Neil Campbell (born 19 May 1966) is a British musician, notable for his vast catalogue and his many collaborations. In 2005, ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...

'' declared that he,

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

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 ...

had ''"provided the map co-ordinates for much of what passed for a

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

UK underground during most of the 80s and 90s"''. Pitchfork media have referred to him as ''"one of the most important experimental musicians of the last 20 years"''.

Early years

Campbell was born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He began making music in 1979 using whatever came to hand, having already developed a firm belief in improvisation, and that virtuosity would negatively impact upon the results. In 1984, he first made contact with

when his

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of Ket ...

based group ESP Kinetic applied to appear on a cassette compilation on Youngs' Jabberwok label. Although unsuccessful, he persevered for a while with ESP Kinetic and its successor, Redemption Inc, before extending his range outside the rock band format. Initially and typically for the period, much of Campbell's work was released on small tape labels or by Campbell himself and it is nigh-on impossible to document all of his releases.

From the "A" Band to Vibracathedral Orchestra

However, it was as a constant member of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

A Band The A Band are a British musical collective formed in Nottingham in the late 1980s. In 2005, The Wire compared the band's importance to that of AMM and SME, and noted their lack of musical training. The line-up of the group has never been f ...

that he met several future collaborators and first came to the attention of the international underground with an album ''"Artex/A Lot"'' being issued on

Siltbreeze Siltbreeze is an American independent record label based in Philadelphia. It is known for its eclectic roster of artists and releases of experimental, noise, folk, and rock-based music. Founded in 1989 by Ohio native Tom Lax, the label evolved out ...

in the US. One reason for the A Band's growth in numbers is that, for each of their performances, he refused to appear onstage unless there was a new member. In 2007 Campbell was again involved in the revived A Band's recording and live activities. As well as this, he often collaborated with UK

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical ...

/art unit Smell and Quim under the alias ''D. Foist'' while also recording with Scottish

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

punk-improv duo Prick Decay on several occasions. Towards the end of the 1990s Campbell hooked up with Julian Bradley to record 5 cassettes and an LP before they asked Michael Flower to join them, adding Bridget Hayden and Adam Davenport to form

Vibracathedral Orchestra Vibracathedral Orchestra is an England-based drone ensemble that has been active since 1998. Biography The group were formed in Leeds in 1998 when Mick Flower, Neil Campbell and Julian Bradley, who had released a number of homemade cassettes ...

, who recorded and released prolifically, with many self-released items joining their US CD releases on VHF and

Giardia ''Giardia'' ( or ) is a genus of anaerobic flagellated protozoan parasites of the phylum Metamonada that colonise and reproduce in the small intestines of several vertebrates, causing the disease giardiasis. Their life cycle alternates between ...

. Campbell still found time to guest with

's groups Total and Sunroof!, work with people like Stewart Walden (especially as SWANC - the name taken from their initials), Rob Hayler, Phil Todd (of

Ashtray Navigations Ashtray Navigations is an English experimental music group centred upon Phil Todd and active since 1991. Colloquially referred to as "Ash Nav", the group operates out of Todd's home in Stoke-on-Trent, from which he also ran the record labels ...

), Universal Indians and (perhaps inevitably) Campbell Kneale and to record solo albums such as ''These Premises Are No Longer Bugged'' and ''Sol Power''. He also finally made a duo album with

called ''How The Garden Is''. He took to the

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the in ...

medium as enthusiastically as he did the cassette and many limited releases appeared on labels in the UK,

U.S. 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 territori ...

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 ...

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 ...

Astral Social Club

Campbell left Vibracathedral Orchestra in 2006 and now concentrates on his Astral Social Club project. He has released several CD-Rs, with a "best of" CD compilation culled from the first 7 volumes released on

VHF Records VHF Records is an American record label, known for their extensive work with several major experimental artists. The label is based in the Washington, DC suburb of Fairfax, Va., and it initially focused on indie and experimental bands from that reg ...

last year. He also issued a

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

disc containing 256 kbit/s files of all the tracks from those 7 albums as well as a vinyl only LP for Qbico entitled ''Star Guzzlers''. He also performs live under this name, securing the services of his friends

and Tirath Singh Nirmala for a performance in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in April 2006, and those of Arttu Partinen for a performance in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. As of 2015 Neil is working on setting a chapter of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction whi ...

to music, for the

Waywords and Meansigns ''Waywords and Meansigns: Recreating Finnegans Wake n its whole wholume' is an international project setting James Joyce's novel ''Finnegans Wake'' to music. Waywords and Meansigns has released two editions of audio, each offering an unabridged m ...

project.

