Simon Lunche – Cherry Wine
Simon Lunche – Cherry Wine
ARTIST NAME: Simon Lunche
SONG TITLE: Cherry Wine
RELEASE DATE: 1/22/19
GENRE: Singer-Songwriter
Apple Music
iTunes
Spotify
Website
Influenced by a solo performance of Eric Clapton’s at age five, Berkeley, California, singer-songwriter Simon Lunche developed a precocious knack for guitar. Since then, he has moved on to become the youngest ever to be endorsed by Gibson, earning his name for his stylings on a Vintage ’56 Stratocaster.
Lunche’s newest singles are a testament to his knack for crafting rich arrangements that are not afraid to indulge in soul leanings.
Simon Lunche has packed a near lifetime of musical experience into just 20 years. As the creative force behind Bay Area-based indie act, The Blondies, he’s written and produced the band’s entire catalog and made his name as a captivating live performer.
Having spent the last decade as a frontman, Lunche now delivers a solo debut that brings a powerful new depth and even more dynamic vision to his artistry.
Formed when Lunche was 9 years old, The Blondies released their acclaimed album ‘Just Another Evening’ in June 2016 and toured the Western US, right around the time of his high school graduation.
While several of the older band members decided to focus on finishing college, Lunche opted to forego school and pursue music full time.
Despite having written The Blondies four LPs on his own, Lunche quickly found that working as a solo artist added a greater degree of creative freedom and sparked an unexpected evolution in his sound.
As he settled into finding his voice as a lead guitarist, Lunche conjured up a guitar lick and composition that would make its way to multi-Grammy award-winning engineer Dave Reitzas (who’s previously worked with artists ranging from Barbra Streisand to The Weeknd).
While working with Dave on his mixing, he met Sean Hurley (John Mayerbassist) who is currently in production with Simon on his upcoming album. At its center is Lunche’s own luscious vocals, producing lustrous guitar licks along the way that help carry the tunes forward. Rounding it up is bass from Sean Hurley, and backing vocals from Tiffany Palmer (John Mayer) and Brandon Winbush (Tori Kelly), sealing the deal on a brand of music that Lunche acknowledges as “soul pop.”
Simon is known for his dynamic live performances. Audiences claim that his guitar and voice take them to another place. He has been compared to John Mayer, Jeff Buckley, James Bay, and Ed Sheeran, and his live performances are not to be missed!
.
.
.
Tell us how to refine a demo to a mastered song.
I think it’s a different process for every song. And a lot depends on how well you produced the original demo. Sometimes less has to be re-recorded than other times.
Most of my demos have me on drums and bass, which always need to be replaced. So my first step is always calling up my favourite session players and getting them to replay the rhythm parts I’ve written.
On rare occasion, I may play live guitar with them in the studio if I think it will help the overall feel.
Across the board, I think the most important thing is not losing whatever magic the demo may have had.
Often times, demos are made the same day the song is written and I think that can really show in both the instrumental performance and vocal performance. If nothing else, I think it’s important to use the demo as a way of guiding myself back into whatever frame of mind I was in when I was first writing the song.
Even if I am replacing the lead vocal or redoing a guitar, the demo versions serve as a way or re-entering the word of the song.
.
.
.
Discuss the processing involved in creating a song.
My process is sort of that I have no process. Sometimes I will hear an idea in my head and within five minutes the whole song is done and played out on a guitar.
Other times I battle with an idea for weeks or months before it ever clicks into something that feels finished.
I do not have set rules regarding whether or not I write lyrics or melody first.
Things happen in different ways at different times, and thus my main concern is more just to keep the pipes open so that when a song is ready to present itself, it is able to.
.
.
.
Elaborate on the themes of most of your songs.
My songs of late have shared themes of love, and reminiscence of the past. These topics could always change over time depending on how I’m feeling a few years down the line, or what I’ve experienced.
I’m always writing something that’s real to me in one way or another. If I can’t be authentic about emotions or feelings that I’ve actually experienced then the song never comes out very good.
.
.
.
Tell us your greatest musical works up to date.
Whichever one I am currently working on – I’m always making progress, and I’m always looking for ways to be a better me.
If I had to pick something from the past that I was particularly proud of it would be the record “Just Another Evening” that I exclusively wrote, arranged, and produced under the now dead band name, “The Blondies.”
.
.
.
Tell us those behind your music process.
I am working with Aaron Sterling (Drums), Sean Hurley (Bass), and Tiffany Palmer (Backing Vocals) on my album.
