Contrasting the flowery psychedelic rock music of the late-1960s, the New York City-based Silver Apples created an avant-garde sound based on an extensive drum kit, originally played by Dan Taylor, and a little more than a homemade synthesizer, dubbed “The Simeon” after group founder and lead singer, Simeon Coxe III. The group was active between 1967 and 1969, during which they released Silver Apples and Contact, and although a third album was recorded in 1970, their record label (KAPP) folded leaving the album unreleased and the group defunct.
Silver Apples were one of the first groups to employ electronic music techniques extensively within a rock idiom. According to their first LP liner notes, their unique sound came from "nine audio oscillators piled on top of each other and eighty-six manual controls to control lead, rhythm and bass pulses with hands, feet and elbows". Simeon devised a system of telegraph keys and pedals to control tonality and chord changes, and reportedly never learned to play traditional piano-styled keyboards or synthesizers. Although complex, their minimalistic style, with its pulsing, driving beat and frequently discordant modality, anticipated not only the experimental electronic music and krautrock of the 1970s, but underground dance music and indie rock of the 1990s as well. They have influenced everyone from Kraftwerk, Spacemen 3, Suicide, and Laika to only name a few.
In1994, German label TRC released a bootleg CD of both Silver Apples and Contact, and the intense interest provoked by this release prompted Simeon to reform Silver Apples in 1996. After releasing new material, Simeon began touring with original member Dan Taylor, and multi-instrumentalist Xian Hawkins. However, in 1999, an unknown driver forced their tour van off the road, breaking Simeon's neck leaving him unable to walk and the future of Silver Apples was unknown.
Simeon miraculously relearned how to walk, but never fully recovered his hand movements, leaving him unable to play his instrument in the way he used to. He quietly spent his recovery time in the Gulf of Mexico and due to sad circumstances reappeared on the scene in 2005 to comment on the sad passing of longtime friend and drummer, Dan Taylor. Many questioned if Silver Apples would ever play again due to the incessant string of bad luck, but with the release of a single in the US in 2007, Simeon went on tour for the first time in years, performing as a solo outfit to much acclaim.