Music Mundane

In 2007, Campbell launched Music Mundane, a new label, with the first two releases being an expanded CD reissue of his "Sol Power" album and a revised CD-R edition of his friend Stewart Walden's limited edition cassette "Cucumber Sandwich", the first 25 copies of which come with a 3" CD-R containing remixes of the album by Astral Social Club. In 2008, he released an archive CDR of ESP Kinetic material, entitled "Fleck-Nor"

Discography

As stated above, a complete discography would be virtually impossible to compile. This list is an expanded and updated version of a select discography which originally appeared in the Perfect Sound forever interview.

Solo work

*''Mundanity'' split w/Richard Youngs TC (Cakehole 1993) *''Face of Scurf'' TC (Union Pole 1994) *''Itinerant String Section'' CD-R (Freedom From 1996) *''These Premises Are No Longer Bugged'' LP (Giardia/Fusetron 1997) *''Excerpt from the Never-Ending Bowed Metal Song'' CD-R (Fencing Flatworm 2000) *''The Hearing Force of the Humanverse'' CD-R (Fencing Flatworm 2001) *"Fuzzjam, Dub" MP3 (TechNOH 2002) (later reissued on ''SOL POWR'') *"Rolling Exploding"/"Sky Full of Love" 7" (limited to 40 copies) (Gold Soundz 2003) *''Boomerang is Love'' TC/CD-R (no label 2004) *''Lost Predelic Moonshine Music'' Tape/CD-R (Chocolate Monk 2004) *"Rabbitfoot Oof" on untitled mini CD-R, two other tracks by Fickle (First Person 2004) *''Rock on Brain'' cassette (Gods of Tundra 2006) *''SOL POWR'' LP (Lal Lal Lal 2003), CD (Music Mundane 2007) *Track on Gooseweek comp 7" (Oska) *''Is Not Here'' TC (Union Pole) *split w/Jazz Buffoon TC (Scum) *"Wheel Ramble/Real Scramble" 10" (no label) *''Casio Rapman and Electric Guitar'' TC (Matching Head) *''The Singing Pubis'' TC (no label) *"Pan Wagon Oasis" on split w/Campbell Kneale 7" (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) *''String Quartets, Loops, Garden Talk'' CD-R (no label) *"Paint Everything White/Blip Pneumonia" 7" (Giardia) *"Mizzlefield Ploof Kingdom/Muttertown Birdsong Cindy" 7" (no label) *''Executive Silk Lips'' C30 (Chocolate Monk) *''Recycled Music'' Cassette (RRRecords) *"Teasel"/"Thistle" Cassette (limited to 150 copies) (Heavy Tapes) *''The Hearing Force of the Humanverse'' CD-R (Fencing Flatworm)

Astral Social Club

*''MCR Blast'' 8" lathe (Alt.vinyl) *''Passing Star / Solar Filament'' self-released CD-R *''Astral Social Club'' (VHF 2006) *''Star Guzzlers'' LP (Qbico 2007) *''Neon Pibroch'' CD (Important 2007) *''Super Grease'' LP (Important 2007) *''Model Town in Field of Mud'' LP (Textile 2008) *''Skelp/Ginnel'' 7" + CDR (CDR includes remixes by John Clyde Evans, Richard Youngs and Magnetize, Trensmat 2008) *''Monster Mittens'' 7" (features Karl Bauer of Axolotl - Dirty Knobby 2008) *''Octuplex'' (VHF #114 Jan 2009) *''Capitols Collapsed'' Cassette (Neon Blossom Records 2010) *''Generator Breaker'' LP (Dekorder 2011) *''Magic Smile'' CD (Wonderyou 2012) *''Electric Yep'' LP (Trensmat 2013) *''Destiny SNFU'' Cassette (NNA Tapes 2013) As stated above, a majority of ASC music has been issued across a series of eponymous CD-Rs, all self-released by Campbell in limited numbers. At time of writing (November 2018), this series is now up to 24 volumes and includes live recordings with Tirath Singh Nirmala (also known as John Clyde Evans), Richard Youngs and Stewart Keith. For the ''Model Town in Field of Mud'' LP, ASC was a duo of Campbell and Evans.

