Sid Simons @sidsimonsofficial photographed by Anna Henderson @annahenders0n Interviewed by Jess Abene @212212212.212
I met Sid at a Halloween party at the Boom Boom Room. He had just finished his set - one of the best live moments I have experienced in 2025 - and was cooling off on the edge of the costumed crowd. New York has the tendency of doing this holiday right. Not a single person was without a masterfully executed outfit. Not a single person was sober. I was luckily with a dear friend of mine who frequented Studio 151 every week (which happened to be his chosen Tuesday venue). Shout out Bianca Buechel. As she caught up with him about so and so it was clear that, from his beyond kind demeanor and undeniable humor, he would be an incredible subject for VFiles.
I’d seen him play before this encounter but it was always in the context of a DJ booth. In my head, he was simply a DJ. An extremely talented one who consistently kept a crowd going, but nothing that alluded to him being a musician himself.
Around the same time as this legendary Boom Boom Room set, I was sent the song Darling by Girl Skin, Sid’s project before he stepped out under his own name. The first time I listened to it, there was a feeling almost identical to hearing the Beatles for the first time. 10000/10 track.
That song, alongside his performance, made it obvious that he was someone whose next move needed to be watched very closely. Attention was no longer optional.
We thankfully got to visit his studio in Brooklyn.
Vfiles: How long have you been in this area?
Sid: Uhh well.. this is Dan's apartment hehe but I guess 8 months now. We’ve been on tour for most of the year so it feels like I haven’t been here that long.
Vfiles: When was the tour?
Sid: June 11th / July 5th - that was the last European tour we just did.
Vfiles: What was your favorite place that you guys played?
Sid: I’d say Bordeaux. It was this thing called Fête de la Musique which is Music Day for all of France. We played In front of about 5000 beautifully drunk French people right outside this castle. During the day you’d walk down the street and every corner had someone playing music and then at night every corner turned into little raves. I remember someone driving up in their car, they popped the sun roof open, whipped out a little CDJ deck and started Djing out of their car and everyone surrounded it and started dancing.
Vfiles: Whats your favorite food?
Sid: I am really obsessed with Thai food - whenever we are on tour I immediately need to know where the Thai foods at!!
Vfiles: Its good at any point in the day
Sid: ANYTIME. We should just tour in Thailand!
Vfiles: They will arrest you over anything in Thailand. Even if it something as small as vaping
Sid: It’s a bit like Singapore chewing gum is prohibited, yet the streets are incredibly clean. I noticed a similar contrast when I lived in Shanghai for a few years, after my family moved there for my father’s work in advertising during my late teens.
Vfiles: PIVOTAL YEARS
Sid: Pivotal years and when I moved there I didn’t know anyone I didn’t have many friends so that's when I started making music because. My guitar became my friend and I played it everyday all day long. I was completely obsessed.
Vfiles: Are you bilingual?
Sid: I learned a bit it’s a tough language but I had a better grasp of it while I was living there. That said, at 16, I wasn’t exactly at my most disciplined when it came to studying.
Vfiles: Do you have siblings?
Sid: Yeah 2 brothers, middle child
Vfiles: Do you have middle child syndrome?
Sid: I think I do now hahahaha
Vfiles: Are you closer to one versus the other?
Sid: Nah love them both. We all live in Brooklyn. My younger is an actor and my older is an editor in film.
Vfiles: Oh woooah - do your parents also do creative stuff?
Sid: My mom is a film producer and my dad was a creative director in advertising.
Vfiles: So you have always been surrounded by creativity - do you think that pushed you to do something in a similar field?
Sid: There was no consideration in doing anything else to the point in which me going to college would be rebellious. I had so much freedom growing up - especially when we moved back to the states. All I wanted to do, specifically my entire senior year of high school, was to make music and to be in a band. It felt like a waste of time to do anything else…. They kinda were like “Alright drop out, if you are excited just go for it.”
Vfiles: Woooah were you shocked when they said that?
Sid: Yes and no
Vfiles: But do you think that lit a fire under you? Did you think to yourself now I really have to go balls to the wall
Sid: Honestly, there wasn’t a plan B. I was living in my parents’ basement writing music, and it hit me that I didn’t have enough real-life experience to draw from. The artists I admired especially Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen had all these incredible stories, and it made me realize I needed to go out and live a bit more fully. So I packed up my van and just started driving across the country without much of a plan. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, but I knew I needed to find something. What was meant to be a short trip turned into 3 months on the road.
