Birchville Cat Motel is a one-man

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

project formed by Campbell Kneale from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Although largely unrecognised by the mainstream press and public in his home country, Kneale has toured throughout

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. His first vinyl release was ''Jewelled Wings'' on the

Freedom From Freedom From is a record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which primarily focuses on the international noise underground genre. The label was founded in 1996 with its first official release by a San Francisco three-piece named Job. Up unti ...

label. Many of Kneale's rare and out of print recordings have been reissued recently on a 6cdr collection entitled ''Chaos Steel Skeletons''. Kneale operates the labels Celebrate Psi Phenomenon and Battlecruiser which have issued CDs by artists from New Zealand and overseas, including

Matthew Bower Matthew Bower is a British musician, active since the early 1980s, who has done both collaborative and solo work. Skullflower Skullflower was formed when Bower joined up with Stefan Jaworzyn, Gary Mundy and Stuart Dennison in 1987 having prev ...

(under the name Mirag) and Simon Wickham-Smith with recent releases by

Richard Youngs Richard Youngs is an English musician based in Glasgow since the early 1990s. His catalogue of solo and collaborative work formally begins with ''Advent'', first issued in 1990. He plays many instruments, most commonly choosing the guitar, but ...

and

Alex Neilson Alex Neilson (born 22 September 1982) is an English drummer, percussionist and singer who is based in Glasgow but grew up in Leeds. He is a founding member and main songwriter of folk-rock group Trembling Bells (2008-2018). He is also known for ...

and one involving

Tony Conrad Anthony Schmalz Conrad (March 7, 1940 – April 9, 2016) was an American video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician, composer, sound artist, teacher, and writer. Active in a variety of media since the early 1960s, he was a pioneer of both d ...

. Kneale has used Birchville Cat Motel as a vehicle for many collaborations with other musicians, including

Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, writer, visual artist and record producer, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth (guitar and vocals). In 2004, ''Rolling ...

, Neil Campbell, and Bruce Russell. He also records under the names Black Boned Angel, Brilliant Swords, and Ming and compiled the

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

tribute album Shut Up Already Damn!. After being active as Birchville Cat Motel for 10 years, Campbell disbanded this project to focus on his new project Our Love Will Destroy The World, and has been releasing under that name from 2009 onwards.

References

External links

MySpace: Our Love Will Destroy The WorldMySpace: Birchville Cat Motel2009 interview by www.avantgarde-metal.comBirchville Cat Motel interview (December 2002)Birchville Cat Motel live at Happy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birchville Cat Motel Experimental musicians Musicians from Wellington Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Drunken Fish Records artists