ROOM 6 - Stephen Thrower interviews Roxy Music's Graham Simpson

Some of you may already have heard that Roxy Music's original bass player, Graham Simpson, has turned up alive and well after a thirty-eight year absence from the spotlight. He is the subject of a short film called Nothing But the Magnificent, to be screened on 20th August at the Portobello Film Festival, and a few weeks ago he granted me his first ever press interview, which you can read in the current issue of The Wire magazine (Issue 319 - September). I found him to be a lucid, charming man with an occasionally roguish wit; someone passionate about music and the state of humankind, whose formidable memory is undimmed by the extremes of experience he's been through.

Graham Simpson appears on two Roxy recordings: the group's first John Peel session from January 1972, and their all-important debut album, Roxy Music. By the time Roxy returned to the studio in July to record their debut single “Virginia Plain”, Simpson had gone. Never interviewed, never photographed with the group, he seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth, leaving only his enigmatic solo portrait on the inner cover of Roxy Music. Snippets about his tenure in Roxy have emerged over the years, thanks to a number of well-researched books throwing light on the group’s early days, but the story has never been told by the man himself. Until now!

A longer version of my interview with Graham Simpson will appear online at The Wire's website next Thursday 18th September. To order the magazine, or to check out the online version, go to http://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/current/

For information about the the film screening, go to www.portobellofilmfestival.com
and http://www.portobellopopup.com/  I will be attending the screening myself so I hope to see a few of you there.