Simeon Band History

Simeon was birthed in the smaller of two upstairs bedrooms of an apartment that sat on the banks of the majestic Scioto River during a snow storm that hit Columbus, Ohio in the late winter of 2002. Qortra, armed with his keyboard and electronic drums, was looking to expand his musical composition repitoire beyond video game soundtracks for open source junkies. This desire to create different music was a perfect match for Jawn, who had always written guitar parts for a band that didn't exist. Chris Morton, who had facilitated the meeting of Jawn and Qortra, realized that his massive arm-pipes were ideal for playing the bass, and for hanging small groupies onto after shows. Derek "MoneyBags" Edwards provided the band with the false sense of monetary stablity that allowed them to freely write music without pressure. These four fools had a dream; a dream that has so far been a failure, along with most of their other dreams. Nonetheless, the music has marginally endured through obscure websites and lost copies of free cds.

Work on Mourning Sunshine began that snowy day in 2002 when Qortra and Jawn sat down and wrote the song that hath known name and no listeners. The studio was soon moved to the basement of Qortra's parents. This was due to the extremely small amount of space in Qortra's bedroom and easier accesibility to Frappacinnos during the wee hours of the morning at the local Meijer's. After many months of composing, bickering, napping, snacking on uncooked raviolli, skipping classses and making bagels, Mourning Sunshine was finished. The use of mediocre gear and instruments during recording was obvious, but so was a refreshing sliver of musical splendor. This splendor has only been seen by the members of the band and close family members, but it is a splendor that is greatly cherished.

Simeon's second album began on a different note. The studio was moved back to Qortra's bedroom because the band got sick of driving 10 miles to lay down a few tracks when it was possible to do it without moving at all. Derek and Chris started contributing instrumentally as well. This album was more experimental and mature than the first. The writing process changed as well. During the recording of Mourning Sunshine, every member of the band was there every painful minute to hear every instrument be recorded. Once school started in the fall, it was impossible to do this. Songs started becoming modifications of existing parts rather than the cooperation of all of the band members at once. This allowed the individual members of Simeon to be more creative. After approximately one year of composing and editing, Hero's Apology was (mostly) finished. The end result was a more musically interesting and structured sound.

About the time that Hero's Apology was finished, Jawn moved to Texas with his girlfriend. This obviously put a lot of strain on the band. Qortra went back to writing video game music, Jawn started writing guitar parts for a band that existed in theory and Chris had a brief stint with a local Japanese Pop band that was headed by Call Tech legend Jeremy Simmons. Derek was apathetic to the entire situation and let his former roommate's half of the room fill up with miscellaneous stuff. It took many months before Qortra found a way for him and Jawn to write music over a long distance. During this interval, Jawn wrote many depressing and self-pitying guitar tracks that he hoped he would be able to complete with a new band in Texas (To this day Jawn still hasn't convinced anybody to join his band, not even James the Coat Check Guy). After many technical difficulties, some which still persit, Simeon was able to write music again! Jawn's isolation and lonliness fueled him with the inspiration he needed to write moody and monotonous guitar parts. Qortra's perpetual giddiness allowed him to spice up these tracks and make them listenable. Chris' strenuous practicing habits have him to the point where he can finally play the strange bass lines that Qortra wrote with his keyboard. Derek still sits apathically at work wishing he had a different job and day dreaming of the day he was the CEO of a multimillion dollar company.

Simeon's third album, Once Again Unto the Breach, is currently being recorded and edited. With a couple of months until the album is finished, Simeon hopes that you enjoy the songs on the website and asks that you share them with your friends and enemies free of charge and guilt.

Disclaimer: Jawn's girlfriend, who is to remain nameless, wishes all readers to know that Jawn's isolation was due to the fact that she is in a Ph.D program. She is not a big blue meanie. She is just a busy student and thinks that Jawn needs to get off of his computer and talk with real people in real life.