Biography
Australian vocalist and tunesmith Simon Bonney commands a profound, resonant baritone that traces a line from Johnny Cash and Jim Morrison forward to his fellow countryman Nick Cave. That voice balances urgency with mourning while mixing pastoral hues and prophetic force. Throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s he fronted Crime & the City Solution, a group that included several former members of the Birthday Party, and became a notable presence first on Australia’s post-punk circuit and later in Berlin. The band appeared in Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, performing live in a club scene that showed Bonney as a sinuous, constantly moving figure interpreting the dark gothic blues of Crime. By the time the ensemble reached its initial dissolution before regrouping in the twenty-first century, Bonney remained motionless onstage, a somber figure recounting stories of judgment, bereavement, and cataclysm against the band’s turbulent sound. Once Crime disbanded he relocated to Los Angeles’ Silverlake district and issued two introspective, Americana-tinged solo records that earned strong critical notice yet were later deleted after his label merged into Universal. Bonney then stepped away from music for an extended stretch to provide for his expanding household alongside his partner, violinist, vocalist, and composer Bronwyn Adams. The couple resided in numerous countries before Crime reappeared with the 2013 album American Twilight.
Born in Tasmania, Bonney was raised in Sydney. In 1977, while still a runaway, he supplied vocals for the Sydney outfit the Particles before departing to establish the first incarnation of the post-punk band Crime & the City Solution. That unit shifted to Melbourne and then London, where it dissolved in 1979. Four years later he assembled a fresh version of Crime & the City Solution in London, enlisting music director Mick Harvey on drums and keyboards, guitarist and vocalist Rowland S. Howard (both previously of the Birthday Party), and Howard’s younger brother Harry on bass. June 1985 brought the group’s debut four-track EP The Dangling Man on Mute Records in the United Kingdom and Possum Records in Australia; September saw the follow-up six-track EP Just South of Heaven. After its release, drummer Epic Soundtracks, formerly of Swell Maps, joined, allowing Harvey to focus on keyboards and guitar. Adams added violin and backing vocals before the band relocated to Berlin. In 1986 this lineup recorded the debut album Room of Lights, co-produced by the band, Flood, and Tony Cohen. The next year Adams, Bonney, and Harvey brought in Chrislo Haas, previously of D.A.F. and Liaisons Dangereuses, on synthesizers, guitarist Alexander Hacke of Einstürzende Neubauten, and bassist Thomas Stern. Following an international reissue of Room of Lights, the Berlin configuration of Crime delivered the widely praised Shine in 1988, The Bride Ship in 1989, and Paradise Discotheque in 1990, each album expanding in scope and apocalyptic tone. Although the first two releases drew widespread critical acclaim, sales remained sporadic, and the band split after a 1991 performance in Chicago.
Bonney and Adams then settled in Los Angeles. There Bonney encountered guitarist J.D. Foster, who acquainted him with classic country and the Americana stylings of Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, and similar artists. Bonney began composing in that idiom and soon toured as a duo with Foster. The resulting earthier, less gothic sound shaped his first solo album, the Gareth Jones-produced Forever, issued on Mute. Steeped in the mythology of the American West and the musical traditions of California and Texas, Bonney and Adams collaborated with numerous American indie musicians ranging from Foster and Carla Bozulich to Sally Norvell and Jon Dee Graham. While on tour he met Matthew Smith, formerly of Volebeats and Outrageous Cherry, in Ann Arbor and joined that band initially on bass. Smith later aided Bonney and Hacke in reforming Crime. In 1994 Bonney released Everyman, which received uniformly favorable notices. Recorded partly at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studio in Austin and partly in Los Angeles, the album featured contributions from Jerry Jeff Walker’s drummer Freddy Krc, Chuck Prophet, David Halley, the Texacali Horns, and others. A reduced version of Bonney’s band accompanied him on United States and European dates throughout 1995. In May 1996 Mute issued the single “Don’t Walk Away from Love,” which did not chart.
Late that year Bonney traveled to suburban Detroit’s Tempermill Studios to record his third album with producer Dave Feeny. Smith helped recruit a local ensemble that included Larry Ray of Outrageous Cherry, Troy Gregory of the Dirtbombs, Swans, Killing Joke, and Spiritualized, and fellow Australian Jim White of Dirty Three on drums. All except Ray eventually participated in the later reformation of Crime & the City Solution nearly two decades afterward. Following the merger of Mute’s United States operations with Universal, the album Pale Blue Eyes remained unfinished. Now the father of two children, Bonney exited the music industry to support his family. While still based in Silverlake he drove a truck and later worked as a grip in the film industry. Between 1996 and 2002 he contributed to fourteen feature films, among them Night Caller, Allison Anders’ Sugar Town (in which he also appeared onscreen), Agnieszka Holland’s The Third Miracle, and Phillip Noyce’s Rabbit Proof Fence. He returned to Australia, enrolled in film school, and completed his own project Sadness in 2012.
Bonney also pursued studies in public administration. During his musical hiatus he began managing aid programs for nonprofits and NGOs across several continents. The family lived in Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, the Marshall Islands, and ultimately Thailand.
