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From The Renegades to Nasty Habits
It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine has a long(ish) interview with Nick Simper, published back in June 2022. It covers pretty much all of his career, from the early 1960s to this day.
Your career is really profound and it would be simply impossible to touch on everything, but let’s start at the beginning. How do you recall the very early years when you were playing in bands like The Renegades (1960–61), The Delta Five (1961–63), Some Other Guys (1963–64), Buddy Britten & The Regents (renamed Simon Raven Cult (1964–66))?
The early days were incredibly happy and exciting and I think I was extremely lucky to have so much fun at such a young age. I was still at school when I became lead guitarist of The Renegades. When I joined The Delta Five I was able to learn the business from slightly older and more experienced people which was a great learning curve! After a two year period with them I was beginning to find a musical direction and ambition which led me to leave and try to form what I hoped would be a better outfit. This did not prove to be easy as it was difficult to find a good bass player, whilst guitarists were in abundance, and most of them better than I was! This realisation led me to take on the role of bassist, which I found extremely satisfying. I considered Some Other Guys to be a great group, good enough to be professional, who were able to achieve great audience reaction and with a good future ahead. Sadly the band folded when I left to take my first professional gig with Buddy Britten and the Regents. This was a great offer that I could not refuse, as Buddy Britten was one of my all time musical heroes.
Continue reading in It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine. Just remember: his advice on public health matters, unlike music, is of no consequence.
Meanwhile, on his own site, Nick continues to publish his memoirs Nick’s Story. It is now up to Chapter 24, ending in May 1969.
Thanks to Uwe Hornung for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Thanks for the Nick Simper interview, very much appreciated. A wonderful interview it is & he has enjoyed a good life & what a journey. The 1960’s & 70’s & to be involved & mix with so many different people & end up in Deep Purple, say no more. And so he should be proud of all he has achieved & also that riff in Hush & many more. Cheers.
August 4th, 2023 at 04:44Mk-I DP remain the most diverse musically imo, if not the most successful, & Nick was an equally important part in the soundscape.
I always enjoy listening to this very different & experimental band, that had great musicianship throughout.
Always good to hear from Nick.
Peace !
August 4th, 2023 at 06:22He was part of the original line up and he is on the first three albums of DP and contributed a lot. No one can take this away from him it’s aconcrete fact in the history of this great band called Deep Purple.
August 4th, 2023 at 07:19Peace ✌️
Always great to hear from/about him. He’s also a real artifact from that pre-Beatles era when British RnB was really struggling after Elvis had gone to the US Army. It wasn’t until The Beatles setting off the British Invasion in 1964 that things began to perk up again for the movement.
August 4th, 2023 at 17:48Why he was not inducted to the rock and roll Hall of Fame ? He deserved it more than Rod Evans who even stole the name of DP in 1980… Crazy decisions !
August 4th, 2023 at 20:23I still like to think that was merely a “clerical error”, albeit one the Purple management should habe noticed early on and done something about it – had they cared. There was no sensible reason to leave out Nick, not even a dumb reason. I think the RRHoF falsely believed to have inducted everyone in MK I, II and III (though it is anybody’s guess why not all 70ies line-ups were included, i.e. Mk IV/Tommy too) and simply missed that Roger Glover had a predecessor too.
I would imagine that no-0ne at the RnRHoF went through the liner notes of the first three albums to see who had played bass there and that the Purple organization was too busy worrying about whether Ritchie, David and Glenn should play too – with Nick falling through all the cracks. The least they could have done (assuming the RnRHoF had a valid reason not to include him which I have yet to hear) is buy Nick a business class ticket and a seat at the table that night. Kinda callous AND unprofessional. After all, the two most prominent instruments on Hush, Purple’s greatest US hit together with SOTW, are Jon’s Hammond and Nick’s Fender Precision Bass (incidentally, I have only now learned that Hush wasn’t the group’s own arrangement, I had always assumed that).
August 6th, 2023 at 00:26He definitely should be in the so called RNR Hall of Fame!! Those first 3 DP albums have stood the test of time as have the Warhorse albums!!
August 6th, 2023 at 07:23Not much of a Warhorse fan here, I thought both their debut and Red Sea sounded already quaintly old-fashioned at the time of their respective release – more 60ies than 70ies. Ashley Holt‘s melodramatic vocals (an early Bruce Dickinson really) weren‘t to my taste either. I‘m more Captain Beyond than Warhorse. I did like Nick‘s Fandango though, even if you do hear the budget production on their two albums. Peter Parks, Nick‘s long-standing Partner in crime, sounded more at home with Fandango‘s more sparse music than with Warhorse.
Nick has a place in my bass player’s heart though. When I started out learning bass, his bass lines were among the very first I emulated. I guess it had to do with his bass being sonically very prominent on those first three albums – you didn‘t hear Roger well before he switched to the Rickenbacker on Machine Head and Glenn‘s was severely undermixed with a lack of audible mids on Burn. Truth be told, Nick‘s bass lines also came initially easier to me than either Roger‘s or Glenn‘s, he‘s melodic and has a nice, albeit 60ish groove, while both his successors would be incorporating fast runs into their playing which were beyond my abilities as a beginner. Nick played at a more moderate pace, but with a good choice of notes. Not everything needs to be fast.
August 6th, 2023 at 14:55