The Start of The Heavies
Simon Bartholomew tells the story of how The Brand New Heavies came together.
Part of the courseLearn the Fundamentals of Funk Guitar with The Brand New Heavies17 lessons (1h 2m)
Your guruSimon BartholomewWhat's in the course
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Simon Bartholomew is the guitarist in British funk/pop/soul group The Brand New Heavies - a band known for playing their own instruments live rather than leaning on contemporary computer-based programming. That commitment to real, in-the-pocket playing is exactly what makes him such a great guide to funk guitar, and producer Mark Ronson once told Simon that he and Nile Rodgers were his favourite guitarists.
Alongside bandmate Andrew Levy, Simon writes, produces, mixes and oversees the running of a fully working, touring and recording band. The pair met at high school and, after hearing funk at The Cat In The Hat club, began jamming; once the DJs at the club played one of their cuts, 'Catch That Beat', from a cassette, the band began its illustrious journey. From those early days in London to travelling throughout the US and Japan, the band has pretty much toured the whole world, helping drive the early Hip Hop scene in LA and New York and becoming the main proponents of the Acid Jazz movement of the early '90s.
The Brand New Heavies have platinum and gold record sales across their many albums and have had several songs featured on film soundtracks - notably Happy Feet, which used a song from their Heavy Rhyme Experience album, cited to be the first rap album that used a live band.
Simon's musical influences run deep and wide: Blues, Jazz, Soul, Rock, Punk, Psychedelia, Prog Rock, Classical and Classic Rock - and pretty much anything else, from the live bands and orchestras all over television growing up to the rarer music he discovered on the John Peel Show and through friends' record collections. While he continues to tour and record with The Brand New Heavies, he has also written music for documentaries and worked on projects such as Akimbo and 1ibear, with more in the pipeline.
Simon's mission is to fuse Rock and Funk, and as he puts it: 'There is funk in everything if you just take a look and feel for it.' That is exactly the spirit he brings to Learn the Fundamentals of Funk Guitar with The Brand New Heavies.