In 2011 Bonney and Hacke revived Crime & the City Solution with Smith, Gregory, White, Adams, Danielle Di Picciotto, and David Eugene Edwards of Wovenhand and 16 Horsepower. They tracked American Twilight in Detroit; the album appeared to positive reviews in 2013, after which the band toured Europe, the United States, and Australia. Bonney resumed his day job for several more years before taking a sabbatical to prepare a compilation drawn from his two solo albums, six previously unreleased masters from Pale Blue Eyes, and a cover of Scott Walker’s “Duchess.” Issued as Past, Present, Future in spring 2019, the collection was followed by tours of Europe and America.
Born in Tasmania, Bonney was raised in Sydney. In 1977, while still a runaway, he supplied vocals for the Sydney outfit the Particles before departing to establish the first incarnation of the post-punk band Crime & the City Solution. That unit shifted to Melbourne and then London, where it dissolved in 1979. Four years later he assembled a fresh version of Crime & the City Solution in London, enlisting music director Mick Harvey on drums and keyboards, guitarist and vocalist Rowland S. Howard (both previously of the Birthday Party), and Howard’s younger brother Harry on bass. June 1985 brought the group’s debut four-track EP The Dangling Man on Mute Records in the United Kingdom and Possum Records in Australia; September saw the follow-up six-track EP Just South of Heaven. After its release, drummer Epic Soundtracks, formerly of Swell Maps, joined, allowing Harvey to focus on keyboards and guitar. Adams added violin and backing vocals before the band relocated to Berlin. In 1986 this lineup recorded the debut album Room of Lights, co-produced by the band, Flood, and Tony Cohen. The next year Adams, Bonney, and Harvey brought in Chrislo Haas, previously of D.A.F. and Liaisons Dangereuses, on synthesizers, guitarist Alexander Hacke of Einstürzende Neubauten, and bassist Thomas Stern. Following an international reissue of Room of Lights, the Berlin configuration of Crime delivered the widely praised Shine in 1988, The Bride Ship in 1989, and Paradise Discotheque in 1990, each album expanding in scope and apocalyptic tone. Although the first two releases drew widespread critical acclaim, sales remained sporadic, and the band split after a 1991 performance in Chicago.
Bonney and Adams then settled in Los Angeles. There Bonney encountered guitarist J.D. Foster, who acquainted him with classic country and the Americana stylings of Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, and similar artists. Bonney began composing in that idiom and soon toured as a duo with Foster. The resulting earthier, less gothic sound shaped his first solo album, the Gareth Jones-produced Forever, issued on Mute. Steeped in the mythology of the American West and the musical traditions of California and Texas, Bonney and Adams collaborated with numerous American indie musicians ranging from Foster and Carla Bozulich to Sally Norvell and Jon Dee Graham. While on tour he met Matthew Smith, formerly of Volebeats and Outrageous Cherry, in Ann Arbor and joined that band initially on bass. Smith later aided Bonney and Hacke in reforming Crime. In 1994 Bonney released Everyman, which received uniformly favorable notices. Recorded partly at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studio in Austin and partly in Los Angeles, the album featured contributions from Jerry Jeff Walker’s drummer Freddy Krc, Chuck Prophet, David Halley, the Texacali Horns, and others. A reduced version of Bonney’s band accompanied him on United States and European dates throughout 1995. In May 1996 Mute issued the single “Don’t Walk Away from Love,” which did not chart.
Late that year Bonney traveled to suburban Detroit’s Tempermill Studios to record his third album with producer Dave Feeny. Smith helped recruit a local ensemble that included Larry Ray of Outrageous Cherry, Troy Gregory of the Dirtbombs, Swans, Killing Joke, and Spiritualized, and fellow Australian Jim White of Dirty Three on drums. All except Ray eventually participated in the later reformation of Crime & the City Solution nearly two decades afterward. Following the merger of Mute’s United States operations with Universal, the album Pale Blue Eyes remained unfinished. Now the father of two children, Bonney exited the music industry to support his family. While still based in Silverlake he drove a truck and later worked as a grip in the film industry. Between 1996 and 2002 he contributed to fourteen feature films, among them Night Caller, Allison Anders’ Sugar Town (in which he also appeared onscreen), Agnieszka Holland’s The Third Miracle, and Phillip Noyce’s Rabbit Proof Fence. He returned to Australia, enrolled in film school, and completed his own project Sadness in 2012.
Bonney also pursued studies in public administration. During his musical hiatus he began managing aid programs for nonprofits and NGOs across several continents. The family lived in Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, the Marshall Islands, and ultimately Thailand.
In 2011 Bonney and Hacke revived Crime & the City Solution with Smith, Gregory, White, Adams, Danielle Di Picciotto, and David Eugene Edwards of Wovenhand and 16 Horsepower. They tracked American Twilight in Detroit; the album appeared to positive reviews in 2013, after which the band toured Europe, the United States, and Australia. Bonney resumed his day job for several more years before taking a sabbatical to prepare a compilation drawn from his two solo albums, six previously unreleased masters from Pale Blue Eyes, and a cover of Scott Walker’s “Duchess.” Issued as Past, Present, Future in spring 2019, the collection was followed by tours of Europe and America.
Albums
Singles
