Neil Daniels is a freelance British writer specialising in

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and heavy metal. Educated at

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries ...

, where he obtained a BA Honours degree in

Film Studies Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies. ...

, he has written books on

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn and drummer ...

and

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound ...

Career

Daniels co-authored ''Dawn of the Metal Gods: My Life in Judas Priest & Heavy Metal'' with original

singer and co-founder

Al Atkins Alan John Atkins (born 14 October 1947) is an English heavy metal vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers pe ...

. It was published in 2009 by the revered Berlin-based publishing company Iron Pages, and features many rare and previously unseen photographs of the band from the early years (1969–1973) as well as items of memorabilia. In August 2009 he published his first

print on demand Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...

book, ''All Pens Blazing: A Heavy Metal Writer’s Handbook''. With a foreword by the Canadian metal historian

Martin Popoff Martin Popoff (born April 28, 1963) is a Canadian music journalist, critic and author. He is mainly known for writing about the genre of heavy metal music. The senior editor and co-founder of ''Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles'', he has additionally ...

, the book contained 65 exclusive interviews with famed rock and metal writers. It won critical acclaim in the rock and metal press, and a second volume named ''All Pens Blazing: A Rock & Heavy Metal Writer’s Handbook Volume II'' was planned for mid 2010, along with ''Rock ‘N’ Roll Mercenaries: Interviews With Rock Stars Volume I'', which collected 40 interviews. In late 2009 Daniels was employed by

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...

to work on the poll website Btoe. Daniels has conducted interviews with such people as Joe Ambrose, Jeff Apter, Gavin Baddeley, Chris Charlesworth, Ian Christe, Jerry Hopkins,

Joel McIver Joel McIver (born 10 February 1971) is a British author. His best-known work is ''Justice for All: The Truth About Metallica'', first published in 2004 and appearing in nine languages since then. McIver's other works include biographies of Bl ...

, Matthias Mader, Ben Myers, Kim Newman, Dave Thompson, Everett True, Chris Welch and Rich Wilson. Daniels regularly writes for ''Fireworks'', ''Powerplay'' and ''Get Ready To Rock.com'', and occasionally contributes to ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

''. He has also written for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''Big Cheese'', ''Rock Sound'', ''MediaMagazine'', ''Drowned in Sound'' and ''musicOMH''. His interests include

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

, heavy metal,

cult films A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in ...

and novels and American comics.

Published works

*''The Story of Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith'' (Omnibus Press, 2007) *''Robert Plant: Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page & The Solo Years'' (IMP, 2008) *''Dawn of the Metal Gods: My Life in Judas Priest & Heavy Metal'' (IP, 2009) *''Bon Jovi Encyclopaedia'' (Chrome Dreams, 2009) *''All Pens Blazing: A Heavy Metal Writer’s Handbook'' (Authorsonline, 2009) *''Linkin Park – An Operator’s Manual'' (Chrome Dreams, 2009) *''Don't Stop Believin' – The Untold Story Of Journey'' (Omnibus Press, 2011) *''Never hold an underdog down – You Me at Six (independent music press 2012) *''Iron Maiden: The Ultimate Illustrated History'' (Voyageur Press, 2012) *''Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers : A ZZ Top Guide'' (Sound Check, 2014)

References

External links

Interviews: *''Get Ready To Rock'' (2007): http://www.getreadytorock.com/reviews2007/judas_priest_book.htm *''Metal Shrine'' (2007): http://web.telia.com/~u43123410/mfintervju244.html *''Get Ready To Rock'' (2008): http://www.getreadytorock.com/bstage_heroes/neil_daniels.htm *''Thrash Hits'' (2009): http://www.thrashhits.com/2009/04/behind-the-hits-002-neil-daniels-bon-jovi-encylopaedia/#more-1753 *''I Heart Guitar'' (2009): http://www.iheartguitarblog.com/2009/08/interview-neil-daniels.html *''Ultimate Guitar'' (2009): http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/neil_daniels_i_want_the_book_to_be_seen_as_a_historical_document.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Daniels, Neil Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Middlesex University English writers about music