I’m Simon. I’m a songwriter, composer, producer, writer and researcher, originally from Liverpool but now living in Birmingham. I’m the newest member of the Interactive Cultures team, which means that I have survived the humiliating fraternity-style initiation intact.

My primary research interests are the music industries, digital audio, technology and jazz. Prior to joining the Interactive Cultures team, I studied music at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and worked for the BBC as a broadcast journalist. I have recently submitted my PhD thesis at the University of Liverpool; it’s a case study of a jazz record label on the subject of industrial mediation in jazz production (does this guy know how to party or what?).

I love the web and have handled web design and hosting projects for a number of people in the entertainment industry. I have also been involved with several independent record releases, recording, producing, performing, touring and even running my own label for a while. One of my favourite things to do is to compose for film, TV and animations and to contribute songs to soundtracks, especially for interesting independent films.

At Interactive Cultures, I will be involved with some of the exciting jazz research projects that are taking place within the unit as part of the AHRC KTF (Knowledge Transfer Fellowship). I will be helping to coordinate with our partners, building and testing online prototypes and conducting research to help see projects through to completion. I will also be active in developing some of the technical solutions to support the work of the unit. I am therefore very excited to be part of this emerging area of research and look forward to inflicting my musical selections upon the team via the communal office speakers.

For those who wish to know more about me, I can safely summarise as follows: I am a member of IASPM, AES, PRS and several other acronyms. In addition to academic research interests, I have an unhealthy knowledge of movies from the 1980s. I love music, film, New York city, my wife, Fender telecasters, single malt whisky, martial arts and Apple computers; usually in that order. I do however have a mild phobia for the somewhat creepy European children presented on the packaging of Kinder chocolate.

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