Strumbellas founding member and former vocalist Simon Ward has announced his next chapter — helming a family grunge band called Soup.
The Lindsay, ON, native stepped down as the Strumbellas lead singer in 2022 to focus on his mental health. He revealed in a press release that during his time away from the spotlight, he decided his next step was to return grunge to the forefront of music.
"I want to bring '90s grunge music back to the mainstream. I wanted to make a record that sounded like the '90s bands I loved ... So I called my brother and said 'Let's make a '90s grunge band,'" he recalled. "Soup is the story of my love of grunge music and the complexities of what the '90s were to me. It's the story of where my pain came from. It's me facing my darkness, and turning it into light."
Soup was formed by Ward and his brother Tod, and consists of brother-in-law Brian Pickett, nephew Dexter Ward and friends Luc Sanderson and Stephen Perry. The new group was named for the Ward brothers' favourite Blind Melon song.
They'll burst onto the scene this Friday, June 7, with debut single "Let's Go for a Ride," which you can preview below.