Vfiles: Where did you stay the longest?
Sid: SANTA CRUZ!!! I stopped there and it was fucking heaven… I was right on the beach, got a surf board, had my little shitty guitar. Eating bread and cheese everyday.
Vfiles: Where are you from?
Sid: I grew up in Australia - so it was pretty close to the lifestyle I had growing up with
Vfiles: How old were you when you came to the states?
Sid: I was 12
Vfiles: Whats your zodiac sign?
Sid: Taurus
Vfiles: (Jess gets excited) Me Too :00 When is your birthday?
Sid: May 19th
Vfiles: Would you consider yourself really hard working? (One of the defining characteristics of a Taurus)
Sid: Very.
Vfiles: You played at Boom Boom Room, how was that? That's a crazy venue to play at?
Sid: It was great. Really sweaty.
Vfiles: How did that come about?
Sid: Orson put the entire thing together, I have played there before.
Vfiles: Do you get anxious before a show?
Sid: Like 20 minutes before but when I walk on stage I’m ready to go. I have some weird little ticks. Occasionally I’ll have to lock the door a couple times, things of that nature. The anxiety really comes around when I record. I’ll run over keys or push this, that, this, this, that, that. Gotta eat a ton of pistachios…
Vfiles: With or without the shells?
Sid: Always with the shells - the whole thing. I need to crack the shell.
Vfiles: What do you think of the JP Morgan building?
Sid: (He gets really confused) What do I think of JP Morgan?
Vfiles: No - the new building
Sid: *Laughs*
Vfiles: Your mom was a film producer you mentioned - what's your favorite movie?
Sid: Into the Wild is one of my favorite books and films, and it definitely inspired that period of my life. I was drawn to the idea of stripping everything back like he does, giving up money and heading into Alaska to live off the land. But the real takeaway for me was his realization at the end: that no matter how independent you try to be, human connection is essential.
Vfiles: So good - It's one of those movies, along with Interstellar, where you just need to sit with it.
Sid: Do you guys wanna hear my new song?
*We all listen to his new song, jaws on the floor*
*Dan comes in an drops off a zine they were in that features a story about the band*
Sid: Woooah this looks sick - Oh my god they added the story in!!
*The image for the zine is Sid surrounded by cops with a taser in their hands. The headline is about Sid taking on the police*
Sid: Yeah I was arrested… I was in jail for two days, kinda sucked
Vfiles: When you are creating music - specifically the song you just played - what does that process look like?
Sid: For this particular song, I was reading a ton of these poetry books and became obsessed with Leonard Cohen. I was curious to see what a modern Leonard Cohen song would sound like if it were written right now.
Vfiles: That line, 200 kisses deep, was WOW
Sid: That's sooo Cohen. I wanted to write from a different character. Someone who is so overly confident.
Vfiles: That's one of the coolest things with making songs is that you can take on a role.
Sid: Totally - and I haven’t really done that before but have been enjoying doing that with new songs. There is this one poem, you guys HAVE to read this.
Quiet World by Jeffrey McDaniel
In an effort to get people to look
into each other’s eyes more,
and also to appease the mutes,
the government has decided
to allot each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.
When the phone rings, I put it to my ear
without saying hello. In the restaurant
I point at chicken noodle soup.
I am adjusting well to the new way.
Late at night, I call my long distance lover,
proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.
I saved the rest for you.
When she doesn’t respond,
I know she’s used up all her words,
so I slowly whisper I love you
thirty-two and a third times.
After that, we just sit on the line
and listen to each other breathe.
*Jess starts to cry*
Sid: How beautiful is that? It is insane!! He wrote something else called My Last American Valentine and I used that as the title of my EP. This guy is amazing.
Vfiles: Have you ever written for other people?
Sid: I’ve written with people but I’ve never been like “Use this.”
Vfiles: Your song writing is so strong. I feel like most people forget the art of writing a song
Sid: It is so important
Vfiles: So important!! It feels like more people are leaning on autotune to make the simplest words sound cool where as your lyrics are fully formed poetry
Sid: That wasn’t always the case!! For a while it was music first and the words didn’t matter but now they are the most important thing to me… so so crucial.
Vfiles: How long does it take for you to develop a song?
