Simon Charles has been a stalwart blues player on the Worcester(U.K.) music seen for many years,in such outfits as The Famous Torpedoes and The Headhunters as far back as the early eighties.Now concentrates on recording solo or with members of The Lonesome Bedroom Blues Co-operative,and with The Electric Funk Experience.Plays live occassionally at blues festivals with Groovyhead,he remains in demand to play blues harp on a sessional basis for local acts.End of last year Simon released "Views from the yard"on own label which scored 7/10 in Blues in Britain magazine album reviews.More recently spent some time recovering from a motorcycle accident but is now back recording once again.
NEW C.D. "Hear me out" OUT JULY 2008 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!READ BELOW TOXIC PETE'S REVIEW OF NEW C.D. :"Now here's a guy who eats, sleeps and loves the blues; Simon Charles with his second home-grown album, 'Hear Me Out', is another great example of what one man, with a mission, can do with the blues in this modern age.Here, the home-grown, just slightly raw edged, recording could be said to be a bonus; it suits Charles' gritty music beautifully and adds a certain reality to this extraordinarily good set of blues originals. Charles brings modernity to an old genre by adding a few well proportioned samples to many of his already fine songs. And, when modern meets mature there's a reaction that results in a stylish but still well grounded sound. Charles experiments sympathetically with the blues and that's what makes him that little bit different. Cleverly though, he never pushes the boundaries too far and always manages to get it right and keeps the blues real.Known locally mainly as a superb blues harmonica player, Charles shows again that he's got an awful lot more to offer instrumentally and also creatively. The multi-faceted 'Hear Me Out' certainly works and it's a tribute to Charles' tenacity and vision coz he's stuck to his guns and continues to experiment with what blues purist see as their holy grail of music - Charles puts two fingers up at those purists and shows that the blues is actually more flexible than people would like to think. Experimentation maybe but, Charles doesn't let himself get too carried away; everything about this album is still true-blue but with an empathetic contemporary twist - hey, it works and it's damn good! And, it's not all digitally adjusted anyway; Charles lays down some really tasty stuff here that's straight from the heart - he really does feel the blues and it shows, and the modern twist is simply just that - a modern 'twist'! Once again, Charles has called in some favours from some 'friends' to assist here but in the main this is Simon Charles, plain and simple!'Hear Me Out' by Simon Charles is really good album of fine, heartfelt, modern blues songs. Simon Charles (with a little help from some 'friends') has once again come up with the goods. I'd like to think that Charles will take this material on the road but sadly, as he tends to be more of a studio artist, that may never happen - shame coz I think there's a place in the market for this very talented guy and his persuasive blues music. 'Hear Me Out' by Simon Charles gets the job done without too much fuss and gives us thirteen crackin' modern blues songs with something just a little bit different to think about! Top stuff this from the quiet blues-man of Worcester. "
