There is a certain magic that happens when a band captures something genuine in a live performance, the kind of energy and chemistry that studio recording, for all its technical advantages, can sometimes sand away in the pursuit of perfection. The Mustard, the indie new wave synth act from Bracknell in England, stumbled onto exactly this kind of magic, and Someone, released December 19, 2025, is the remarkable result, a cover of a Simple Minds classic that began as a live recording captured through the mixing desk for social media and was transformed into a record-quality track that injects fresh dance-ready energy into a beloved original. The story of how it came to be is as compelling as the recording itself, a happy accident recognized for its potential and elevated into something genuinely worth releasing.
The Mustard’s deep-rooted passion for Simple Minds permeates their entire musical vision, and choosing to cover Someone from the band’s 1982 album New Gold Dream was a natural expression of that devotion. The five-piece collective, comprising Charles Allen on vocals, Ollie Foord on guitars, Lukas Kelly on keys and synths, Mike Jackson on bass, and Carl Sampson on drums and percussion, share a collective love for Simple Minds that informs the massive cinematic sound they have developed, characterized by floating guitars and powerhouse drums and lush synthesizer textures. This is exactly the sonic territory that Simple Minds pioneered, the grand and atmospheric synth-driven sound that defined the band’s most celebrated work, and The Mustard’s natural affinity for it makes them ideally suited to interpret the material.
The genesis of the Someone cover goes back to the very beginning of The Mustard, an idea that guitarist Ollie Foord had at the start of the band, rooted in a childhood love of the sound that grew into something deeper over the years. This long-gestating connection to the song reflects the genuine and personal nature of the band’s relationship to Simple Minds, the cover being not a calculated choice of a recognizable song but the realization of a long-held creative desire, the fulfillment of an idea that had been waiting since the band’s formation to find its proper form.
The recording’s unconventional origin is the most genuinely interesting aspect of the whole project. Someone was captured entirely live at Thamesside Brewery in Staines, Middlesex, initially recorded through the mixing desk by sound engineer Jon Stanesby for nothing more than social media purposes, the kind of casual documentation that bands routinely produce to share their live performances online. But the recording turned out to capture something special, and the band, impressed by Stanesby’s work, recognized that the raw live performance had the potential to become something more than a social media clip. This recognition of unexpected potential in a casual recording reflects the kind of openness to happy accidents that often produces the most genuine art, the willingness to see value where it was not originally sought.
The transformation of the raw live recording into a polished record-quality track fell to producer Steve Smiley Barnard, whose connections to the Simple Minds lineage make him an almost perfect choice for the project. Barnard has worked with Derek Forbes and Mick MacNeil from the original Simple Minds lineup in Four Good Men, and he has connections to the world of early Simple Minds producer Steve Lillywhite, giving him a direct link to the musical heritage that The Mustard’s cover honors. Working at Sunshine Corner Studios, Barnard edited and tidied up the live recording and transformed it into a finished track while preserving the live energy that made it special in the first place, the delicate balance between polish and preservation being exactly what a project like this requires.
The Mustard’s interpretive choice to speed up the original gives their version of Someone its distinctive character and its fresh energy. The original Simple Minds track, like much of New Gold Dream, operates in a more atmospheric and expansive mode, and The Mustard’s faster version injects a dance-ready and boppy feel that creates an entirely new angle on the beloved song. This is what the best covers do, finding a dimension of the original that the original itself did not fully explore, the speeded-up tempo revealing the song’s latent danceability and transforming it from an atmospheric album track into a live performance highlight that brings new life to the material. The band believes that Someone has not been covered in this particular way before, and their fresh interpretation while remaining true to the Simple Minds sound is the source of the cover’s appeal.
The Mustard are building genuine momentum through their compelling live performances, having recently played the main stage at Shynefest in Surrey and secured a booking for Meadow Festival 2027, with other shows lined up throughout the year. With six single releases already to their name and plans for an album or EP beginning at the end of 2026, the band is steadily establishing itself in the indie new wave synth scene, and the success of Someone as a live highlight demonstrates the strength of their connection with audiences. The dance and boppy feel of their version goes down particularly well during live performances, the cover having become a genuine high point of their shows.
What makes The Mustard’s Someone special is the combination of genuine devotion to the source material, the happy accident of a live recording that captured something real, and the production expertise that elevated it into a finished track while preserving its live energy. The connections to the actual Simple Minds lineage through producer Steve Smiley Barnard add an authenticity to the project that a more distant cover would lack, and the band’s natural affinity for the Simple Minds sound ensures that their interpretation honors the original even as it transforms it.
Caught live at a brewery, recognized for its potential, and made to last. The Mustard’s Someone is the rare cover that brings genuine new life to a classic, and the story of how it came to be is the kind of happy accident that genuine musical passion makes possible.
