The Vegas Fame Index hits the Toon
Since graduating from Northumbria in 2001 with a BA in Business Studies, Simon Holden has decided to make business his business. |
Although Simon hadn’t previously followed an academic path with his music, he knew it was what he wanted to focus on and that he had the talent to make a success of it. Within a matter of months of his return to the UK he had managed to secure a place at B.I.M.M (Brighton Institute of Modern Music). “I learnt a lot over my year-long HND in Professional Guitar Development” Simon told us, “and decided to put everything I had learnt to use.”
With this in mind, Simon headed back to his home town of Norwich to pursue his first dedicated musical project- a band that had attracted some attention from a London-based management company. Unfortunately, things did not work out and very soon the members of the band parted company citing, as so many do, 'musical differences'.
Simon decided to stay in Norwich and get involved in some local session activity with people he’d met in the city. He also used the opportunity to do some song-writing of his own which he tested out on the open-mic circuit. He told us, “I had always been a musician first and never really attempted the song writing part of it”.
His songs turned out to be very successful and he put together a new 3 piece - The Vegas Fame Index - to bring his songs to life. Talking of his music, Simon tells us, “we’re influenced by 60's guitar-music as much as contemporary groups, I suppose we fall somewhere in between The Who and Supergrass.”
The Vegas Fame Index was formed in January 2008. Since then the band has been successfully gigging locally and have received some great press. They've been featured on their local BBC Norfolk Introducing Radio show several times and were awarded the accolade of ‘Art and Soul Band of the Month’ after playing a show in Peterborough in March. The band has also received national acclaim, Simon explained, “Steve Lamacq talked about us on his Radio 1 show when we launched our debut self-released EP ‘Up 22 Points’”, and the band have achieved this level of recognition in the space of just over a year.
With these achievements under their belt they decided to visit Newcastle for their latest gig. “It was our first gig anywhere north of Peterborough!” Simon confessed. Six hours driving on the A1 may not be the best preparation for a live performance, but that's what The Vegas Fame Index went through before taking to the stage at The Cluny last Saturday night.
The travel certainly didn’t detract from their performance and the gig was a huge success with one member of the audience commenting, “you guys have real energy; it reminds me of early ‘Clash'.”
“This was definitely the most enjoyable gig we've played”, Simon told us, “and I have to say a big “Thank You” to everyone in The Soviets, who can also cite some Northumbria graduates among their members, for being amazing hosts, both on the night, and for the whole weekend.”
Simon promised that he and the band will be making a trip back to the Toon very soon. All tour dates and further information about the band can be found on their MySpace page.
Date posted: May 22, 2009
