bio

Simon & Nakia love to croon and howl to fuzzed-out, reverb-drenched, bumblebee-twang, Mississippi-delta, and swinging-blues guitar rhythms paired with boogie bass lines set to a primitive Bo Diddley beat, sauced up with piano and Farfisa organ, and topped with a garnish of charm provided by way of bratty doo wop vocals that invoke the sincere heart-wrenched soul of Otis Redding and the gospel conviction of Sister Rosetta Tharpe.   

They are highly influenced by their heros, in no particular order, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Arthur Lee and LOVE, The Seeds, Music Machine, Big Bopper, John Lee Hooker, The Trashwomen, Little Richard, Sparkle Moore, Memphis Minnie, Howlin Wolf, The Animals, The Byrds, The Troggs, Count Basie, Chuck Berry, Pretty Things, Iggy Pop, The Orlons, The Beach Boys, Link Wray and many obscure outfits like The Monks, Inferno 5 plus 1, The Stoics, The Human Expression, The Standells, The Children of Darkness, just too many to name! 

Lyrics and arrangements are an intersection of opposites: the naive, all-encompassing rush of a first romance and the horror-filled suspense experience during a captivating creature feature that is One Step Beyond your everyday experience. Yet, together, they make total sense. Meant to haunt fans long after their first listen, The Sound Station’s songs are inspired by such subjects as the B movies of director Roger Corman and forgotten 1960s dance moves.

Simon and Nakia Black, the group’s songwriting team, have toured coast to coast performing live as a duo and fronting a band. The multi-instrumentalists trade off on vocals and they have written and arranged music for independent record releases and collaborated on music for stage, television, and film productions for more than a decade. Their goal? To record “their favorite record,” something they would want to play over and over again.

outro records split e.p. release

Two new Sound Station tunes has been blazing the independent radio air waves as their 7" split EP on Outro Records hit record stores in the U.S., UK and Japan on Oct. 16.  

“Give Your Loving To Me” is a soulful dance fuzzer and “Things Will Never Be The Same” is a swinging declaration and call-to-action from the tribe’s chiefmen that a new era has arrived. Both cuts were culled from the band’s all-analog recording session at Jazz Cats Studios in Long Beach, produced and mixed by Jonny Bell, one of L.A.’s most notable rocknroll producers.

REVIEWS

"Stalwarts of the LA garage-rock scene, Simon and Nakia Black have emerged with a brand new band THE SOUND STATION, making a Bo Diddley/Seeds/Troggs-inspired noise that’s part wigged-out garage, part raucous R&B and totally killer all round. Their latest release, a split single with The Creepy Crawlies, features two fuzzed-out beauties called ‘Give Your Loving To Me’ and ‘Things Will Never Be The Same’, building on a sound that West Coast gig-goers may have heard at one of the band’s countless gigs with the likes of The Loons and The Schizophonics. A blistering call-to-arms, it’s a single that helps towards their stated goal of recording their own “favourite record”. Out now on Outro Records"⁠⠀ - Thomas Patterson, Shindig Magazine

 

“Their songs have their roots in the swinging and rocking sounds from the last five or six decades. The Sound Station rocks with the fire and energy of kids that invented rock ’n roll just yesterday evening. With strong hooks and powerful performance The Sound Station is unstoppable. ” - Eric Vonk, fileunder .nl 

The stars of our most recent film LOVE IN THE TIME OF BLASTERS had a new single being released on Outro records. Well here's the video of the song and we luv it and the old school animation. Reminds me of the work of animator John Hubley who did so much cutting edge and terrific work in the fifties and sixties. Congratulations to Simon and Nakia Black and everyone in The Sound Station as well as animator Fernando Goshdarlin and Outro Records for the exciting release. The world is already a better place because of your work, thank you. - Debra Irene and Rob Robinson, Stunt Kitty Films

“Making their Messaround debut, prepare to positively fiip when trash blues thrillers THE SOUND STATION storm the bandstand! These hard hitting, deep socking lights of Hollywood's crash slash and burn rock & soul underworld throw down a blistering torrent of raw, swinging R&B fused with a feverish brand of garage primitivo. Fronted by cataclysmic twosome Simon & Nakia Black, expect a tsunami of legendary juke philosophizing put over with a lurid twist of hopped up lowdown stomp so tremendously torrid it's gonna melt your eyeballs right in their sockets.” - Jonny Whiteside ~ L.A. Weekly

“The Sound Station draws from all eras of popular music, distilling it into a quirky, heady and intoxicating brew of 60's garage rock that sounds at once familiar and yet is unlike anything else we've ever heard before. We're smitten” - Glynis Ward 'The Whig Out'- WFMU, Rock 'n' Soul Radio

 

