The Phantoms (36)

The Phantoms began in 2011 when Andrew Simple felt it was time to return to his Rock roots. Side-tracked by his eponymous Indie-Folk solo effort (not unlike Jack White’s infamous foray into the comparatively lighter side of Rock & Roll through his solo and work with The Raconteurs), Simple wasted no time assembling a band and started writing and recording, immediately seeing early signs of success with placements of The Phantoms’ music in film (Unfinished Business, S.W.A.T.), TV (The Walking Dead, The Whispers, Elementary), video games (Dragon Age: Inquisition), as well as multiple commercials (Microsoft, Lowe's). Even the NY Jets featured single "Make it Beautiful" in their promotional material; also the title track of their debut EP. Simple grew up fronting Rock bands throughout high school and college, touring all over the US. Each band seemed to morph into the next, and after 7 years of touring he decided it was time for a reprieve and began focusing on his solo/acoustic work. "Many great Rock riffs were written on acoustic guitar and then transferred to the rock band palette,” Simple explains. “I write most all my songs on acoustic and them bring them to the band setting.” So, while Simple's solo work was keeping him quite busy, he inevitably was bitten by the sharp teeth of the Rock & Roll monster once again. "It was time to turn up the volume, you know? I'll keep doing the solo acoustic stuff, but I can't help but pour my heart and soul into this band as well...there's nothing like that great rock riff that hits you in the chest." Thus was born The Phantoms first LP, "Different Drum". "We could not have predicted the success of that album", says Simple. After getting license after license, live opportunities started coming to the fore, and the labels started knocking. It was unreal".