Juliet Simms

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Juliet Simms
[[Image:‎|220px|Juliet Simms]]
Juliet Simms
Background information
Birth name Juliet Simms
Born February 26, 1987 (1987-02-26) (age 21)
Origin San Francisco, California, United States
Instrument(s) Keyboard, Guitar, Vocals
Years active 2003—present (Automatic Loveletter)
Label(s) Epic
Associated acts Automatic Loveletter

Juliet Simms (born February 26, 1987) is an Epic Records singer/songwriter. She is the vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for the band Automatic Loveletter.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Simms was raised by a family of musicians. Her grandfather, Frank Todaro, is a jazz pianist in Aspen, Colorado, an aunt played violin for Rod Stewart, Wayne Newton and Pavaroti. Brother Tommy Simms, of top Florida band Win Win Winter is a producer, singer, song writer and produced Juliet's first CD. Singing since she was four, writing since she was nine, Simms became a fixture of the local music cafes as a teenager. It was here where the first of 5 major labels who oferred her deals, caught a live performance.

[edit] Solo Artist

Her first 4 songs were produced by the Grammy nominated members of the death metal band Spine Shank, but Juliet's melodic rock tunes "The View From Below", "Changing Skies", "Old Movie", and "I Notice" were not the right fit for that production team. Juliet asked the label for a different producer and they brought in studio master Richie Zito, a writer and producer for Elton John, the Motels and Heart, and he and Juliet re-recorded a handful of tracks that immediately garnered wide notice. "Someday" and "Make-up Smeared Eyes" captured the number one spots in three separate genres of the MySpace music charts, where Juliet became a Featured Artist. Her music was subsequently licensed to MTV’s The Real World and Road Rules. Her ballad, “Old Movie” was aired as a closing song on the 2006 season finale of The Real World.

[edit] Automatic Loveletter

Automatic Loveletter was formed with Juliet Simms on guitar and lead vocals, Daniel Currier on drums and brother Tommy Simms playing bass and producing, with now bassist Sean Noll sitting in on occasion in Tommy's home studio in the Tampa Bay area. The band was first called Stars and Scars and recorded its first rock song together in December of 2005, naming the song after the band but written by lead singer Juliet Simms. They also recorded "Tin Lizzy", written by Tommy and a joke Southern Rock song called "The Devil", which Daniel wrote and sang lead vocals on.

Juliet also finally acoustically laid down all of the songs she had been writing over the last three years for consideration for her first major label album.

Automatic Loveletter began recording their album with producer Matt Squire (Panic at the Disco, Boys Like Girls, All Time Low, Cute is What We Aim For). “He challenged me and I challenged him,” Simms said. “I felt very comfortable and that’s when the best of me comes out. The entire time was playful and fun and that’s what rock n roll’s about to me -- having a good time.” Simms took her massive songbook to Squire and together they narrowed down the right tunes and crafted them to fit together, sometimes taking songs in entirely new directions. “The Answer,” for instance, was originally a ballad, but became one of the more upbeat numbers on the album. Daniel Currier and current lead guitarist Joe Nelson (one of the tightest shredding guitarists in the scene today) both played on the album, Sean Noll officially joining just before some of their first tours together and big brother Tommy occasionally touring with the band to play rhythm guitar in larger venues and outdoor concerts filling up the sound and the stage.

Automatic Loveletter played the Bamboozle 2008 Right and Left and are scheduled for the 2008 Vans Warped Tour.

“A lot of [the songs] are based on heartbreak, depression, obsession,” Simms says. “The lyrics go in all different directions because I never stop writing.” It is exactly her propensity for relationship epics that inspired the name Automatic Loveletter, although it’s not that literally defined. "I like dichotomies and anachronisms in my songs, artwork even my clothes, Automatic Loveletter fits in perfectly because it doesn't fit."

"Paramore is the female-fronted draw of the day here at Bamboozle Left, but Automatic Loveletter’s Juliet Simms (pictured, right) more than held her own on the Nokia Ticket Rush stage. Clad in an obligatory black hoodie and strumming an acoustic guitar, she wailed her way through a frenetic half-hour set split by a solo acoustic ballad. Get this band on a main stage and she’ll be receiving automatic love letters by the truckload." LA Times [1]

Juliet has been approached by several bands to lend guest vocals to their records. Simms’ voice can be heard on records from LoveHateHero, All Time Low, and most recently, Cartel and Secondhand Serenade. [2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Guide: Los Angeles Times
  2. ^ Juliet Simms bio from a1a.TV site. Retrieved on March 9, 2006.

[edit] Discography

[edit] External links

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