EPK

THIS PAGE ENDEAVOURS TO PROVIDE ALL THE ELECTRONIC PRESS KIT RESOURCES THAT A PROMOTER WILL NEED

If you need any further information please contact us. Colin Davies – Email: colin@shadesofsimon.com Phone: 07931 362792

To share this page you can use the direct url – https://shadesofsimon.com/epk/

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

LOGO

Band logo for use in publicity. Resizable image comprising shadow of Paul Simon’s face with Shades of Simon in graduated text. Size 2274 x 931 pixels 602kb jpg

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT FOR USE IN PROGRAMMES

Shades of Simon, the UK’s most authentic sounding Paul Simon tribute band, present their highly acclaimed 2 hour theatre show in tribute to Paul Simon as one of the best songwriters and performers of his generation. With an engaging narration, exceptional musicianship and authentic renditions of the best of his songs from Simon & Garfunkel through to Graceland, this is a show that appeals to all generations…

Although the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel only performed together for a comparitively short period between 1963-1970 they have sold over 100 million records and their iconic songs like The Sound of Silence, Mrs Robinson, The Boxer and Bridge Over Troubled Water have become standards enduring the test of time. As artistes Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel had a stormy relationship and both pursued separate careers following their premature breakup. Although Art Garfunkel is renowned for his incredible vocal range it was Paul Simon who was the mastermind behind the writing of their songs and he continued to pursue a highly successful songwriting and solo career right through to his retirement from touring in 2018 at the age of 76.

Shades of Simon are a band of musicians with a lifetime of experience who love the music of Paul Simon and who have been brought together for the specific project of creating a theatre show to celebrate the story of his life, incorporating a narrative and authentic performances of the best and most memorable songs of his 60 year career, from solo acoustic through to full productions as a 5-piece band. Featuring Colin Davies (vocals, acoustic guitar & keyboards), Paul Bleach (piano & vocals), Kelvin Ward (bass guitar), John Austin (electric guitar), Dave Johns (drums & percussion).

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

STRAPLINE

An outstanding 5-piece band presenting the story and authentic sound of the songs of Paul Simon.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TEXT FOR USE IN PUBLICITY

(This example relates to the Brentwood Theatre. Adapt as appropriate for your venue.)

TOP FOLK-ROCK TRIBUTE BAND COMING TO BRENTWOOD

The hugely popular folk-rock band ‘Shades of Simon’ will be bringing their highly acclaimed theatre style show ‘the Paul Simon Story’ to the Brentwood Theatre in May 2025.

The band will be performing at the Brentwood Theatre on Saturday 10th May 2025, 7:30pm. The Brentwood Theatre is a lively studio theatre in the heart of Brentwood with a wide range of regular activities and events including theatrical productions, films, and the occasional concert. The theatre is a registered charity and managed by the Brentwood Theatre Trust with the help of Volunteers – so do please support the events provided by your local theatre! More details at https://brentwood-theatre.co.uk

The band’s show ‘The Paul Simon Story’ is performed in tribute to Paul Simon as one of greatest songwriters of his generation and blends an engaging narration, exceptional musicianship from the 5-piece band, and authentic renditions of the best of his songs from his time in Simon & Garfunkel in the 60’s (Homeward Bound, Sound of Silence, Bridge over troubled water etc) through to his Graceland tour in the 1980’s (Still Crazy after all these years, You can call me Al).

The band comprises professional level musicians who all share a love for Paul Simon’s music and get together each Summer to do a limited number of Performances of ‘The Paul Simon Story’ at venues which have ranged from the majestic Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, picnic concerts for the National Trust at Wimpole Hall, Scotney Castle and Flatford Mill, and shows at provincial theatres and arts centres throughout the East of England. You can read unsolicited testimonials from audiences on the band’s website at https://shadesofsimon.com

There will be a licensed bar and cafe for pre-show drinks and during the interval. Doors open 6:30pm. The theatre does not have its own car park but parking is normally available in the streets nearby to the theatre.

So why not come along and re-live the iconic vocal harmonies and music reminiscent of the 60’s folk rock era! You will not only have a most enjoyable evening with an Essex based band, but by supporting events at the Brentwood Theatre you also help keep local theatre and the arts alive within the community.

Tickets are available from the theatre box office in person, by phone 01277 200305 or on-line https://brentwood-theatre.co.uk/ Tickets are £22.50 (+ booking fee) and you can choose your seats at the time of booking.

