Simon McBride

McBride started playing the guitar when he was nine. "I was born myself into a house of rock n roll and was influenced by the music my Dad listened to as I was growing up in Belfast, he was and still is a fan of classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Free etc, which was always on the hi fi. ... I was about nine years old when I just picked it up one day and sat down with a tuition book and started to learn a few chords".. By age 15 he entered Guitarist magazine's Young Guitarist of the Year, a performance competition staged that year at Wembley Conference Centre, which he won.

Less than a year later, a few months after his sixteenth birthday, McBride was recruited by the Belfast-based metal band Sweet Savage, which reformed in 1994 without their founding guitarist, Vivian Campbell, (who had gone on to be a member of Dio, Def Leppard and Whitesnake), who McBride replaced. He toured with the band and recorded two albums, Killing Time 1996 and Rune 1998.

After leaving Sweet Savage in 1998, he joined fellow Irishman Andrew Strong, who made his name in the 1991 cult film The Commitments and went on to establish a singing career. Playing with Strong was in stark contrast to Sweet Savage, involving mostly soul, R&B and some pop music. The change of musical style was a useful learning experience and closer in style to the rock and blues artists that had inspired McBride to start playing the guitar. He spent six years touring with Strong before leaving to pursue a solo career.

In the intervening years prior to going solo he formed Blind Friday, a guitar-based band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Formed in 2003 by lead guitarist McBride and lead vocalist Robin Martin (The Horse), later additions came along with Marty McCloskey on drums and finally Mark Adair on bass guitar. Their music can only be described as true rock, with memorable guitar licks, pounding drums, driving bass and truly passionate vocals. The lyrical content is of a mixed nature, covering a wide range of topics from funny to controversial, a sound so unique Blind Friday were endorsed by world renowned names: PRS (Paul Reed Smith) Guitars, Gretsch Drums, and Framus Amplification.

They released their only album 'Wake Up' in 2007 before breaking up.

In 2008, McBride released his debut album, Rich Man Falling on Nugene Records, a boutique label with a specialisation in guitarists and blues-based artists. The album contains covers of Be My Friend by Free and the Jimi Hendrix song "Power of Soul".