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Robin Simon
Robin Simon
Born	12 July 1956 (age 68); Halifax, West Yorkshire, England
Genres	New wave; post-punk; synth-pop;
Occupation	Musician
Instruments	Guitar; backing vocals; synths;
Years active	1970s–present

Robin Simon (born 12 July 1956)^[1] is a British guitarist who was a member of Ultravox, Magazine and Visage.

Biography

Early career

Robin Simon began playing guitar in a Halifax-based band, Kandahar, in the early to mid-1970s. He also met and played with future Ultravox member Billy Currie at that time.^[2] He moved to London in 1975 and later joined the punk pop band Ians Radio (later called Neo) in 1976. Neo were one of the bands on the early London punk live scene. They featured on the Live at the Vortex album and supported Ultravox several times at the Marquee club in London, before Simon was offered the guitarist position in Ultravox.^[3]

Ultravox

Simon joined Ultravox, replacing Stevie Shears, in 1977, bringing a more multi-dimensional sound to the band. This was in part,due to his pioneering use of a multiple effects, stompbox, set up. The various pedals went into his guitar amplifier,also with tremolo effect, with the amp being used essentially as a monitor. Flanger, chorus, fuzz, wah-wah, delay and compressor pedals recorded direct to tape, created a guitar sound unique at that time. Most of the pedals were made by Electro harmonix, notably, the big muff deluxe fuzz as his core sound, later popularised by various Grunge guitarists, and the memory man deluxe echo pedal, later popularised by U2. The big muff Fuzz alone, in combination with a vintage Fender Bassman amp were also used. A Timed echo effect, was also used on the song Slow Motion at mixdown. After recording the guitars on systems of romance, they were fed back through a small vintage fender combo, to tighten up the sound from his larger 4 by 12 cabinet, a process now commonly known as reamping, but a very unusual recording technique at the time. He co-wrote the single "Slow Motion" from their 1978 third album, Systems of Romance, the original Ultravox line-up's only official hit.^[4]^[5]

In addition to playing all guitars on Systems of Romance, Simon co-produced it with the band, Conny Plank (of Kraftwerk fame) and Dave Hutchins. He also pioneered the use of synthesizers that were put through guitar effects pedals, notably on the track "Quiet Men".

In early 1979, after the US tour with the band and no longer on Island Records, having been dropped by the label despite increased sales and positive reviews, John Foxx left Ultravox. Simon left some months later. He felt that without John Foxx, who had founded and named the band, and was its main songwriter, a new singer could cause the band to lose its integrity.^{[citation needed]}

Magazine

After returning to the United Kingdom, Simon joined Magazine in 1980, replacing John McGeoch. He appears on Magazines live album Play.^[6] After Magazine's tour of the United States and Australia/New Zealand plus a later live appearance with them in the movie Urgh! A Music War'recorded at a sold out Santa Monica civic theatre gig, with various other acts. and on the German TV show Rockpalast, he moved on from the band to record with John Foxx again, on the Garden album.

He played on the song "Saddest Quay", from Magazine keyboards player Dave Formula's solo album, Satellite Sweetheart, in 2009.^[7]

John Foxx

Simon contributed to Foxx's solo albums The Garden (1981), The Golden Section (1983), and In Mysterious Ways (1985). He also performed on stage during his 1983 world tour and at a special John Foxx & the Maths show at London's Roundhouse in 2010.^[8] He later became a member of John Foxx and the Maths with his contribution to the album Howl, released in 2020.^[9]

Humania

Ultravox had gone on to greater success with Midge Ure fronting the band, but when Ure left the band in 1988, Billy Currie began a new project, with a later lineup that included Simon. Using the early name of Uvox at rehearsal stage, they later used the name temporary name Humania. Live gigs at London's Marquee club and the borderline followed, though the band, despite being offered a contract by chrysalis records, was short-lived, with Currie subsequently deciding on forming another incarnation of Ultravox instead,without Simon, or anyone else, from the Humania project. Demos of a prospective album, were later made available on cd. ^[10]

Discography

Neo

Live at the Vortex (1977) (compilation of various artists)

Ultravox

Systems of Romance (1978)

Magazine

Play (1980)

John Foxx

The Garden (1981)
The Golden Section (1983)
In Mysterious Ways (1985)
The Golden Section Tour + Omnidelic Exotour (2001) (only the first CD)

John Foxx and the Maths

Howl (2020)

Humania

Sinews of the Soul (2006)

Ajanta Music

And Now We Dream (2006)

Visage

Hearts and Knives (2013)
Demons to Diamonds (2015)

References

^ Chase, Helen. Magazine p. 23
^ [1] ^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Neo Archived 14 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine", punkmodpop
^ Strong, Martin C. (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Edinburgh: Canongate. p. 1132. ISBN 978-1-84195-827-9. "[78] Robin Simon – guitar (ex-NEO) repl. Shears ... [Apr 79] Robin ... departed to Magazine."
^ Welbourn Tekh, "Ultravox – Systems of Romance (review)", Head Heritage
^ New Musical Express, 26 July 1980 "Magazine have already recruited a replacement for John. He is former Ultravox guitarist Robin Simon who has been rehearsing with the band for the past three weeks and has already been writing material with them."
^ Larkin, Colin (1992) "The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and new wave Music", Guinness Publishing, ISBN 0-85112-579-4
^ Masters, Tim (13 May 2010). "John Foxx celebrates the sound of synths". BBC. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
^ Eede, Christian. "PREMIERE: John Foxx And The Maths Share New Track, 'Howl'". The Quietus. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
^ Grant, Steven, Robbins, Ira, & Reno, Brad "Ultravox", Trouser Press