There are only 130 seats available at the Brentwood Theatre and ‘Shades of Simon’ concerts are regularly sold out well in advance so we do recommend you book early!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WEBSITE URL

www.shadesofsimon.com

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TYPE OF GIGS

The band’s show is designed primarily for theatre audiences and can include a supporting slide show. The full show comprises 2 x 60 minute spots. A shortened version of the show can be performed as a 1 x 60 minute spot. Adaptations of the show can be performed at music festivals, picnic concerts, clubs, as after dinner entertainment, and at other types of event.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TESTIMONIALS


We saw Shades at the Commemoration Hall in Huntingdon on Saturday night. They were brilliant. The set list, music and singing were perfect,. The story of Paul Simon weaved around the songs was fascinating. Above all their obvious enthusiasm and enjoyment made the whole evening exhilarating. We’ve already booked to see them again. A truly magical evening.
Peter
Top class musicians and beautiful vocals, all interspersed with lots of interesting stories and anecdotes about Simon and Garfunkel. A really great show
Pat
Brilliant gig guys, the standing ovation at the end said it all!
Roy
Good vocals & harmonies. Excellent musicianship all round.
Ian
The band capture the spirit of Paul Simon perfectly, as well as his duets with Art Garfunkel.  Impersonation? No.  Authentic? Yes!
Nigel
Thank you for a fabulous evening, fantastic setting for a fantastic band.
John
An experienced and dedicated band of superb musicians, Shades of Simon are without any doubt the real deal.
Terry Hiscock
Good arrangements.  Well rehearsed and professional.
Jonathan

More testimonials – View

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES

Knebworth House, Hertfordshire. Trish Washer, House Operations Manager. Email: twasher@knebworthhouse.com

National Trust Flatford Mill, Suffolk. Simon Peachey, Site Manager. Email: Simon.Peachey@nationaltrust.org.uk

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUGGESTED PRESS RELEASE

Shades of Simon are a 5-piece band based in mid-Essex who are growing rapidly in popularity with their acclaimed 2 hour theatre show in tribute to Paul Simon as one of the best songwriters and performers of his generation.

The band are bringing their show “The Paul Simon Story” to the …..(name of theatre) in …..(name of town) on …(date).

The band’s leader Colin Davies explained how the concept of the band came together back in August 2019 speciﬁcally to put together a theatre style show in tribute to Paul Simon. The COVID then struck and after forming the band they had to put everything on hold for 18 months. But they persevered and their ﬁrst gig was a sell out charity concert at Maldon Town Hall Theatre in December 2021 in aid of the Brain Tumour Charity – and the band have gone from strength to strength since then!

Colin remarked how extraordinary it is that, even though Simon & Garfunkel’s last album was released over 50 years ago and Paul Simon himself stopped touring in 2018, there is still a huge appetite, across all age groups, to hear his songs played live and played well. He added, “Their ﬁrst big hit back in 1964 ‘The Sound of Silence’ is an absolute classic and everybody, whatever their age, knows it.”

“Paul Simon wrote some really melodic songs early in his career whilst in Simon and Garfunkel and we perform those in the ﬁrst half of our show. We try to add variety; some songs like the classic ‘Old Friends’, we perform as a duo with just an acoustic guitar featuring Colin and fellow frontman Paul Bleach, whereas others, like ‘Kodachrome’ beneﬁt from a full 5-piece band arrangement”.

“And the style of Paul Simon’s songs varies tremendously too – think of the simplicity of ‘Kathy’s Song’, the classic piano in ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, the iconic ‘Mrs Robinson’ theme song from the film, ‘The Graduate’, the wistful ‘Homeward Bound’, through to his jazz inspired ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’”.

“We do find younger folk tend to prefer Paul Simon’s later, more rocky songs from his ‘Graceland’ era like ‘You Can Call Me Al’ and we play those in the second half of our show. In fact, we cover the most prolific period of Paul Simon’s career all the way from his early days in Simon & Garfunkel in the early 60’s through to his Graceland tour in the 1980’s – so there’s something for everybody!”

Colin puts the band’s success down to two main things. “All the musicians in the band have a lifetime of experience and excel at what they do, and together we strive to achieve the authentic sound of Paul Simon’s original recordings. And secondly, our show includes an engaging narration with many interesting anecdotes about Paul Simon’s life and career as a songwriter and performer – so audiences go home having been both entertained and informed!”

