She’s been fronting symphonic metal band Epica for over two decades – but Simone Simons had held a long, lingering desire to branch out with a solo album. A record 15 years in the making, Vermillion sees her operatic vocals stretch further beyond the realms of Epica's canon, with a stark industrial clangour, sweeping silver screen choral and progressive side plots that showcase her in a bold new light.
Simons teamed up with Ayreon multi-instrumentalist mastermind Arjen Lucassen to realise her dream, providing a “full circle” moment for the singer, who fell in love with his music aged 16. “Who would have thought back then that little Simone would sing on an album like that one day?” she says.
They’ve proved a winning pairing across numerous collaborations, but the “crazy, in a good way, Dutchies” have never sounded quite like this before. Each of Vermillion’s tracks spins its own contemplative tale based on the colour’s symbolism and the emotions and fortunes it can convey.
Vermillion has been a long time coming. Why release it now?
It was just a question of not having the time and not having the right person to work with. I’ve been almost constantly on the road or writing with Epica for the last 10 years and I’m also a mother, so there aren’t enough hours in the day.
Some holes in calendars opened up, so Arjen and I started working on the album last spring. We have bands we both love like Muse and Rammstein, so there was a good connection from the beginning. It came together very smoothly.
Did you want this album to sound different from your main band?
With Arjen writing the music, he already has a very distinct style; and my voice is my voice. So it was always going to have familiar cornerstones. It touches on the sound of both Epica and Ayreon. I think it’s a good blend of those two worlds, but we also tried to mix in influences of other bands.
There’s a much bigger progressive element to it, with some crazy cool guitar riffs and really funky synth sounds. Mostly I love the industrial touch with this record, which is something quite different to Epica. But really the sky was the limit to see what we could do. For instance, I sing in three different languages on The Weight Of My World, so it was a very big challenge to build up that song.
Symbolically, vermillion is a colour that’s had many different associations throughout history. Did that make it an exciting concept?
I initially fell in love with the sound of the word before the colour itself. I heard it in the movie Coraline and I thought, “That’s so extraordinary” – and it was living in my mind for many years.
When Arjen and I first started brainstorming, he came separately with the idea of using the colour red because we can use it for many things. It can be love, hate, passion, prosperity, danger; so it was the perfect start for us.
The music can pull on your heartstrings, sometimes maybe too hard, but it can also be very beautiful
What are some of your lyrical themes in relation to the hue?
We both love the universe and the stars, so Aeterna is about how a new star is born when another explodes. People are like that also: we turn to dust in the end, but humanity continues the circle of life.
From Cradle To The Grave is an idea I’ve had in my head for the longest time about life’s ups and downs; how we can become slaves to society by trying to fit in, and what happens when you break from that to find your own path in life. Dark Night Of The Soul is about a transformative phase of a person who’s been going through hardship, and talking about spiritual enlightenment.
I don’t think there’s one lyric that’s very light-hearted, and I hope people can find things that they can recognise themselves in. I’ve had people tell me that the music and lyrics hit them hard – that’s the power of music. It can pull on your heartstrings, sometimes maybe too hard, but it can also be very beautiful.
You’ve also been heavily inspired by film scores.
One of my dreams is to sing on a movie score. I love the Gladiator soundtrack and the melancholic and atmospheric vocals Lisa Gerrard does on that. The way she creates those moods without any words is definitely a big influence to me. There’s an ode to her in the intro to Fight Or Flight.
We’re very hard-working people but it comes from the heart. It’s art and it’s sincere
I also love the soundtrack for Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer. There’s a boy choir in there and it’s just really beautiful. It’s very ethereal; I wanted to create atmospheres with just vocal sounds like that.
You’ve described yourself and Arjen as “heartworking” people. What do you mean?
It was pun intended. We’re very hard-working people, but it comes from the heart. It’s art and it’s sincere; it has to feel good for us and hopefully other people resonate with that.
I don’t know anyone who is as immersed in writing music as Arjen is; he’s super-focused and creative and we connect as friends on a deep level. We’ve had similar life experiences and our passion for music connects us also. I think you can hear that in the songs.
If we can make people do a little dance, get goosebumps or even shed a little tear, we have succeeded. So we’ll see what the tear-shedding level for this album is!
And what about touring plans?
At the moment Epica is taking over again. It’s tricky, but I think these beautiful songs deserve to be played live, so we’ll see what we can make happen.