"For those who like me are big fans of the soulful gospel r 'n' b singalong wild rich in hymnics & trashcan reverb of Compulsive Gamblers, Oblivians, Jail Weddings, Nick Curran, Original Sins or Reigning Sound, this that Simon & are preparing for us from the Sound Station is going to be jubilatory.  Hell yeah twangy BABY!" - Merle Leonce Bone, author of "Jesus Elvis Junkie Blues"

RADIO PLAY

  • The Whig Out, DJs Glynis Ward and Richard Whig on WFMU.org's Rock 'n' Soul Radio (San Diego)
  • Vinyl Records Association, DJ Astro 138 Radiocore.org (Los Angeles)
  • Bubblegum OD, with DJ Becky Ebenkamp on WFMU.org's Rock 'n' Soul Radio (Los Angeles)
  • Bubblegum OD, with DJ Becky Ebenkamp on Dublab.com (Los Angeles)
  • The Phonograph Rumble, DJ Buster Bandit on Statdtfilter 96.3 in Switzerland
  • Le Trafalgar.blogspot, Radio 666, (France)
  • No More Heros,  DJ Tony Knox (Los Angeles)
  • Taxi TV, Ricky Menace on Taxi TV Live (Orange Cty)

Outro split ep PROMO VIDEOS

LIVE PERFORMANCES

When it comes to performing live as a band, on the pacific coast alone, The Sound Station has set sail onstage with the some of the top bands like The Loons, The Fly Traps, The Schizophonics,  Very Be Careful, The Shag Rats, Thee Oh Nos, Teenage Goo Goo Muck, Bobby Bones, The Unclaimed, The Sloths, Rebel Set, Pearl Earl, Crush, The Night Times, The Slop, The Sound Reasons, Dee Skusting and The Rodents, Aimee Lay, Lost Cat, The Hidden Depths, frequently at fave venues like Harvard & Stone, Highland Park Bowl, Redwood Bar, Quail Lounge, The Offbeat Bar, and the “Seed-y” SGV Lounge.

These were booked by and sometimes in conjunction with name brand parties like Don Bolles's Hush Clubbe, The Bullet, Cheap Satisfaction, Ramblin Rose Presents, Suzi Creamcheese Club, Club UFO, Shake Some Action, Wailing at the Go-Go, The Messaround, Dog Lipstick, and Niteowl Productions when they toured Arizona.  When live music resumes or during livestreams, they will reschedule shows with Cheap Tissue, Bobby Bones, and the Bobby Lees from New York. 

PAST RELEASES

“Abigail,” the band’s Bo Diddley bruiser, debuted on L.A.’s Swinging Sounds compilation “Into The Outro” (Outro Records). This got the group a guest DJ spot with radio personality Astro 138 on legendary Radiocore's Vinyl Record Association, and the songsome spins on WFMU and Night Beat Radio. For trivia points in the future: the group’s very first radio appearance was a live performance on Fibandacci at California State University Long Beach.

PRESENT AND FUTURE PROJECTS

“'Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf: A Monster’s Love Story' OR 'Who’s Biting Who?'”  

Their most recent film project tells a spooky, ghoulicious love story in a musical adaptation of  weird and twisted musical adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood. They did all the directing, filming, editing, costumes, hair and makeup, and writing to create this skit in time for Halloween.

 

EXPLOITS AND COLLABORATIONS

As far as exploits, they have also found passion in composing music to be used for film and theatrical performance.

Their first production was composing and performing as a duo, a raw-powered, surfed out psychedelic instrumental score, “The Dream Sequence,” for Brooklyn socialite, vintage PinUp boutique, Mandate of Heaven's theatrical adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. 

Simon & Nakia enjoyed a song placement "Forever" and an acting collaboration with Stunt Kitty Films on the short film  “Love In The Time of Blasters,” which is classified as a “Dance Action Love Story Sci-Fi Musical.  The title was selected to screen this year at Detroit’s Motor City Nightmares International film festival as well as one of the official selections for The Strange Film Awards, Matty's Internet Film Festival and #TOFF - The Online Film Festival. Fun fact: They play the role of the Space cadets who race against time to stop a sci-fi author and his jealous wife from vaporizing one another.

Upcoming News...Stay Tuned!

They are currently working on new promo film projects for Mandate of Heaven new collection,  animation and musical collaboration with Fernanda Goshdarlin,  pending projects with several other filmmakers as well as continuing with their own filmmaking/musical audiobook projects. Works in progress will be showcased on their members-only Patreon Page with a robust cross-promotion group of artists in various mediums.

They are feigning to share this Outro Records release, newly recorded songs along with to be seen on upcoming project, early demo recordings as well as  their current live performances with you! Already in the process of recording a full-length album that will include "Abigail", "Superstition", and "Down To The City". The Sound Station is in the lab concocting and collaborating on more mynd bending music and film creations, so you’d better sleep with one eye open!

Inquiries