EP09: Simon Raymonde - Bella Union Burls Forever

Your host, Paul Cheetham, is joined by one of his absolute musical and music business heroes, Simon Raymonde.

Simon found fame as bass player with the Cocteau Twins, one of the most innovative and inspirational bands of the 80's & 90's.  After the split of the band, Simon was left "holding the baby" in the form of the Bella Union label that was originally set up by the band as a way to manage their new material. Material that sadly never came.

Simon set about building the record label into one of the leading and most respected  independent brands in the business, releasing an endless stream of immaculate and beautiful albums and winning several Label of the Year awards along the way.

We spoke to Simon about his life as a musician, his own new material, his time with the Cocteau Twins and all the difficulties and joys that brought, as well as his decade-long transition from bass god to label boss.

Along the way we hear the startling revelation that Simon has been functioning relatively happily with a benign brain tumour for the last 20 years and that he is now - against his usual beliefs about musicians writing memoirs - preparing to write a book about how he has coped with this condition while continuing to run his label and work as a producer and artist himself.

This is just a wonderful, captivating conversation with one of the industry's loveliest people who has brought so much pleasure to music fans everywhere.

We recorded this episode on Tuesday 6th July, 2021.

Thank you for listening. Here is the episode.
We made it just.....for......you!

Links:
https://bellaunion.com
https://cocteautwins.com
https://bellaunion.com/artists/lost-horizons

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