Simple Kid, real-name Kieran Macfeely, is an Irish-born solo musical artist.

History

Simple Kid's approach to recording involved recording to an 8-track cassette player then fed into his computer where he applied more modern techniques to create finished songs. He mixed and mastered the tracks on albums ''1'' and ''2'' on his own equipment. His style of remixing and sampling has been compared to

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist ...

's, although Simple Kid used his own recordings as sources. More often his sound is compared to the similarly eclectic and deliberately ramshackle

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical colla ...

. Simple Kid's influences included folk, country (he prominently featured

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

s and

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos t ...

in his work), glam rock (particularly T. Rex) and late 1960s big pop arrangements of records, such as

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

's '' White Album''. Before becoming Simple Kid, MacFeely was a member of ''The Young Offenders''. Forming when he was 17, the band was composed of a group of friends from Cork, Ireland. The group attempted to release an album in America but met with failure and broke up. Television appearances included '' Later... with Jools Holland'', ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

'', '' The Late Late Show'' and '' Other Voices'' on

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, whil ...

. He was also the subject of a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

(4 Play) short documentary and appeared on ''

TFI Friday ''TFI Friday'' is an entertainment show that was broadcast on Channel 4 television in the United Kingdom. It was produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker, and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first five series. The sixth series ...

'' with The Young Offenders. His first album was also promoted extensively in the US by DJ Nic Harcourt on KCRW's daily radio program ''Morning Becomes Eclectic''. His second album, ''2'', was released by Country Gentleman Recordings in October 2006 in the UK, and by

Yep Roc Records Yep Roc Records is an American independent record label based in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and owned by Redeye Distribution. Since 1997, the label has released albums from North Carolina and international artists, including Nick Lowe, Paul W ...

in August 2007 in the U.S. ''2'' was included in ''

Mojo Magazine ''Mojo'' is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine '' Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that would cater for the bur ...

s top 50 albums of the year, was CD of the week in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' culture section and had positive reviews in the '' NME'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an engine ...

'' and the ''

Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

''. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' also featured Simple Kid as a breakthrough act for 2007. The track "Lil' King Kong" from two was featured in a Saturn automobile advertisement in the US, as well as in an advertisement in the UK for the mobile phone operator Orange. "Lil' King Kong" also featured in the film, ''

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'' in 2008. In early 2011, it was announced on the artist's official website that there would be no further music nor tours by Simple Kid. Despite this announcement, a new Simple Kid single, The Road, appeared for sale in Spring 2012. In December 2018 Simple Kid started to release new music again. Song titles include Lost in Space (The Forgotten Man), The End Of America, I Think We're Gonna Be Good Friends, Nobel Prize, The Only Child, If You Could Talk to Your Teenage Self?, The Last Bus Home, Robot Lion and Grey Ghost and Only When We're Young. Several of these songs were compiled as the album ''Simple Kid 3: Health & Safety'', released in July 2022.

Discography

''1'' (a.k.a. ''Simple Kid 1'' or ''SK1'')

Released September 2003 (UK), June 2004 (US) # "Hello" # "Truck On" #38 UK # "Staring at the Sun" # "The Average Man" # "The Commuter" # "Drugs" # "Loves an Enigma" # "Supertramps and Superstars" # "Kids Don't Care" # "Breakups Breakdowns" # "No News"

''2'' (a.k.a. ''Simple Kid 2'' or ''SK2'')

Released October 2006 (UK), August 2007 (US) # "Lil' King Kong" # "Self Help Book" # "The Twenty Something" # "Old Domestic Cat" # "Serotonin" # "A Song of Stone" # "The Ballad of Elton John" # "You" # "Oh Heart, Don't Be Bitter" # "Mommy N Daddy" # "Loves an Enigma Part II"

''Simple Kid 3: Health & Safety''

Released July 2022 # "The Road" # "Only When We're Young" # "Robot Lion and Grey Ghost" # "Cry Baby" # "Failed Musician" # "If You Could Talk To Your Teenage Self?" # "The End of America?" # "Nobel Prize" # "Lost in Space (Forgotten Man)" # "Freaks" # "One Day Off From Your Life (Lockdown Theme)" # "Last Bus Home" # "The Middle Ages" # "Trampolining"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simple Kid Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Irish country singers Musicians from Cork (city) Irish male guitarists Irish male singer-songwriters Irish harmonica players Irish folk musicians Yep Roc Records artists