I have known Simeon Bartholomew for a couple years now, and throughout that time we (as in I) have shared giggles by intentionally mispelling his band SEIMS. The years pass and the joke hasn’t dried up. You see, poor Simeon gets done over a bit when it comes to playing shows. Pubs always mispel SEIMS, be it SIEMS or SCEIMS or SMEIS or Cold Chisel. It’s almost at the point where he should just change his band name to one of the wrong ones so the pubs accidentally write ‘SEIMS’. I mean I don’t blame the pubs, either way they spell it they are going to get that red squiggly underline of error (unless of course they wrote it as the phone company SIEMENS, which has secured a place as a proper noun in the lexicon of Microsoft Word and other software).
But look, errors aside, SMEMS is doing wonders for the Australian instrumental and math rock community, microscopic as it is. They’ve punched out two mean LPs, and now they’re offering a third: a live album, recorded for 4ZZZ Live Delay at The Brightside in Brisbane. In this album, Simeon steps outside his comfort zone as a solo bedroom artiste recording and mixing his work on his own terms, and performs with a live band. Now I know what you’re thinking: come on Fecking Bahamas, a live album is really just an album with clapping. But listen: a live album captures the energy of performing. The spontaneity. The improvisations. The fuck ups.
You can judge for yourself, because we own the goddamned rights to this one. Yes, we are hosting LIVE on our bandcamp page for free download, merry Xmas. However, if you are feeling rather philanthropic, the band have asked if you could kindly make a one-off donation to beyondblue instead, as we all know the band will just use the money for horse tranquilizers. Again.
You can grab the rest of the SEIMS catalogue via our Fecking Bahamas bandcamp page. Also check out our World Of Math map if you’re keen on checking out other Aussie math rock bands. Help us help ourselves.