A native of the Grande Ronde Valley, Weston Simonis has been on the local music scene for many years. Simonis has been the frontman for several bands over the years, including Drive By, Hopeless Endeavor and The October Sky. As frontman for the band Metal Under the Influence, Simonis and his band mates won the ‘Battle of the Bands’ contest then went on to participate in the Warp Tour, playing at both Boise State University and Eastern Oregon University.
After high school, Simonis went on to study at Full Sail University in Florida, known for being one of the best multimedia institutes in the nation. Working with music producer Michael (Wolf) Reaves (Metallica, Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake), Simonis gained the skills needed to open his own recording studio in La Grande. He has also been growing his own career as a performing artist, and had a fair amount of success with his single “Lynique”, which can be heard on Jango Radio, Live 365, Future FM, iHeart Radio, and Spotify. At the close of last year Weston Simonis launched his latest single entitled, “Moments of Intoxication”.
Simonis did an amazing job with this track. I think the song stays true to who he is – an artist that doesn’t completely fit within the confines of one particular genre of music, and I think that, in and of itself, is pretty transcendent and awesome. No one can better themselves by simply being one-dimensional. It would be a disservice to all the experiences you’ve amassed along the path to the present. Yet at the same time this isn’t a departure from who Simonis is at the core, it is just him evolving into greatness.
On first listen, Weston Simonis is one of those artists that you just want to dislike. Maybe it’s because he is so far ahead of you, in mixing sounds, styles and musical textures. Or maybe it’s because he has a vocal range that stretches from coast to coast, and then he plays a whole set of musical instruments to go along with that too. He is not pop, punk, rock, or emo; in fact he is all of those things, sometimes in the same song! So it’s confusing and you can’t put your finger on exactly why, but you just know that you shouldn’t like him. But he is so damn good at what he does, and his songs are catchy, the lyrics are smart and his energy is very evident…that you end up loving him instead!
“Moments of Intoxication” is nothing short of spectacular, wrapped up in Latin, pop, rock and urban flavors; Simonis takes the reins of his own musical diversity and constructs a single of depth and unbridled energy. It explodes with vitality and grit and a rough edge polished over with intensity and both musical and vocal prowess. I was smitten upon the first listen, and Simonis’ screaming falsetto continues to live in my head now. The arrangement, the lyrics, the voice…this is music you can feel in your bones.
I have listened to some of Simonis’ previous stuff and I think that “Moments of Intoxication” is one of the coolest things that he has ever done. Music is about doing what you feel, and not about fitting into a genre or trend, and the writing that goes into Weston Simonis’ creations and the feeling that comes out, just hits me in the right way!
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