Title: “Russian Roulette”
Artist: Alex Simms
Release Date: 25 January, 2015
Length: 4:17
Format: CD Single, Digital Download, Weekly Airplay
Recorded: January 2015 (Half-Moon Studios, Las Vegas, Nevada)
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Alternative Rock
Label: Songs to Love and Die By
Writer(s): A.Simms
Producer(s): A.Simms, F.Browdy

“Russian Roulette” is the title of the latest single from American Post-Harcore musician ‘Alex Simms’, it marks the first single since returning to his solo endeavors and therefore marking the lead single from his upcoming second studio solo album. In the past year Simms has focussed his time on a side-project with Julia Volkova called ‘Mutual Addiction’ which was a venture that saw the pair tour stadiums and release a couple of singles and a highly succesful album, this helped push Simms career to a higher level, working alongside an established rock musician and now that he has switched focus back to his solo career, it will no doubt be interesting to see what sort of level he is at without the fiery rock songstress standing beside him.

Simms has has a succesfull run of singles in his solo career before working on ‘Mutual Addiction’, he currently has four top five singles and found his musical path stretching beyond the confines of the post-hardcore genres, his last solo single featured non other than pop superstar ‘Nadia Berry’ and he was widely praised for his ambition in looking to go beyond the confines of the rock genres and stretching himself as a musician. It’s thought that his return to his solo work will see Simms once again establish himself as a future star within the music industry in his own right and his fans although they supported his work with ‘Mutual Addiction’ appear to be more encouraging of his work as a solo musician. Things could have been different however as it was expected that he would continue working alongside Julia for another album before returning to solo work, but a post on New Year’s Eve signalled the next chapter for the musician and he confirmed that it would be a chapter that will be written as a solo musician once again.

His return single has been described as “A punchy track filled with the sort of attitude that appears to have just been enhanced over the past year”. Beginning with a heavy lead guitar riff the song is full of energy and that familiar high-pitched vocal range is on show again in a way that just isn’t the same with ‘Mutual Addiction’, lyrics focussing on an ego-tistical arrogance as he opens with “She says that I’m old news/A spark that faded out/Well I guess you’re entitled to your opinions/But I think that you should shut your f*cking mouth.” already show his confidence, some could even read truth in the opening lyrics, perhaps Simms is talking about real-life feelings, the question on fans mind will no doubt be, who could it be about? Throughout he sings about the life of being a musician with lines like, “Being front and center every single night/It’s like I’ve got a target on my back.” again the music complements the attitude of the lyrics, it’s fast-paced and aggressive, full of energy and no doubt is enough to please his fanbase and more, particluarly the chorus as he fires out catchy lyrics like, “It’s like we’re playing russian roulette/Put your bullets in the gun/Step right up and take your bet/One hand on the trigger/One hand somewhere south/Times up, you’re next/Open up that pretty mouth.” there is a possible double meaning with the chorus too as he teases with sexual drive lines “One hand somewhere south.” and “Open up that pretty mouth.” which adds an extra layer to the song, but it would appear he’s leaving the true meaning to the listener to decide on.

The song was written entirely by Alex Simms around November/December 2014 and was recorded in early January 2015 at Half-Moon Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada during studio sessions with Faith Browdy whom helmed the production of the track and has previous with Simms having produced his last solo effort his 2013 E.P ‘One Life to Live’. The song will be released on January 25, 2015 as a CD Single, Digital Download and will be available for Weekly Airplay. It will be distributed via label ‘Songs to Love and Die By’.

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SONGWRITERS COMMENTS;

“I think it’s a case of here we go again, having done the thing with Julia which was lots of fun, I’m back focussing on the solo stuff once more and I’m hoping that a year doing something different means that I’m going into this period of time feeling fresh, that’s the hope at least and I’m sure it’ll be the case. First thing I need to do, is to remember what it felt like to be doing things on my own. The solo album was a surprising success for everybody or so it seemed and I think I sort of took an unexpected left turn when I decided to team up with Julia for ‘Mutual Addiction’, it opened new doors, but the time felt ready for me to shift focus once more.

Recording and touring with Julia was a different experience, we sort of went into everything with the mindset of ‘let’s try to find a place of peace and fill that f*cker with mayhem’, we didn’t people doing stuff for us, we didn’t have management or any of that stuff and it sort of meant we go into things without being told, ‘oh, by the way, you can’t do this, or you can’t do that’ and it loosened the reigns a little and it created a pretty interesting year, which I think we should probably document at some point, the fights, the fallouts, the make-ups and all the highs and lows of touring life were sort of turned up to extreme levels on that tour, if we didn’t get anything else from that tour, we at least got some interesting memories and stories worth sharing.

But there’s a line that we draw over that period of time. I now find my focus on my solo work and I’m sure that Julia finds her focus on her own solo career, we may remain together personally but our careers are seperate entities until the day we decide to return to the ‘Mutual Addiction’ partnership. Of course there may be songs that we write about moments that we share but our solo careers will hopefully remain seperate from our work together and I’m sure at some point we will find ourselves working together once more.
But for now I’ll find inspiration from our time on the road together and from our relationship, there’s a good chance that it will spill out into these new songs, I’m certain that this will be the case. I mean, who knows? Maybe ‘Russian Roulette’ is inspired from the last year or our life, that’s for everybody else to figure out. I’ll just write songs that I think my fans will enjoy hearing and work towards creating an album and subsequent tour that they can enjoy.”

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LYRICS;

“She say’s that I’m old news
A spark that faded out
Well I guess you’re entitled to your opinions
But I think that you should shut your f*cking mouth
Cos’ this ain’t about you
This ain’t about you, can’t you see?
Nobody wants to hear you
But they’re lining around the block to hear me

I guess this is the life that I set up for
When every night brings another sold out show
And you’re sitting at home
Just wondering
If I’m ever feeling alone

I can’t say it’s perfect
There’s many things in life that I lack
And being front and center every single night
It’s like I’ve got a target on my back
And the girls are following me from town to town
Begging for a little more
It get’s tough to resist their offers
Before you know it
They’re on the floor
Begging for a little more

It’s like we’re playing russian roulette
Put your bullets in the gun
Step right up and take your bet
One hand on the trigger
One hand somewhere south
Times up, you’re next
Open up that pretty mouth

It’s like we’re playing russian roulette
Put your bullets in the gun
Step right up and take your bet
One hand on the trigger
One hand somewhere south
Times up, you’re next
Open up that pretty mouth

It’s like we’re playing russian roulette
Put your bullets in the gun
Step right up and take your bet
One hand on the trigger
One hand somewhere south
Times up, you’re next
Open up that pretty mouth”

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PERSONNEL;

Alex Simms - lead vocals, lyrics, production, composition
Jesse Holmes - lead guitar, backing vocals
Frankie Fallon - bass guitar
Josh Kingston - drums, percussion
Faith Browdy - production