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Interviews

Miles and Simone chat past acts, time-worn guitars and the fateful genesis of their latest single She and I

Miles and Simone are all the softly-spoken magic of country and folk rolled into an sepia-tinged bundle of goodness. Hailing from Melbourne, the duo of dear friends have two LPs to their names so far, but their latest single She and I  shines brighter than anything they have produced to date.

Call it a happy accident or fate’s intervention, but it was the unexpected discovery of an aged guitar behind the performer’s curtain at Basement Discs Records which brought their latest hit to fruition. As Miles O’Neil picked the old token up, the song flowed from his fingertips and has been a personal favourite since.

Before Miles and Simone kick off their extensive Australian tour this Sunday, we caught up with lead vocalist Simone Page Jones for the latest.

miles and simone she and i australian tour

A song seemingly born from divine intervention, She and I has the distinct feeling it will flourish beyond anything Miles and Simone have previously conceived.

HAPPY: I really love the story about where She and I came from. Have you been back to Basement Discs since?

SIMONE: We absolutely love the guys down at Basement Discs! ‘Tis a real Melbourne music loving institution down there! We haven’t been back to play again since the conception of She and I unfortunately, but are definitely super keen to! Hopefully that can happen soon!

HAPPY: Who did you work with when you took She and I into the studio?

SIMONE: We were so incredibly blessed to work with the incredible musician and producing, magic making extraordinaire that is Dan Luscombe! We had an absolute blast working with Dan on this song, what a guy! He really elevated our sound to the next level I think, it’s clearer and dreamier all at once.

Dan’s brother Pete played drums and he is a fierce talent and an absolute joy. And Jules Pascoe was filling up the bottom end on bass and that man is our favourite bass player in the cosmos. On top of that Nick Treweek was running the tech and he is a positive vibes master to say the least so, as you can tell, we had a great time in the studio!

HAPPY: You’ve both been in a bunch of acts before Miles and Simone, how did you two come to start playing together?

SIMONE: We met many years ago in a production of Summer of The 17th Doll. I was playing Bubba and Miles was playing Roo. We got along like toast and butter and ever since have been helping each other out on our various creative pursuits. Miles dressed up as a bear and played electric guitar as part of a band called The Brown Bears supporting a cabaret act of mine singing wild songs as a Russian diva named Sveta and I’ve sung a million and one bar brawling hollers for Miles’ other band The Suitcase Royale.

One long summer arvo we started mucking around, drinking booze and singing some lonesome lullabies Miles had written and pretty soon we were singing them in lonesome bars around Melbourne. One thing led to another and here we are.

HAPPY: Is this your first time playing any of those festivals as part of your upcoming tour? Any you’re looking forward to in particular?

SIMONE: We haven’t played Bello Music Festival before, so we’re super excited to get up into that gorgeous part of Australia and perform our songs! We were lucky enough to play Mullum Music Fest a couple of years ago and we still get emails from people up there asking when we’ll be back up to play, so it will be great to see some familiar faces in the audience!

We’re also really pumped to perform in Hobart as part of The Festival of Voices! Tim Kling, the producer of that festival, is an absolute legend so I can’t wait to see what else he has programmed!

HAPPY: Do you have a message for any fans coming to the shows?

SIMONE: Haha, I’m not sure if we have any ‘fans’ haha! It feels funny to think we could! But to any of the lovely humans who might choose to spend an hour with us at one of our shows, I would say thank you so much! And I can promise you a spectrum of feelings! We’ll make you laugh and cry!

HAPPY: You’re no strangers to busting out an album in no time… is She and I just a single release or should we be crossing our fingers?

SIMONE: YES! Keep those fingers crossed and we’ll be able to satisfy you with some more of where She and I came from in the next couple of months! Things are brewing!

 

Miles and Simone are touring the country in support of She And I. Find the dates below, and head here to grab yourself some tickets.

Sunday 2 July – New Port Folk Festival – Newport VIC
Friday 7 July – Festival of Voices, Hobart TAS
Saturday and Sunday 8 & 9 July – Bello Winter Music – Bellingen NSW
Thursday 13 July – Leaps and Bounds Festival, The Grace Darling – Melbourne VIC
Friday 14 July – Strathmerton Public Hall – Strathmerton VIC
Saturday 15 July – Yarck Hall – Yarck VIC
Sunday 16 July – The Theatre Royal – Castlemaine VIC
Thursday 20 July – The Gem – Melbourne VIC
Thursday 27 July – The Golden Age Cinema – Sydney NSW
Saturday 29 July – Balmoral Mechanics Hall – Balmoral NSW
Friday 4 August – Major Toms – Kyneton, VIC
Saturday 5 August – King Valley – King Valley VIC