CASBAH CLUB - Key Persons
Drummer Mark Brzezicki has known Simon since they were teenagers. "I've played at Party in the Park before with some incredible artists. I've recorded with Rachel Fuller with both Simon and Pete. Who'd have thought I'd be playing Hyde Park again but this time with Casbah Club with Simon, alongside his brother's band? You couldn't make it up!"
Bruce Foxton is typically succinct in his views. "Casbah are not only superb musicians, writers and performers - they are friends, and great fun to be involved with. What more could you ask? Supporting The Who is a boyhood dream and I can't wait".
Some families just seem to have an unfair share of musical talent. No-one could argue with Simon Townshend's rock lineage, and he's been writing, performing and recording since the age of 9, successfully self-producing and independently releasing five well-received CD's.
He established his own label and production company, Stir Music, in 1996, releasing Among Us (1997), Animal Soup (1999), Bare Bodies Bare Assets (live acoustic, 2000), Ages (2000) and simontownshendis (2002). In 2002 Simon added to his musical arsenal by creating a stylistic alternative to his distinctive rock sound with an alter ego, .bom. This allowed his music to be judged on its own merits without any of the expectations associated with his family name, and successful performances were presented in New York, LA and Boston.
Simon has run a recording studio in London and has produced artists both there and in New York. He has performed with numerous established artists, including 10 years as guitarist and backing vocalist in The Who, playing sold out tours of Europe, Asia and North America, and referred to by one US newspaper as The Who's ‘secret weapon'.
In 2004 Simon produced two tracks for The Who and an album for Eel Pie recording artist Mikey Cuthbert. In 2005 Simon joined Casbah Club, wrote a bunch of songs with them which they toured in Spring 2005 to test out the material and band line-up on fans - it was a resounding success. Simon then went on to produce Casbah Club's debut album Venustraphobia (2006).
In the summer of 2005 Casbah Club played the 100 Club where Pete Townshend saw the band for the first time, and asked them to support The Who on their 2006 European tour. The next night Casbah Club played the legendary Bulldog Bash Festival, which will go down in history as being the loudest gig EVER! Casbah Club ended the year on a high, supporting Status Quo on 5 shows of their major arena tour before Rick Parfitt announced he had throat problems and the tour was cancelled. Since then Casbah Club have been doing their own club dates up and down the UK to packed houses.
Simon is also very much involved with fund-raising events in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust with Richard Desmond's Crusaders, a band featuring Roger Daltrey, Robert Plant, Gary Brooker, Greg Lake, Gary Moore and many other fantastic artists.
More recently, Simon has been a special guest on a weekly webcast In The Attic hosted by Rachel Fuller. This is a revolutionary new internet show, broadcast live and seen around the world by thousands of people. Awareness of the show will undoubtedly increase in the summer of 2006 when it goes on the road following The Who 2006 tour.