Let me start by saying Happy New Yarr! Life has set me on a different course and it is time to tell everyone that your old pal Sharkbait Simon is retiring from the Bilge Pumps. You will still have Jack the Rum Runner plucking the 12 string and even Maroon on the 6 string (I am sorry about that one).

I know you are all probably very relieved sad to see me go but my legacy will live on in the work that I have done. Let me throw some numbers at you concerning my time as the longest running, grumblingest guitarist in Bilge Pumps history:

I started in this band as a replacement guitarist who had zero clue what it was like to play pirate music. As many of you have heard me do on stage from time to time, I was used to playing 80s hard rock/hair band stuff. I did not realize you could play so much on an acoustic guitar without distortion or solos. As far as performing, I had done one play in my life and standup at a small bar. I had done some backing vocals on a few original recordings and did a mean karaoke version of Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name". This was a whole new world...

My stage persona evolved from an intense desire to not mess up songs and that was interpreted as being grumpy. I was just fiercely focused but it seemed like a good choice since those who know me well off the stage know that I can be grumpy anyway. My original intent was to be just a guitarist but that evolved into singing and even lead vocals on some songs. Over the years, Sharkbait has grown from a seemingly grumpy but hyper-focused guitarist to a sometimes jovial, camera friendly singing diva who helped break the curse of the Bilge Pumps revolving door of guitarists.

I am mostly proud of the work I have done in my time but I am my harshest critic. I know that many people have enjoyed both the works I have recorded and my live performances - for that I am deeply grateful and humbled. I will miss the people I have come to call family and friends. I was going to go through a list of them but that would take too long and I would definitely end up forgetting someone or saying something I should not.

You never know when I might resurface. I have committed to a few of the gigs early in 2019 and after that it would be for those times when they just need my particular brand of insanity like maybe at the next electric show in Louisiana. I may popup from time to time as a patron of some of the shows but I could be in Sharkbait's clothes and might even allow myself to be pulled up for a song with my crazy pirate brethren.

Full sail and fair seas,
Sharkbait Simon the Scapegoat
Guitarist Extraordinaire