BIOGRAPHY
Anchors Aweigh
Proud Simon is a four-piece Americana band from Brooklyn, New York. Their lineup includes Brian Keenan, Adrian Morgan, Simon Fletcher and Chaim Tolwin.
The quartet paints a surreal soundscape of American rock, fusing together their diverse backgrounds to form a compelling group. Keenan weaves together astute observations of American life while decorating the language with unique style and depth.
Night of Criminals
2008 saw crucial lineup changes for the band, adding Adrian Morgan on bass and Jim Sykes on drums. The trio layed down the groundwork for the ambitious 12-song full length "Night of Criminals". The album was split into two acts, the first a testament to the workday revelry, the second the descent into darkness and temptation. The tenacity of Sykes behind the kit gave the record a feeling of immediacy and power.
Shoestring Universe
In 2005, Keenan moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn and rebuilt the band from the ground up. Enlisting the help of many NYC musicians and the vision of experimental producer Bryce Hackford, the band completed their second full length record, "Shoestring Universe". It was a document of change and displacement, and saw Proud Simon's distinct chamber-pop Americana sound realized.
Berkeley Street
Proud Simon began as a collaboration between cousins Brian Keenan and Charlie Monte Verde in Rochester, New York in 2003. Jamming in their garage, they experimented with everything they could get their hands on. Toy xylophones, vacuum cleaners and curtain rods became featured instruments on their first live set of country/pop tunes entitled "The Berkeley Street Sessions".
Within six months of writing songs together, Proud Simon enlisted a band of local do-gooders and recorded a ramshackle full-length album called "Sometimes a Stranger". These early recordings were epic in scope and humble in their bedroom production.
Over the next few years, the lineup expanded and the band's sound continued to evolve. In 2004 they recorded a 6-song EP called "Victory March Through the Brandenburg Gate", encapsulating a sense of movement and emotional clarity. The songs were continually pushed sonically, and the EP showed the distinct change from a country/roots sound to an experimental pop palatte.