Vibracathedral Orchestra

* See

- Campbell features on virtually all of their releases to date (July 2008) and a discography appears on their page.

A Band

* See

- Campbell features on the majority of their releases and a discography appears on their page.

ESP Kinetic/Redemption Inc

These 1980s bands recorded several tapes but it is doubtful that any will be found without searching eBay. Campbell had a boxed set of ESP Kinetic cassettes placed on the shelves of Kettering Library after asking the library to order it. ESP Kinetic titles include: "Dance As Hallucination", "The Message Is No Message", "Mission", "fleck-NOR" and "Songs for Drowning Men". A CDR entitled "fleck-NOR" was issued by Campbell in 2008. Redemption Inc released a self-titled cassette and one entitled "Further Down The Spiral". There was also a cassette by Meat Your Mother entitled "Meat Dreams" which was also mainly Campbell's work. The track " Store Keep / Reward Report from the Head", which was originally released by ESP Kinetic in 1985 on cassette was featured on Unassimilated Sounds radio in 2015.

Smell & Quim

A prolific noise unit, Campbell is known to have appeared on the following releases: *''Your Enemy's Balls / What's Your Health Problem'' CD ed Stream, US 1994*''Diameter of Elvis' Colon'' CD ure/RRR, US 1995*''Seven Inches Inside Vagina'' 7" (by S&Q and

Merzbow is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...

) HF 1996*''Piss with Drills of Blood'' 7" elf Abuse, US 1996*''Jim Seed Collector'' 7" raxis Dr. Bearmann, Germany 1996*''Non-Stop Robotic Fornication'' 7" inch-a-Loaf, US 1996*''Non-Stop Robotic Stinky Horse Fisting'' 7" ubitsuri, Japan 1996*''Quasi-Modo Cacandi'' S&Q/Expose Your Eyes collaboration cassette HF 1996*''Retract Your Balls it's...'' cassette anned Productions, US 1996*''Meat / Pregnant Asian Special'' CD + cassette ld Europa Cafe, Italy 1997*''Pushy Gothic Gnome Versus Charity Techno Gnome'' cassette pite, US 2000*''Titwank'' cassette reedom From, US 2002*''Oral'' CD (Part of 3xCD boxset along with "Perverse" by Taint and "The Beautiful" by Con-Dom) ed Stream, US*''69'' (S&Q/Mhlest) one-sided split LP andaged Hand, UK*''The Psychedelic Sounds of Smell & Quim and Tea Culture'' 7" (S&Q and Tea Culture) (BWCD/SHF) *''Autoficial'' 7" (V/A - S&Q/Haters/Con-Dom/Chop Shop) oisopoly, US*''Pervertigo Porksword Billyclub'' (S&Q and K2) 7" inky Musik Institute, Japan*''Polk Salad Fanny'' 7" HF*''Cosmic Bondage'' cassette HF*''Chariot of the Cods'' cassette HF*''Pro-Celebrity Mutual Masturbation'' cassette ubitsuri, Japan*''Snizz Guzzlers'' cassette HF*''Spermathalon'' cassette andaged Hand, UK

Julian Bradley/Neil Campbell

*''First'' TC (no label) *''2'' TC (no label) *''Bradley Campbell Three'' TC (no label) *''V'' TC (no label) *untitled LP (American Tapes) *"Untitled" on Scenes From Ringing Isle 2CD (Rural Electrification Program/Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers/ -RAA-K/Giardia/Swill Radio/Ecstatic Peace!/Freedom From/Polyamory) *''Scythe Apocalypse'' CD-R (33 copies made, given away at Colour Out of Space festival, Brighton, 2006) (no label 2006) *''The Lift, Brighton,14 March 1998'' (Julian Bradley/Neil Campbell/Sticky Foster) CD-R (The Rhizome Label 1998)

Matthew Bower

Campbell appears on the following recordings by Total: *''Buffin' the Celestial Muffin'' CD (Rural Electrification Program 1995) *''Kaspar Hauser'' CD (Metonymic 1997) *''Merzbow Mixed Total'' cassette (w/

) (Sterlized Decay 1997) *''Eternity's Beautiful Frontispiece'' CD (VHF 2000) Campbell appears on the following recordings by Sunroof!: *''Delicate Autobahn Under Construction'' 2CD (VHF) Slipstream CD-R (Giardia; reissued by Rural Electrification Program) *''Found Star Sound'' CD (VHF) *''Temple Music Vols. 1&2'' 2CD-R (Rural Electrification Program) Bliss 2CD (VHF)

