* En anglais uniquement
Simon Doom is the grunge-meets-garage-meets-psych rock project of
Simon O'Connor, who is also known for his work with
Kuroma and
Amazing Baby.
O'Connor began working on
Simon Doom -- the name he adopted while playing his teenage punk band
Thulsa Doom -- in 2014, when he realized the songs he was writing wouldn't sound as good with his other projects. To help flesh out the music, he teamed up with a pair of longtime friends: Guitarist William Flynn (also of Sleepers Work, and formerly of St. Vincent) and bassist Jim Carroll (also of
Pure Love,
Hope Conspiracy, and
Suicide File), whom
O'Connor met at guitar camp when they were teens.
Apse drummer Brandon Collins and
O'Connor's
Kuroma bandmate and
MGMT collaborator
Will Berman fleshed out the lineup, and
Simon Doom began playing shows in late 2014. The band went into the studio early in 2015 for separate sessions with
MGMT's
Ben Goldwasser and
the Replacements'
Tommy Stinson that resulted in that year's Simon Doom EP. Late that year,
O'Connor's wife gave birth to their son, motivating him to put more time and energy into the band while he still had time. The Negotiate with the Monkey arrived in 2016, and the song "Roseate" was featured in the film Frank & Lola. To record 2017's full-length Babyman,
O'Connor and company worked with
MGMT's
Andrew Vanwyngarden and
Ben Goldwasser as well as
Passion Pit's
Ayad Al Adhamy,
Anni Rossi, and
Tame Impala's
Cameron Avery. ~ Heather Phares