Sid: Hmmmmm it all depends… it’s really all about how strong the idea is and the identity behind it. When you come up with something and you know exactly how it should sound, what I should say, what's the message… I could just do it in one sitting ya know. Well, then there are certain ideas, like the song I played earlier that was just the instrumental, it takes awhile to know what you want to say. Once the idea is in place though it is almost like the pen just writes itself.
Vfiles: The idea of something just pouring out of you is an insane concept
Sid: Those are the best songs
Vfiles: You mentioned Bob
Sid: Bob Dylan?? BOB AYE
Vfiles: Your lyricism reminds me of Bob
Sid: I mean.. He is one of my favorites
Vfiles: I can tell!! The way you both are so tied to poetry - What is your favorite song of his?
Sid: That’s an impossible question to answer but my first thought is The song I Was Young When I Left Home its incredibly powerful. There are certain artists and songs I find hard to revisit because they bring up such strong emotions. That one, in particular, takes me back to my group of friends in Shanghai we were all completely absorbed in Bob Dylan’s music. It was a bit unusual, a group of 16-year-olds from different countries bonding over him, but it was a really special time. That song always reminds me of them.
Vfiles: Do you still talk to them?
Sid: Yeah actually when we were touring Europe, one of them (Charles) came along and stayed with us for a day or two. He lives in Germany. This guy… people should write a book about him. You guys would love him.
Vfiles: Tell us about him!!
Sid: He’s probably one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. I met him at a skate park when I first moved to Shanghai. He’d originally come over from Germany with his dad on a business trip, but he loved it so much he didn’t want to leave. Eventually, he ended up at a boarding school there he was the only German student, surrounded by about 1500 Chinese kids, and at the time he didn’t speak either Chinese or English. He picked up Chinese through school, and, he taught himself English by listening to Bob Dylan.
Boarding schools in China can be very strict, so whenever he wanted to leave, he had to sign out for the entire weekend. At first, he didn’t really have anywhere to go, so he’d spend nights skating around the city and sleeping in McDonald’s before heading back to school on Monday. By the time I met him, he’d been doing that for about a year. I invited him to stay with my family on weekends, and that turned into a routine for nearly two years he basically became like a brother to me. We have a lot of memories together. He eventually moved back to Germany, where he’s now.
Vfiles: Sounds like a legend. Sleeping in McDonalds and waking up to the hashbrowns. Do friends like him inspire your music?
Sid: 100% The stories that he brings, his experiences that I just tag along.
Vfiles: Who has influenced most of your songs?
Sid: Phew I don't know - people in general. There are a few people that I’ve written about a few times.
Vfiles: What is a belief about yourself that you have had to unlearn to become the artist that you are now?
Sid: I think I had to unlearn the idea that I needed a safety net in order to take myself seriously as an artist. Leaving school without a clear backup plan was uncomfortable, but it pushed me to fully commit. It taught me to trust my instincts and be comfortable with risk, which has been essential to my growth
Vfiles: Is there a lyric that you have written in the past that hits way harder now?
Sid: Mmm yeah - there is a song from my old band Girl Skin called Bite Real Hard. It was about my uncle who had just got diagnosed with cancer and he had taught me so much. He showed me so much music and taught me guitar. When he got sick it was a really emotional time, so it was one of those songs that just sort of happened. He died a year ago. Now listening back to that song… it's emotional. He hung on for a while. It was throat cancer. He was the only one in my family who had guitars and banjos which I have now. He was the musician in my family that was badass. He just didn’t give a fuck.
Vfiles: Is that one of your muses?
Sid: Yeah I guess so!! I was really close with him until I was like 12 and of course saw him whenever I went back to visit Australia.
Vfiles: Do you use voice memos?
Sid: All the time. I use it to scat lyrics to instrumentals. To find how the lyrics are supposed to sound.
Vfiles: Do you use the notes app? If so, what is your last note?
Sid: All the time my last note says Take a Pill and Go to Sleep which is a line from a Yung Lean song. I don’t know why I wrote that down but I really liked that line.
Vfiles: How long have you been listening to him?
Sid: Like a day. My younger brother sent it to me.
Vfiles: What should we expect next from Sid Simons?
Sid: There is a lot coming - all new music, all new singles. Might just release my entire catalog for 2026. I actually gotta keep recording so I love you guys but you guys gotta go!! Thank you!!!!!!!
Vfiles: Goodbye Sid :) THANK YOUUU
Thank you Sid Simons for being a solid guy. I’m really excited to see what comes next for you - I think you are on the highway to becoming one of the greats!!
Stream Secret Life by Sid Simons