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Having left home (as soon as he could drive) at the tender age of 4, the young Paul traveled the backroads of New Zealand in a beat-up Model A Ford "learning about life"... Learning to siphon petrol, learning to fight, learning to lie about his age to publicans & Traffic cops all seemed so exiting to the young guitarist. Fortunately it was extremely rare for a four year old to have a beard & he was quite convincing. When times were tough he took on any kind of job he needed to, but most of the time he played acoustic guitar in public bars & woolsheds in the rural towns & villages he found. (It was still years before he could muster the strength to carry a Fender Strat & Bassman amplifier). While on his travels, Paul was able to experience NZ in its purest form, & was able to see the truth in a number of local myths: During a stretch working as a travelling transcendental tambourine technician he was behind a hedge liberating the waterpump off a cocky’s old ford. On the other side of the hedge happened to be the dog-dosing strip at Dunsandel & he is still adamant it didn’t happen at all like it sounded like in the song. Eventually, he became a household nameplate. After many years of incredible success, (& after he could remove the blocks off the pedals of his Model A) he recorded & released his ‘greatest hits’ album "Spaceman" to rapturous acclaim (at the time of writing, it has already ‘gone Aluminum’!). Shunning show business, he now lives in the quiet seclusion of the Waitakere ranges with his wife Penny & their 16 llamas.
Born into slavery in the latter part of the 60's in the Taranaki Delta, Paul learned to play guitar from famous Taranaki Bluesman 'Whitey' Bates, 'Mudge' Martian & other players working in the cotton fields of his home. Eventually escaping to freedom in an old Holden station-wagon (Gold), with only a guitar, a batch of cheese scones & a razor (which he later lost), he eeked out a living playing at car washes & bowls clubs throughout the country. Eventually, after many years of poverty, he had a few more years of poverty; then ran off to join the circus. Having admired the clowns since his childhood, he resolved to start as a monkey, and work his way up through the system. Gradually acquiring the acceptable amount of body hair over the many months of grueling study, his ambition was cruelly thwarted & he was dismissed in an unfortunate case of mistaken identity involving the Bearded Lady, three monkeys & 487 litres of lime jelly. Like any good 'rocka-roller' in times of peril, he returned to his roots, (even though quite a few upper follicles had already abandoned him in preparation for his yearned-for elevation to full sideshow clown) & recorded his opus/concept album 'Spaceman' based on his time in the circus, as seen through the eyes of a child eating worms in the garden . The incredible success of this album (its already gone 'mild steel'!) has kept Paul on an unrelenting & hectic schedule of touring, interviews & radio/TV/ personal appearances for hours now; but he still dreams of one day returning to the Carnival to pass his full clown (first class) license & practicing certificate before his untimely death.
OH.. ALRIGHT..
Born in Taranaki in 1968, Paul grew up around music, as his Ma was & still is a piano teacher of great repute.. Picking up guitar at the tender age of 10ish, it was a major distraction for the remainder of his short academic career. Finally giving in to the music, he spent the early to mid '90s travelling the length of NZ in his vintage Bedford school-bus: living the life, playing on a never-ending circuit of pubs, music clubs, festivals, motorcycle rallys & plenty of dives; shaping him into the versatile player & entertainer he is today.. Along the way he held down jobs as dump-truck driver, oil rig worker, groundsman, painter, sawmiller, wharfie, & builder, adding rich experience to can-do attitude.. His songwriting chops were shaped by his appreciation of a wide variety of styles from the early folk & bluesmen to Paul Simon, John Hiatt & Ry Cooder, to local heroes Graham Wardrop, Luke Hurley & Andrew White.. Just about anything with guitars!! These days Paul lives in rural West Auckland, near the wild West coast; on a small farm with his wife Penny, cats, dogs & twenty-odd llamas..(some very odd..) Writing & playing with a wide variety of musicians in all kinds of settings; A duo with dynamic songwriter Owen Hugh, swampy electric slide guitar in 'Westy' power trio 'The Dusters', occasional Dobro & peddle-steel with top local folk & country artists.. Always returning to his solo roots..
WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT THE "SPACEMAN" ALBUM..
"This is the kind of album we welcome from the likes of Guy Clark “rooted firmly in the singer’s own world, no bullshit, nicely crafted songs with meaning and wry humour”, cool instrumentals, all his own work. The most honest album I’ve heard in a long time..." Bruce Morley, NZ Musician Magazine
Link to whole review: http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/pi_pageid/10/pi_albumid/474
"This is an excellent album - Symons has a fine voice, writes good songs and
has achieved a distinctive sound on this self played, self produced album.."
Mike Garner, ' Blues.co.nz' website & archive
Link to whole review: http://www.blues.co.nz/features/article.php?id=203