Shades of Simon aim to perform only a limited number of their ‘The Paul Simon Story’ shows each year, generally in provincial theatres and at outdoor Summer Picnic Concerts. You can check where they are playing next and also buy tickets to their concerts on their website at www.shadesofsimon.com You can also sign up to their mailing list to be kept up to date with what the band are doing.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PUBLICITY

We will advertise the event on our website and third party What’s On websites. We will also advertise extensively on FaceBook and to fans via our mailing list. We can also supply 500 A5 flyers and 10 A4 posters on request. We expect the venue to similarly advertise the event using their existing channels.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BAND PHOTOS

These are our preferred publicity photos. But more photos can be found in the Gallery section of the website – view

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BAND MEMBERS AND BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

COLIN DAVIES Vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards. Colin got his first acoustic guitar when he was sixteen years old precisely because he wanted to learn all of the songs on the Paul Simon Songbook album.The guitar has been his constant companion for almost fifty years and it is a rare day that he does not pick it up, even if only for a few minutes. From the early seventies to the early nineties, Colin wrote and performed with Tony Bakonyvari as the acoustic folk duo Two’s Company. In 1976, Two’s Company were approached by a London-based producer, Ray Cameron, who recorded and published a dozen or so of their songs. Colin and Tony kept the music going, still as an acoustic duo, but also in various cover bands, the most successful being the fundraising band Wheelz which was formed in 2005 and which raised and donated over £41,000 until they disbanded in 2019. Colin is still an active songwriter with two full, solo albums behind him (Still Waters, 2014 and Futureland, 2017).

PAUL BLEACH Keyboards & vocals. Paul started on piano at the age of nine, and has been a full-time musician for some thirty years. During that time, he has appeared at many of London’s top hotels as a pianist and vocalist and is currently Musical Director at the Friern Manor Country House Hotel which specialises in the wedding and Christmas Party markets – over the years about a quarter of a million people have seen him, and his piano, going up in the air at the start of a gig! A songwriter since the age of fifteen, Paul has also recorded two solo albums: ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’ (2010) and ‘Only Create’ (2019), along with a self-produced EP ‘Songs from Lockdonia’ written and recorded entirely at home during lockdown. Paul’s influences and musical heroes include: Kate Bush, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, and, of course, Paul Simon – one of the greatest songwriters in popular music.

KELVIN WARD Bass guitar. Took up bass at school at the age of 16 largely because nobody else in the band wanted to play it. Progressed through a number of pop bands in the 70’s before ending up playing bass in some quite well respected country bands for the next couple of decades including Tawny, Bob Bramley & Delta, and the Wes Cardy band. After a couple of years in function bands and jazz combos eventually joined the Wheres Spot Band and enjoyed some success on the folk music circuit until they split in 2017. He then started singing and accompanying himself on guitar around local folk clubs until intrigued by the prominent high range melodic style of bass playing from the likes of Joe Osborn and Bakithi Kumalo led him back onto 4 strings and into Paul Simon’s music with ‘Shades of Simon’.

JOHN AUSTIN Electric & acoustic guitars. Like other members of the band started playing in his school years, and would play bass or guitar for school bands, whatever was required. Leaving school played with various covers bands and in later years played guitar with Old Spice, Six Pack and Foxy Music (a Roxy Music tribute band). John went on to play with fund raising band Wheelz where he met Colin and Dave, playing guitar, bass and Ukulele over the eight years he was with them. He teamed up with Colin and Dave to form the popular trio The Busketeers and was asked to join up with the rest of the Shades of Simon to help create the guitar sounds that were needed for the band. John loves all kinds of music genres but is a particular fan of Paul Simons music.

DAVE JOHNS Drums & percussion. Dave has been playing drums from the age of 10, playing pots and pans and anything he could lay his hands on to play a beat, after being inspired by the Glenn Miller story. He started in the Boys Brigade, progressing to the school dance band, moving into the theatre and rock world playing street parties, festivals, Universities, Rock & Pop weekend at Knebworth in 1983, anywhere that would have them. Since that time he has been involved in mainstream cabaret, pub and club cover bands playing at many top corporate events. Dave met Colin when he was asked to sit in with Wheelz for one gig in 2006 and ended up staying until they disbanded in 2019!. Dave has always enjoyed Paul Simon’s music and is enjoying the challenge of recreating the beat and rhythms of his great music.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DEMO AUDIO

We have created a showreel with snippets of some of the band’s songs to give you an idea of what we sound like! Play through hi-fi speakers or headphones for truly representative results.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We have put together a promotional video of the band playing live on stage.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

VIDEO LIVE ON STAGE

Here are a couple of videos for illustrative purposes taken by members of our audiences of us live on stage.

