Simon van Gend Biography

Simon van Gend Biography

Born in Cape Town in 1968, Simon started playing the guitar at the age of 16, finding inspiration in the songs of Neil Young, Bob Marley, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan. He wrote his first song when he was 21 and soon formed his first band, The Wax Tadpoles. Over the next 10 years, between studying, traveling and more studying, he continued to write songs, eventually releasing his first album “Unhinged” in 2001, as self-produced, home recorded collection of 15 songs.

2005 saw the beginnings of a more serious recording venture, with Dave Maclean onboard to produce what would become ‘Pocketsongs’, Simon’s second full-length album and his first with Ross Campbell on drums and Eric Michot on bass – the trio that has stuck together since. Ross brought with him his industry experience as well as his connections from having played in bands such as Urban Creep, Fetish and Benguela, and helped organize the band’s touring in support of the new album. Zolani Mahola, Inge Beckman and Tony Cox were amoungst the guest artists who featured on the album. Radio 2000 picked up on the re-recorded version of Dreamboats and things were happening.

2006 saw the band on tour throughout South Africa, playing small towns and big festivals with great response. The band quickly wrote new material and signed to 2 Feet Music, Sheer Sound’s new acoustic music label later that same year. 2007 and the band were back in studio to record their first album for the record label with producer Joe Arthur who had great success with Freshlyground’s album Nomvula.

In the year and a half that it took for the album to finally be wrapped up, Simon continued writing songs, coming up with enough new tunes for the next album. Watch this space.

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