Richard Youngs

*''Festival'' - Neil provides "tapes" on one track (Table of the Elements 1994) *''Motorway'' - Cassette - Neil plays percussion (a cardboard box) on two tracks (Chocolate Monk 1994) *''Georgians'' (Richard Youngs & Stephen Todd) (Neil plays on opening track, "Bananas'n'Muffins", on ''Georgians'' CD (VHF 1996) *''How the Garden Is'' (Neil Campbell/Richard Youngs) LP (HP Cycle 2000)

Neil Campbell/Stewart Walden

*''Here Comes Fun'' CD-R (Slippytown 2002) *''Mouldy Roll'' TC and 2CD-R (PUMF 1992) (as "SWANC")

Prick Decay/Decaer Pinga

Decaer Pinga are Prick Decay by another name. *''!!!Cuba.Planet Cuba!!!'' TC (Union Pole 1995) *"Vachement Click with Turntable Editions" on Studies For Postal Orgies TC (Chocolate Monk) *''Rate of CHB is in'' TC (Union Pole) Big Band Xerox TC (Chocolate Monk) *"He'll Look Like Moses" on Studies For Postal Orgies Vol. 2 CD-R (Chocolate Monk) *''Electronic Honky'' (Decaer Pinga) TC (Polyamory) *''Strobelights to Boston'' (Neil Campbell & Decaer Pinga) CD-R (Chocolate Monk 2000)

Runzelstirn & Gurgelstøck & Schimpfluch-Gruppe

*''Shitpflug'' CD-R (7 copies only) (Ignivomous 1997) *''Psycho-Physical Tests And Trainings With Rudolf Eb.er And R&G/Schimpfluch Personnel'' CD (Germany) CD credited to Rudolf Eb.er (Neil is credited, but in what capacity is unknown). (Selektion 1997)

One-off collaborations

Campbell has recorded with several bands and individuals on a one-off basis: *''Basquadeck Shelf'' (Neil Campbell (and friends) project) cassette, 1985 - released in 2001 by Fencing Flatworm Recordings at part of their Ordinance, Tape Only project (oTo T24) *''Durian Durian'' (Neil/Richard/Simon/Stewart) LP (Forced Exposure 1992) - not related to the film of the same name. *''Tape Hiss'' (Tape Hiss (Neil, Richard Youngs and Stewart Walden.)) cassette (No Fans 1994) *''Big band Xerox'' (PD (Dylan Nyoukis, Neil, Richard Youngs, Sticky Foster, Tim Moulder) Cassette (Chocolate Monk 1996) *"Nice Duo Stewart" (Campbell* Vs Greenwood*) on lathe cut 7" ''Mary Dickson Says: Just Fucking Calm Down, Right?'' (other side by Cunt Eats Cock) (Hell's Half Halo 1996) *''The Cuckoos Sang in Their Appropriated Nests'' (Dead Man's Gravel) CD-R (Fencing Flatworm 2000) * "Soun (An Anonymous And Random Compilation/Composition)" a single-sided 7" single consisting of extremely short contributions by a hundred artists including Neil. (Gameboy 2003) *"Live at RRRecords"/"Long Distance Moan" (Neil Campbell and Sticky Foster) (8" vinyl) (alt.vinyl 2006) (features John Olson of

Wolf Eyes __NOTOC__ Wolf Eyes is an American experimental music group from Detroit, Michigan, formed in 1996 by Nate Young. Currently a duo, Wolf Eyes are a prominent act within contemporary noise music. They have collaborated with a variety of artists from ...

as MC on side one). *''Live at Transmission Gallery, Glasgow'' (Neil Campbell and John Clyde-Evans) (Chocolate Monk 2005) *''Paekong Mae'' (Paekong Mae) LP (Giardia) *''untitled'' (Neil Campbell/Spykes) CD-R (American Tapes) *''In Luck'' (Neil Campbell and Rob Hayler) CD-R (Fencing Flatworm) *Untitled collaboration with Sean McCann

References

External links

Vibracathedral Orchestra websiteAstral Social Club page at Myspaceinterview with Neil Campbell in dddd fanzine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Neil British experimental musicians 1966 births Living people