The Bargains

Amidst the Grey concrete and political unrest of the early 1980's, Thamesmead, a small corner of South East London, was about to witness the birth of two brothers. The youngest of eleven children, Jonathan & Simon Hearn were brought up in the least known and probably most "uncool" part of London. Thamesmead is known among the media (especially The Guardian) for being a "concrete jungle" and home to some of South London's most undesirable characters. Some twenty years or so later this would lay the foundations for what was to be unique sounding new band.

The Bargains formed in mid 2004. Si had bought some recording equipment (which he didn't know how to operate) and decided the best way to learn, was to use it! Jon had recently auditioned Si as a singer for "Reflekter", a band he had been in for some time. Si didn't pass the audition but continued to sing as he knew he could do it. Jon was about to be proven wrong. Reflekter was dwindling and Jon was looking for a new project. Si had this great idea that they could start a new band. Jon was a little unsure. He had never written any songs before and as far as he was concerned, Si couldn't really sing. It was at this point that things fell in to place. All of a sudden, Jon was "knocking out tunes all over the place" and Si was making his years worth of songwriting fit with them. Within a year they had written and recorded almost a whole albums worth of material and played their first gig to a handful of family and friends on New Years eve 2006. With a huge Myspace following and great reviews from anyone that heard the music, in early 2007 they set about devising a video script to what was due to be their debut single, "A Place To Call Home". The video was scripted, the lead role was cast and a director was appointed. What could have gone wrong?

On March the 20th 2007, Simon Hearn, Lead singer, writer and Jon's younger brother, died. The utter disbelief, disappointment, and sadness that filled Jon was unimaginable. However with a bucket load of songs and a shit load of determination, Jon knew he had to carry on. Exactly one year after Si's death, "Demonstrate" a 5 track E.P of The Bargains work so far was succesfully released via this page. "Knowing that fans are still hungry for more, I just had to carry on" Jon is currently recording some new tracks in Spain and the results will be placed on this and the XFM Uploaded page in the coming weeks.

The Bargains have already been on a long journey. Feel free to join them for the next part of it.

For more information on The Bargains please check out:

www.thebargainsmusic.com

Or email:

info@thebargainsmusic.com



Thanks to Scott Wolfe for the photos, and to Niki Wolfe for designing our logo.Our website www.thebargainsmusic.com is currently under construction.