Rev Simpkins
The Phantom Notes: James De'Ath, Karl Younger, Toby Bull, Dan Merrill, Jenny Coyles, Sian Simpkins, Katy Smith
Influences
England past and present, strong coffee, Rentaghost, John Donne, Beefheart, Nick Drake, Dylan, Mingus, The Kinks, Joseph Spence, XTC, The King James Bible, Blind Willie Johnson.
“High octane stuff...unique musical style and literate words performed with energy and passion. He must be a gas live.”
fROOTS, April 09
“…he might just scoop a Mercury Prize…”
Martin Newell, Poet/Musician
“Deep, dark…makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up”
Maverick Magazine, August 2009
"An anarchic, chaotic and hard to classify romp through the murkier depths of Matthew Simpkins' mind…raw, authentic and always riveting."
Acoustic Magazine, May 09
"Equal parts Robert Johnson, Nick Cave and Mungo Jerry...skewed blues and rot-gut jugband swagger...a heady mix"
Rock 'N' Reel Magazine Mar/Apr 09
“Inspired Madness…An excellent and adventurous album” *****
DISC OF THE MONTH DEC 08
Bluesbunny – Dec 08
“Suffolk’s answer to Captain Beefheart…Impossible to pigeon hole and impossible to ignore. A unique listening Experience.”
Babbler & Crow No. 3 in Albums of the Year – The Grapevine – Jan 09
"Matt Simpkins is taking folk and blues rooted songwriting somewhere utterly thrilling: strange, beautiful and new."
Ramon Goose – Dec 08
“Soul shuddering…the full flourishing of a fevered imagination”
The Grapevine – Dec 08
“A unique musical journey…Babbler & Crow
has got to be heard to be believed!”
Ipswich Evening Star - Nov 08
“For the son of a parish vicar, he belts out a
tune with more gusto than Aretha Franklin” Essex County Standard - Nov 08
“Off-kilter orchestral folk with excellently catchy melodies”
Colchester Evening Gazette - Nov 08
FOLK SYMPHONIST. SINNER SONGWRITER. EVANGELIST FOR ENGLISH ECCENTRICITY.
Brought up a Vicar’s son in Sudbury, a small market town in Suffolk, England, Matthew “The Reverend” Simpkins quickly gained a reputation for naughtiness, fire, and unfettered musical imagination. His strange musical talent propelled him unexpectedly from the local comprehensive school to Oxford University, where he was a choral scholar. While at Oxford, Simpkins became a controversial figure: his dissertation on Frank Zappa in the 1960s drew an angry letter from the chairman of the examiners, but convinced Simpkins to pursue a path of musical eccentricity.
Though sorely tempted, the Reverend was too naughty to follow his father, grandfather, grandmother and uncle into the clergy; so, in Autumn 2008, he set out to take on the devil on his home territory – folk ‘n’ roll. The Rev’s uniquely English ‘Fire Folk’ - a brew of erudite folk, sanctified psychedelia, and bruising freak blues - has built him a devoted cult following since the initial apparition of his 9-piece freak beat orchestra, The Phantom Notes in September 2008.
His November 2008 debut album Babbler & Crow attracted national acclaim for its unique mix of folk in the style of Bert Jansch, pop song-smithery in the tradition of The Kinks, and the freak blues of Captain Beefheart. Fired up by the critical success of his debut, the Reverend rushed headlong into making LIONS – a hymn to post-crunch England orchestrated to include brass bands, choirs, organs and church bells. Broader and more ambitious in scope than its predecessor, LIONS promises to propel the Reverend’s madcap musical and lyrical imagination to an ever-increasing audience.
Rev Simpkins & the Phantom Notes's Friend Space (Top 8)
Come on down to The Garden DJs Cosmic Communion this Friday night (Nov 20th) in Ronnie's Room at PJ
McGintys, Ipswich, 8pm.
4 of us will be DJing, a bit more chilled than usual and IT'S FREE!
All manner of acid ear candy, kosmische electronics, space disco, prog feasts, hairy psych and unicorn folk. It makes so much sense, welcome in the winter...
Psychotropic Caravan Vol. 2: February the 6th, 2010 @ Nosturi & Alakerta, Helsinki Warm-up party: February the 5th, 2010 @ Alakerta, Helsinki Bands & DJ's to be announced soon...
"The Q" will be performing tomorrow night (Saturday 31st Oct - Yes it's Holloween!!) at Scallys, 12 Carlton Street, Weston super Mare, BS23 1UA
On stage at around 9:30pm - We'd love to see you there.
In addiion to some "Modtastic" tracks from The Jam, The Who, The Kinks and many others, we'll be performing tracks from our current EP which will be for sale at the event as well as being available on iTunes/Amazon and in "all good independant record stores"
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