Profile: Simon Maddison

image from www.SilentCitiesMusic.com

OVERVIEW

Simon Maddison (born in County Durham in the North East of England) is a multi-instrumentalist singer, songwriter, and producer currently based in London. Under his alias "Silent Cities", he has successfully written, recorded and performed his own music at numerous festivals and has toured extensively across the UK since 2010. Simon's music has been featured on BBC 6 Music and BBC Introducing, with Lauren Laverne quoting him as sounding like a "Geordie Jeff Buckley" and by Tom Robinson as sounding like "The Real Deal"

TRAINING

Simon is a Grade 8 certified guitarist with over 15 years instrumental experience as a vocalist, guitarist, bassist, and drummer. He studied on a full time BTEC Extended Diploma in Music at New College Durham from 2006 to 2009 and attained the highest grade possible of Triple Distinction (Equivalent to 3 A*'s at A level). Simon was successfully accepted on to a "Bachelor of Arts Music" degree at Liverpool Hope University from 2009 to 2012 and was awarded an Excellence Scholarship for his prior musical achievements. From graduating with a 2:1 he was then accepted on to a "Post Graduate Certificate of Education in Secondary Music" at Liverpool Hope University where he trained andsuccessfully acquired "Qualified Teacher Status". For his songwriting, Simon has received several financial endorsements from the likes of The Arts Council England, Help: Musicians, The Merseyside Arts Foundation, and various independent labels and publishers.      

     

INFLUENCES 

I perform because I absolutely love the special connection you can develop with an audience. They never know what to expect and when you play that to your advantage and surprise them with your latest well-crafted and finetuned musical product, nothing beats that feeling! 

   

I am influenced by many styles of music and believe this is key to your survival as a musician and recording artist.  Some of my favourite artists/bands now include Michael Kiwanuka, Connan Mockasin, Portico, Thundercat, FKJ, St. Vincent, Angelo De Augustine, and Julia Jacklin. I also listen to a lot of old school legends like Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, David Bowie, Billie Holiday, Vashti Bunyan, Lou Reed, Marvin Gaye, and Leonard Cohen.  I am a huge muso and love it when people share new music with me, so please do not be afraid to send me your Spotify playlists!

My future ambitions are to release lots of fresh new records for my fanbase. During lockdown I have written so much music that I will likely be recording and releasing it, all the way to 2030! On the education front I am looking into starting a Master's degree in Record Production in London when the lockdown ends.

WEBSITE AND LINKS

 www.SilentCitiesMusic.com

Tom Robinson from BBC 6 Music "bigs up" Silent Cities in 2012