His Farther was a competent guitarist and his mother played the piano. On his 9th Birthday he received an acoustic guitar as a gift but it would not be until 11 years later that he would decide to learn.

It was from one of Simon's regular visits to see his father that first inspired him to pick up a guitar . To see a marshal stack and SG Gibson played the way his father did was a life changing moment. The blues, the riffs ,the emotion ,he just had to learn.



So many hours of practice later, sore fingers and shouts from his mother to turn it down he was ready.



Simon wanted to form a band and let people enjoy the way he played the guitar and the original music he wrote. With the help of is father as Rhythm Guitarist, his friend Greg on Drums and Simon on Lead they formed Presence of Mind.



They practice at his farther house regularly and at times turned the lights off to set the scene as if they were on stage .They also recorded their sessions to watch them back always trying to improve. Even thou they received a notice of warning from the level noise they made they still persisted but had to change location to Lens Studios. Now the owner if he had to be described would be a sincere elderly man that had all the characteristics of Del Boy. Most times they went down to practice they would end up paying for their session but at the same turn be offered second hand goods to buy from Len.



The first Gig for the three of them was a hard act to follow. They played at Odeon cinemas in Southend. They received a great reception and applause for their performance even thou they did not have a singer, the three of them knew how to entertain.



Soon after Ben joined the band on vocals and Tim (Simons brother) on bass. Their first performance all together was a packed venue at Chinnerys. When their final song finished chants rang out for more , more.



Many shows followed but then Ben left the Band. Simon who wrote all the music decided it was his time to sing the songs he had penned. They got a break when in the summer of 2007 they appeared on Sky TV’s live and unsigned. They continued to travel around Essex and wowed crowds with their powerful riff based music and great stage performances.

Sadly after this Greg was dismissed from the band , a hard yet valid reason .They never were able to replace him and soon after Tim Got married which brought the band to a halt.



So this brings us up to Date. Since the band ended the name Presence of Mind is still very much alive. Simon continued to write music and played the odd show here and there. Inside he could never quite recapture that same feeling he felt on stage with his old band members , until now.



He has since spent a long and lonely time in his studio developing a new sound of all original material. His hunger and passion is just like it was the first day he learnt. Simon is now ready to share these four exciting albums he has written and produce all by himself with the world.



‘Perform like you need to earn it, feel it, live it, let the audience believe in it’

Simon Rayner