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.