Peacemakers". All three are musicians at Highland Park Church in Nashville at present. Gene Cook is the minister of music there (The boy is awsome). He plays drums and sings for The Peacemakers. Check them out at "peacemakersband.com". If your in the Nashville area, come see them play at clubs or catch them every Sunday at Highland Park Church at 10:00 AM (highlandparkchurch.org). You'll catch Paulie playin at HPC with Gene, Mike and Jamie when he's in town.