Sean is such an amazing Bass player. He’s always making the right choice for the song and has such an intuitive feel for what I’m looking for. Aaron is the same. I can’t say enough about these musicians and their credentials speak for themselves.
.
.
.
Tell us how you are handling the promotion of your music.
I have a very active social media following that I promote to as well as play shows throughout California. I am working on planning a tour to promote my music after the full album is released.
.
.
.
Tell us your future goals and how you aim to accomplish.
My biggest goal will always be to be able to sustain myself enough through music that I can spend my whole life making records. I wasn’t built for a desk job, and I intend to keep working as hard as I can to be the best musician I can be.
I hope to keep meeting great musicians, and mentors that will help me grow, and to stay on the path I’m currently walking.
These songs are the most important thing in my life, and I’m going to blast them out to the whole world.
.
.
.
Tell us what you think has changed in the music industry.
I think the coming of the internet has probably been the biggest change in the industry. All of a sudden anybody can release their music to the world at a very low cost. It’s a pretty great thing. I think it’s also made the market for music massively oversaturated. But all in all, you’ve got to appreciate what the internet can do for artists.
.
.
.
Tell the greatest mistake to avoid while making a song.
Thinking you got it right on the first go. Maybe I feel that way because I produce my own music, but for me, it’s really important to be able to step back and as objectively as possible examine the song.
You’ve got to be able to ask yourself, “Does everything here have a purpose”? And I think you have to be okay cutting out a part or an instrument that may be super cool to you, but doesn’t really serve the song in the best way.
.
.
.
Tell us how you boost your performance.
Live shows are always a real joy, and no two are the same. Every night I go on a different musical journey with my guitar in the solo sections of songs.
Sometimes you see a version of ‘Cherry Wine’ that has a 30-second mellow solo at the end, and sometimes you see a screaming 5-minute solo. It’s all based on the feeling going on within me that night. I always want to be true to that. I try to leave everything I’ve got out on the stage. At the end of the night, If I’m completely drained and ready for a 24-hour nap I know I did well up there.
.
.
.
Explain the structure of the song.
There is no “right” song structure. You need to do whatever it is that suits the song you’re working on best. If that means putting a pre-chorus before a verse, you do it. If it means adding a few bars where you may not usually, you do it. I think this stuff is all about listening, and determining what’s best for the song.
.
.
.
Discuss how the instruments come together for a song.
The chordal foundation of ‘Cherry Wine’ was always based around my old ’56 Stratocaster. Something about the way the neck of that guitar fits in my hands prompted me to discover the riffs that would form the song.
Naturally, day one of recording started with two 100 watt amps and that guitar.
I worked up the smoothest neck pickup tone I could, micing the amps with five different microphones that resulted in the guitar sound you hear at the start of the recording. Every other element of the track was built off of that.
I ended up tracking two different drummers, one in L.A. and one in Berkeley and adding in many of my own percussion elements to finally achieve the rhythmic feel I was going for.
The bass was played during the recording of drum kit number 2 by my friend Sean Hurley. You can’t go wrong with a player like him, and he was immediately in tune with the feel I was going for on the song. He played the part twice, and the second take was the winner.
The bass tone on ‘Cherry Wine’ came from Sean’s 62’ Fender P-Bass that I ran through a Versatone amp mic’d with a FET 47. This is my bass chain for almost every song on the record. It came out of trial and error by my engineer, Scott Bergstrom and I and ultimately we haven’t found anything better.
A LOT of time was spent working on sounds for this song. For better or for worse, I aim really high with my production. I never compare my productions to other 20-year-olds or other people in my weight class. I aim at the biggest producers in music, the Paul Epworth’s, and George Martins and I try to make something that sounds bigger. I don’t succeed, but it is this mentality that allows me to make the best thing I am capable of at the time. It is this mentality that keeps me chasing greatness.
After many months of recording trial and error, the track was solidified and ready for the mix.
‘Cherry Wine’ was the 3rd song I mixed with Dave Reitzas in Los Angeles. Dave has been amazing with all these songs, recognizing always that the emotion in them should take center stage. He’s really been able to milk my recordings for every drop of feeling in them. We spent a day doing the mix at East West Studio 3 which holds incredible history as it was the room where the Beach Boys recorded their masterpiece, Pet Sounds. I was geeking out all day. By 1:30 AM we had printed the mix through a Fairchild 670 on the mixbus and we walked out of there with the track you hear today.
