Welcome back to Shecky's Jam Bands. I'm Shecky,
and I want to start out today with a scenario.
You're a bartender in Charlotte, North Carolina.
It's Tuesday night, and the bar isn't exactly
packed. A solo musician walks in, sets up his
gear, and starts playing. You pour drinks, you
half listen, and then you stop. You put down
the glass, and you think, who is this guy? That
bartender is Chris Sheridan, the solo musician
is Clee Laster, and that chance encounter in
a Charlotte bar is the entire reason Simplified
exists. One of the most quietly beloved rock
reggae bands in the American Southeast, with
over 3 ,000 shows, a song on every Caroline Panthers
home game, Pandora Play Count's in the millions
and a following that has stayed loyal through
every reinvention the band has made. Today we
find out why. Today we're talking about simplified.
Chris Sheridan is from Michigan. Clee Laster
is from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Two different
backgrounds, two different coasts of two different
states. But both of them wound up in Charlotte,
North Carolina at the same time. And both of
them were in the same bar on the night that changed
everything. Sheridan was the bartending. Laster
was performing as a solo act at the Charlotte
Uptown venue, then known as The Graduate. The
two struck up a conversation after the set. They
both played music. They both had the same restless
feeling that they were meant to be. doing something
bigger than what they were doing. And they both
grew up on the water, Sheridan near Lake Michigan,
Laster on the shores of Myrtle Beach, which meant
they both had that beach life rhythm built into
their DNA from childhood. Cleo's talked about
how both of them were inspired early by the ocean,
by the way it moves, by the way it breathes,
the way it pulls and pushes. The energy is all
over their music, and it's not an accident that
their sound is described as island rock. It comes
from a real place. They formed an acoustic duo
in 2002 and started playing Charlotte bars and
clubs together. Their sound immediately caught
on. Charlotte crowds responded to the combination
of Sheraton's gritty, Springsteen -tinged vocals
and Laster's guitar. and the reggae and rock
influences woven through the songwriting. They
called themselves Simplified. By 2003, they were
already thinking about a full band. In 2004,
they held auditions, added a bassist and a drummer,
and the quartet was complete. In 2005, they started
touring the Southeast, and they never really
stopped. The name simplified didn't come from
the band themselves. A fan suggested it, and
when Sheridan and Laster heard it, they knew
immediately it was right. Sheridan said it described
their sound well. Acoustic -driven rock and reggae,
funk and roots undertones, and it felt memorable.
But I think the name resonates on a deeper level
than that. In a music world, that was increasingly
complicated, overproduced, and driven by industry
machinery, simplified, made a conscious choice
to play music that felt human. Real, direct,
no nonsense. There was a Klee quote that I love,
and here it is. We were writing new songs for
ourselves and our fans, not for a producer or
a critic. We are getting right back to where
we started with what we know and love. Music
that makes you smile. That's simplified in a
sentence. It's right there. Music that makes
you smile. There's nothing simple about creating
that constantly and consistently over two plus
decades. But the intention behind it is as clean
as the name. Ironically, Simplified has been
described as one of music's most interesting
and complex bands on the circuit, because within
that simple sounding, feel -good exterior, there's
a genuinely intricate songwriting, versatile
arrangements, and live performances that stretch
and breathe in ways that pure pop music never
could. The simplicity is a philosophy, not a
limitation. My one song for Simplified is Wake
and Bake from their 2006 album Smile. I know
what you're thinking, and yes, that song is exactly
what it sounds like. It's a joyful, unambiguous
celebration of the road trip ritual that many
touring musicians know well. But here's the thing.
It's also one of the most perfectly executed
pieces of island rock, this side of Sublime.
And there's a reason it has been played between
1 .6 and 2 million times on Pandora per quarter
for years running. That's per quarter, by the
way. Every three months between 1 and 2 million
streams on Pandora alone. The song once simplified
the Charlotte Music Award for Rock Album of the
Year in 2007. The whole Smile album, not just
the single. But Wake and Bake became the signature,
the calling card, the song that was introduced
thousands of people to this band. Start here,
then work backward and forward through the catalog.
Now I want to tell you a story about a drummer
from a small town in West Virginia. A national
competition and the Night Simplified's live show
became something truly extraordinary. His name
is Donnie Marple. He started playing drums at
three years old, never had a lesson, just sat
behind a kit one day, and the music was already
there. He played all through school, local bands,
jazz bands, concert bands, and then he heard
about the Guitar Center Drum Off, the national
drumming competition that draws thousands of
competitors and accumulates in a Hollywood final
judged by legends. Alan White of Yes, Steve Smith
of Journey, David Garibaldi of Tower of Power,
Vinny Apis of Black Sabbath. These are the people
who watched Donnie Marple sit down and play a
five -minute solo in 2007 when he was 20 years
old, and they crowned him champion. That win
gave Donnie the courage to leave West Virginia
and move to Nashville to pursue music as a career.
He knocked on doors, he put in the work, and
eventually he got the call from Simplified. The
band's own bio described this moment this way.
Donnie Marple beats out 6 ,000 other drummers
in a national contest to join Simplified. That
is not a footnote. That is a statement about
the level this band was playing at. They didn't
want just any drummer. They wanted the best drummer
they could find. And the best drummer they found
happened to be a guitar center drum -off national
champion. Alright, things you should know about
Simplified. First fact, the Carolina Panthers
play their music. Simplified's song was featured
as official tailgate music and played every Carolina
Panthers home game under the black and blue.
The official music Carolina Panthers release.
Walk into the Bank of America Stadium on a Sunday
and you might hear simplified warming up the
crowd before the kickoff. Second fact ESPN and
NASCAR both called. Shall We Begin was featured
on ESPN's kickoff to college game day in 2011
and stayed in the top 10 of the adult charts
for the month of August. Then getting home landed
in the NASCAR The Game video games. First in
2012, then again five years later in NASCAR Heat
2 with a different developer. Two different video
game companies, five years apart, both chose
the same simplified song. That is a repeat endorsement.
Last fact, the music is really written for fans,
not labels. Simplified has remained proudly independent
their entire career. No major label deals, no
corporate creative decisions. Sheraton says it
directly, the advantage of being independent
are you have more creative freedom, you aren't
locked into a nasty deal, and you keep a larger
percentage of your sales. 3 ,000 shows and millions
of Pandora streams all built without a label.
That's the simplified story. Here's what I keep
on coming back to with simplified. Two musicians
in a Charlotte bar in 2002 one behind the bar
one on the stage Neither of them knowing that
the conversation they were about to have would
produce over 3 ,000 shows millions of plays Carolina
Panthers tailgate parties ESPN college game day
NASCAR video games and a devoted following that
has followed them through acoustic to full band
to pop reinvention and back to island rock roots,
always waiting for them to come home. The name
is simplified. The mission is music that makes
you smile. The execution over 20 plus years has
been anything but simple. It has been the product
of two musicians who love the ocean, love the
road, love the stage, and love the feeling of
a room full of people who have let go for two
hours and just felt good. Start with Wake and
Bake, find the Smile album, then find Brighter
Days, then get on their website and look for
the show near you, because Simplified Live, with
that island rock groove, with Clee's guitar and
Sheraton's voice, and a rhythm section locked
in like the tide, is exactly what this podcast
is always chasing. Something real, something
that moves you, something that you didn't expect
to need, but can't imagine not having found.
That's Simplified. That's Shecky's Jam Bands.
Thank you for listening and I'll see you next
time.