WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Bomb The Bass

Bomb The Bass was the musical project of one man and he made it happen. Beat dis!

Producer and artist Tim Simenon (b.1968) of Malaysian origan but born in England created his own musical fantasy, Bomb The Bass, in 1987 aged 19. Over the next few decades he would not only stamp his mark on Dance music, but also commercially and later as a successful and in demand mixer and producer. Bomb The Bass developed from Tim’s early DJ-ing stints and sampling and mixing other songs. He hooked up with Belgian musician Pascal Gabriel, later to write songs for Kylie and Will Young, and by using sounds and samples together with their own arrangement, eventually came up with the record “Beat Dis”. The song was released in early January 1988 and would become a huge global hit, making No.2 in the UK and No.1 on the US Dance chart.

Pascal would only a few weeks later be involved with another aspiring UK artist, Mark Moore, co-writing and producing the “Theme From S-Express”, a number one smash only a few months later in 1988. 1988 was the year of Tim making his name and following up “Beat Dis”, he returned to the top ten that Spring with “Don’t Make Me Wait”. His debut album, “Into The Dragon”, came that Summer and would deliver one further top ten hit before the year was out, a cover of Aretha Franklin’s “I Say A Little Prayer”, with singer Maureen Walsh making her debut performance. But Tim was not done with 1988 yet as he would co-produce the song “Buffalo Stance” for Swedish singer and rapper Neneh Cherry. The song would go on to be a huge worldwide hit into 1989. Tim went into 1989 and beyond mixing and producing for other arists, most notably a remix of Seal’s debut solo hit, “Crazy”, in late 1990.

His Bomb The Bass project returned in 1991 with another killer chart smash in the form of “Winter In July” and his next album, “Unknown Territory”, which followed “Into The Dragon” into the UK top twenty, although the two other singles from that album missed the UK top 40. He was back again in 1994, however, making the chart with “Bug Powder Dust” and “Darkheart”, both from his third studio album “Clear”. Tim spent the rest of the 90’s working on other projects most notably as producer of the 1997 Depeche Mode album, “Ultra”, which topped the UK chart and went to No.5 in America, shifting over four million copies. Tim produced the lead single, “Barrel Of A Gun” (UK No.4) along with the three other singles lifted form the album. He mixed and remixed songs and composed music for film scores (‘Mission Impossible’, ‘Romeo + Juliet’).

Under the Bomb The Bass banner, Tim made a return in 2008 with the album “Future Chaos” and its direct follow up “Back To Light” in 2010. He played his first live set in 2008 for twenty years at London’s Astoria Club, and recorded and released “In The Sun” in 2013. But in 2020, Tim announced he was “done” with the music business. Is this it then or will there be a renaissance? Only Tim will tell…!