Simon Smith has been the

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

with several

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

bands, most notably

The Wedding Present The Wedding Present are an English indie rock group originally formed in 1985 in Leeds, England, from the ashes of The Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, ...

from

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, which he joined in 1988, and also worked with its offshoot

The Ukrainians The Ukrainians are a British band, which plays traditional Ukrainian music, heavily influenced by western post-punk. Career The Ukrainians were formed in 1990 by Wedding Present guitarist Peter Solowka, with singer/violinist Len Liggins an ...

Career

Simon Smith started out briefly as a member of The Chorus with

Peter Solowka Peter Solowka or Solovka ( uk, Петро Соловка, , born late 1959 in Oldham) is a musician of Ukrainians, Ukrainian and Yugoslavian descent. He has been involved in music since 1985, most notably as guitarist with The Wedding Present from ...

, who also became a member of The Wedding Present. The Chorus released tracks on the AAZ record label from 1983 to 1985 including the 7" double A side

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

"These Stones" / "Diamond Mine". Simon left The Chorus to join stable mates The Sinister Cleaners in 1985, replacing the drum machine that had featured on their earlier releases. He released 3 12" EPs with The Sinister Cleaners and toured the UK and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

with them from 1985 to 1987. Simon left The Sinister Cleaners to join The Wedding Present as drummer in 1987, working briefly with Sinister Cleaner Len Liggins and Pete Solowka in The Wedding Present offshoot band

. Simon, along with Keith Gregory, Paul Dorrington (both ex-Wedding Present) and Jaqui Cohen (ex-Dustdevils), started a new group called

Cha Cha Cohen Cha Cha Cohen was a band formed in 1994 by three members of The Wedding Present — Keith Gregory, Paul Dorrington and Simon Smith. After recruiting singer Jacqui Cohen (AKA Jaqi Dulany) from The Dustdevils they released a single, "Spar ...

in 1994. Simon split his time between

and The Wedding Present until 1997, when Wedding Present singer / guitarist

David Gedge David Lewis Gedge (born 23 April 1960, in Bramley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England) is an English musician and songwriter. Early life Gedge grew up in Middleton, Greater Manchester, in the area known as Top of Hebers. He attended Hollin High S ...

took a break in order to start a new group,

Cinerama Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporati ...

. Cha Cha Cohen went on to make two albums on the Glasgow-based

Chemikal Underground Records Chemikal Underground is an independent record label set up in 1994 at Glasgow, Scotland by rock band The Delgados. It was set up to release their first single, "Monica Webster" / "Brand New Car" and went on to break many new Scottish bands in ...

label, and, thanks to their help, Simon began tour managing for a living. Simon also played gigs and recorded with Beachbuggy, brainchild of former Wedding Present bass player and guitarist Jack Straker. In 2004, David Gedge and Wedding Present guitarist Simon Cleave began using the name The Wedding Present again but Simon Smith was not asked to join the band's new line-up.

Discography

With The Wedding Present

UK singles

# Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? (Reception 1988) # Давні Часи/Davni Chasy (

promo Promo or promos may refer to: Promotions and advertising *Promo (media), a form of commercial advertising used to promote television or radio programs *Promo (professional wrestling), a televised interview in which a wrestler's on-screen personali ...

, Reception 1988/RCA 1989) # Kennedy (RCA 1989) # Brassneck (RCA 1990) # 3 Songs EP (RCA 1990) # Dalliance (RCA 1991) # Lovenest (RCA 1991) # Blue Eyes (RCA 1992) # Go-Go Dancer (RCA 1992) # Three (RCA 1992) # Silver Shorts (RCA 1992) # Come Play with Me (RCA 1992) # California (RCA 1992) # Flying Saucer (RCA 1992) # Boing! (RCA 1992) # Loveslave (RCA 1992) # Sticky (RCA 1992) # The Queen of Outer Space (RCA 1992) # No Christmas (RCA 1992) # Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah (Island 1994) # It's a Gas (Island 1994) # Sucker (no label 1995) # 2, 3, Go (Cooking Vinyl 1996) # Montreal (Cooking Vinyl 1997)

Albums

# '' Українські Виступи в Івана Піла'' (

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, RCA 1989) # ''

Bizarro Bizarro () is a supervillain/anti-hero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman, and first appeared in ''Superboy'' #68 (1958) ...

'' (RCA 1989) # ''

Seamonsters ''Seamonsters'' is the third studio album by English rock band The Wedding Present. It was recorded in ten days in 1991 by American producer Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Albini had previously earlier recorded two ...

'' (RCA 1991) # ''

Hit Parade 1 In 1992, The Wedding Present decided to release a limited edition single every month, each featuring an original track on the A side and a cover on the B side. The tracks were compiled as two LPs called ''Hit Parade 1'' and ''Hit Parade 2'' and ...

'' (compilation, RCA 1992) # ''

Hit Parade 2 ''Hit Parade 2'' is a compilation album by The Wedding Present released in January 1993. Having decided to release a limited edition single every month for all of 1992 (each featuring an original track on the A side and a cover version on the B s ...

'' (compilation, RCA 1992) # '' Peel Sessions 1987-1990'' (compilation, Strange Fruit 1993) # '' Watusi'' (Island 1994) # ''

Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

'' (Cooking Vinyl 1995) # ''

Saturnalia Saturnalia is an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple ...

'' (Cooking Vinyl 1996) # '' Evening Sessions 1986-1994'' (compilation, Strange Fruit 1997) # '' John Peel Sessions 1992-1995'' (compilation, Cooking Vinyl 1998) # ''

Singles 1995-1997 Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

'' (compilation, Cooking Vinyl 1999) # '' Singles 1989-1991'' (compilation, Manifesto 1999) # ''The Hit Parade'' (2 CD compilation, Camden Deluxe 2003)

With Cha Cha Cohen

Singles

# Sparky's Note (Hemiola 1994) # 538 ep (Chemikal Underground 1995) # Spook on the High Lawn (Chemikal Underground 1997) # Freon Shortwave (Chemikal Underground 1998)

Albums

# Cha Cha Cohen (Chemikal Underground 1998) # All Artists Are Criminals (Chemikal Underground 2002)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Simon Living people Year of birth missing (living people) English rock drummers The Wedding Present members