The Only Living Boy in New York

Bookends – Old Friends – Overs medley

Graceland

(Videos may be enlarged to full screen)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BROADCAST QUALITY DOWNLOAD

This is a live recording of the band playing “You Can Call Me Al” at Ingatestone Hall in July 2022. High quality stereo mp3 file, sample rate 44.1kHz, file size 7.3MB, playing time 5mins 5secs. (Right click on audio bar for download options.) Original composed & performed by Paul Simon 1986 PRS © Sony.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PERFORMANCE SETLISTS

Examples of our typical setlists –

Songs in italics are performed solo or as a duo; all others feature the full 5-piece band.

2 x 60 minute sets

Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard | Mother and Child Reunion | American Tune | One Man’s ceiling is another man’s floor | Kodachrome | April Come She Will | I am a Rock | 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover | Slip Sliding Away | Still Crazy After All these Years | Let in the Evening | Under African Skies | The Boy in the Bubble | Graceland | You Can Call Me Al || Diamonds on the soles of her shoes | Cecilia

A setlist with all the information required for a PRS live performance royalties report will be provided straight after the show.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Details of our technical requirements can be viewed and downloaded here. view

We will normally bring our own Sound Engineer with us, either to set up and operate our own PA system or to liaise with the venue’s in-house technicians.

Our preferred option is for us to our own microphones, DI boxes, stage boxes and monitor system via our own mixer (and operator), which then presents a 2 channel / stereo feed into the venue’s house PA system. We bring all necessary equipment and cabling. In the absence of a house PA system we can bring our own 3Kw full PA system with amplifier, speakers and subs, by arrangement.

A copy set list will be provided with prompts for the sound and lighting operators as necessary.

For theatres with video projection facilities our show can be augmented with slides on a Keynote / Powerpoint presentation.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

STAGE PLAN

Stage plan showing layout and position of instruments on stage. download pdf

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

STAGE DRESS

The band dress smartly on stage with a red & black colour theme.

A secure dressing room should be made available in which the band may change before and after the show. A supply of drinking water, clothes rail, seating and a separate WC is appreciated.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

HOSPITALITY REQUIREMENTS

The band do not expect any specific hospitality provisions to be made for them.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PARKING REQUIREMENTS

It is essential that provision is made for the band to unload heavy equipment at the venue and to then park up to 6 cars nearby during the performance.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ARRIVAL TIME

By default the band will aim to arrive at least 3 hours before the show, and earlier if access is possible.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SETUP TIME

The band need a minimum of 2 hours within which to unload and set up their stage equipment, and a further 40 minutes to do a full sound check and get changed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ADVANCE TICKET SALES

The band have the facility to manage advance ticket sales via their website using TicketSource. This can be agreed to be either by the band processing credit card payments and issuing electronic tickets, or simply displaying a link from the band’s website to the venue’s own box-office ticketing system.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BAND MERCHANDISE

The band may wish to sell their own merchandise (eg: CDs) at the venue immediately before, during and after the performance. Note: We are not currently selling merchandise.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE

We hold Public Liability Insurance in the sum of £10M with the Alliance of Musicians and Performers. You can verify the insurance by clicking here

Similarly, all our electrical equipment is regularly PAT tested and marked accordingly.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FEES

We do not use an Agency to represent us and negotiate the fee for each gig or theatre show direct with the venue. This may be on the basis of a fixed fee, venue hire or a percentage of ticket sales.

A lot depends on the type and size of venue and where it is, so do please talk to us – we will always try to reach an agreement!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CONTRACTS

Confirmation of a booking may be by means of an exchange of emails or a simple contract along the lines of those produced by the Musicians Union.

Link to Musicians Union contract templates

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TRAVEL DISTANCE

The band particularly welcome gigs within approx 75 miles of our home town of Chelmsford Essex UK. As a guide this includes all of East Anglia, the South East of England and the Home Counties. Further afield necessitating an overnight stay is by negotiation.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

EMERGENCY CONTACT

If you need to contact the band urgently on the day of a gig, please phone Colin Davies on his mobile 07931 362792.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________