Simple Kid – The Road

Published on 25 February 2012 in , , ,

I don’t often blog about music. I should because I absolutely love music. But, for whatever reason, I don’t.

I’m going to make an exception for this track. It’s by a bloke called Simple Kid and it’s a track called The Road. It’s an absolutely excellent track that I absolutely love and adore.

It also has a story that shows the power of radio.

I’ll be totally honest and say I don’t know the full story but I think I’ve got it mostly right. Mostly cos I culled it from Wikipedia.

Simple Kid is a man called Ciaran McFeely. And he released two albums; one in 2003 and another in 2006. He appeared on Later… with Jools Holland, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and RTE’s The Lale Late Show. He supported such bands as R.E.M., Kings of Leon and Snow Patrol.

It seemed like everything was going well. But for whatever reason it didn’t. Perhaps it was because his music had completely passed me by. But it probably wasn’t.

I first came across Simple Kid in 2010 thanks to one Marc Riley and his most excellent 6music radio show. I didn’t get it at first but Marc played it quite a few times and every time it grew on me more and more. But the song never got released, much to Marc’s (and many, many listeners) dismay.

Things got even less promising. In early 2011 Ciaran gave up releasing music. A big sign on his website put it simply. Simple Kid RIP.

Simple Kid RIP

I can still distinctly remember Marc saying on air how gutted he was about this. He kept playing it every now and then, giving us our only chance to hear a musical masterpiece that’s one of the few songs I’ve heard recently where I just want to listen to it over and over and over again (The Go! Team’s Ladyflash and the Crystal Fighters’s Follow being other winners of that rare award.)

Then towards the end of 2011 Marc started playing it more heavily. At long last it was to get a release after all. No one seemed to know when, and as we entered in to 2012 I scoured the internet trying to find news to no avail.

Until today anyway. I finally found out that Simple Kid’s The Road will be released by the wonderful people at Static Caravan on Wednesday 29 February.

So far I’ve only found it in Amazon’s MP3 store but I presume it will be available through other retailers. And I’ll be buying it. Oh, I’ll be buying it. And I hope you will too. And I’m sure Marc Riley will be playing it just a few more times on his 6music show too.

7 Comments

  • This is excellent news. Hopefully the full SK3 album will follow.

  • Keith maher says:

    Sad news indeed
    He seems to have packed it in, i sent him a few mails over the years but never a response, i wonder if he just got fed up with it? He had a very distinctive voice, sad that we lose it.

  • Jamie Robinson says:

    I just found out about him all of 2 hours ago – i have been listening to him non stop since -and if he has indeed packed it in theni doubt i will enjoy the rest of my day due to depression.

  • Jared Harris says:

    I recently had a chance to interview him over email. When I asked him about returning he said it is very unlikely to happen. He said, “I’m off studying, buried in wonderful books everyday and generally feeling miles away from all things Simple Kid. I like the idea that one era is finished and a new one has begun.” I think we should all respect his decision.

  • Rob says:

    Jared, did you interview him as just a curious fan, or was it for some sort of publication?
    Any chance you will post the transcript somewhere?
    Cheers

  • Jared Harris says:

    Sorry about responding so late. I approached him saying I was a 15 year old aspiring filmmaker who was a huge fan and offered to make a little promo video for “The Road” single (see link to promo above). I then asked as a favor to be able to ask him some questions and he agreed. If you want a transcript please email me ([email protected]). I really don’t feel comfortable making it public without his consent.