.
.
.
State your musical skills.
When I was 5 years old I started playing guitar in classical lessons.
My teacher would always get upset with me for reading the sheet music once, memorizing the part and playing it back without looking at the paper.
I wasn’t cut out for the rigid structure of classical training, and besides, it was really the electric guitar that I wanted to be playing.
I ended up cycling through quite a few teachers until about the age of 12 when I found one that I stuck with. I’ve found that aside from having a teacher, there’s equally as much to be learned from the exploration of other people’s music.
At times my biggest growth spurts came from playing along to other records that I loved or playing with musicians better than me.
I’ve learned worlds from people who aren’t even guitar players. Sometimes a piano player or a bass player is so musical with their phrasing of notes that I get better just listening to them. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked out of a jam session with other musicians feeling like my perception of playing had completely changed.
.
.
.
Tell if you consider acting in a movie.
I did some acting as a child, but at this point my focus is music.
.
.
.
Tell us how you eliminate noise in your recordings.
I make sure I am recording in an environment with clean power, and no unwanted mic bleed from streets, talking, etc. If the initial signal I’m taking from the mic is clean, I won’t ever have noise problems at later times in the recording process. So I make sure my signal is good. I do not often have any noise issues.
.
.
.
List the name of artists you cherish most.
When I was younger my biggest influence was The Beatles – The foundation of any songwriting skill that I have come from listening to their records on repeat.
As I’ve grown and discovered more music I have also drawn stylistic influence/inspiration from Jeff Buckley, and John Mayer as well as Van Morrison and Bob Dylan.
I’ve often been influenced by producers as well – Predominantly Paul Epworth, George Martin, and Greg Wells. All of these people share one thing in common, whether it is by means of a guitar, a voice, a great song, or a huge soundscape, their records all feel like something so real. That’s what I’m drawn to, and that’s what inspires me – Real feeling in a record.
.
.
.
Tell us how you get inspiration.
I write about my own feelings and experiences. Just being alive is enough for infinite albums worth of material.
.
.
.
Elaborate on the song.
While the verses of the song quite literally dictate the happenings of a dream, the chorus is much more symbolic. I generally avoid divulging exact meanings of my songs as I think it detracts from the listeners’ ability to find their own truth in it, but I will say this… The repeated phrase, “Cherry Wine” is often mistaken as literal wine. In actuality, it is a symbol for the extraordinary, but fleeting emotional fulfillment that the narrator feels from the female presence in his dream.
The tragedy of this feeling in the song is the longing for the past, the relationship, and the resulting difficulty the narrator has moved forward. That feeling or memory can be seen but when the narrator reaches for it, he can never touch it; it disappears.
.
.
.
Elaborate on your artist name and the title of the album.
Simon Lunche is my actual birth name. ‘Cherry Wine,’ the title of my single, refers to the memory of a feeling that is elusive and unattainable.
.
.
.
Share your press release and review with us.
Press Release:
BERKELEY, CA (January 22, 2019) – The new soul-pop single from Simon Lunche, “Cherry Wine,” smolders with the intoxicating aroma of a crackling fire melting away the winter’s bite.
Its indulgent mix of silky smooth guitar licks and caramelized vocals is a hypnotizing dance between two enamoured lovers.
The romantic sway leans in slowly with an all-night longing gaze.
“Cherry Wine” was mixed by multi-Grammy award winner Dave Reitzas, features bass by Sean Hurley (John Mayer), and back-up vocalists Tiffany Palmer (John Mayer) and Brandon Winbush (Patti Labelle, Tori Kelly).
Lunche is a young man with an old soul that comes through in every inflection of his alluring croon. That aching passion bleeds into each note of “Cherry Wine.”
It glides like the caress of fingers on the skin as his Stratocaster combs its melody into a burning ember. Each refrain soothes with an overflowing cup containing jazz-driven chord progressions, a harmony-dripping chorus, and vocal flourishes that invigorate the entire circuit, again and again.
Lunche has packed a near lifetime of musical experience into just 20 years. Along with taking up the guitar at age five, and soon becoming the youngest endorsed artist in the history of Gibson Guitars, he’s built a vast musical knowledge which includes composing all of the instrumental parts for all of his songs.
His creamy, shimmering sound comes from a beautiful, Vintage ’56 Stratocaster that he spent his entire college savings on without hesitation.
Lunche writes from the heart and plays with his soul. When on stage, he attributes his inspiration to the common language of music that supersedes any language barriers.
