Neil Campbell and Static Gallery Present
THE NEIL CAMPBELL COLLECTIVE
Featuring Francesco di Fiore

On Friday 8th May 2009, Liverpool’s Static Gallery will host a rare and special return of the Neil Campbell Collective who will play their first concert in over 6 months, it will feature a 7-piece band of electric cello (Nicole Collarbone), soprano (Anne Taft), classical guitar (Neil Campbell), electronics (Francesco Di Fiore), vocals (Jeff Jepson), bass (Andy Maslivec) and drums (Mark Brocklesby).

The Neil Campbell Collective (NCC) will perform a dramatic and atmospheric set consisting of music from their two critically acclaimed progressive rock albums '3 O'Clock Sky' and 'Particle Theory' along with new (unrecorded) music. The concert will be presented with projected visuals by Valeria Di Matteo.

Also that evening Francesco di Fiore will perform his piece 'Visioni', which is a stunning multimedia work for live piano, electronics and visual design. The piece tells the story of human evolution from the early origins of mankind to the human race's final inevitable self-destruction.

In Summer 2008 ..Liverpool.. guitarist and composer Neil Campbell began an artistic exchange with Francesco Di Fiore, a Sicilian concert pianist and composer. Neil travelled to Palermo, Sicily, to participate as a musician in Francesco's composition 'HGW', a 90 minute performance project based on the works of HG Wells featuring visuals, narration, sound design and a large ensemble of Sicilian musicians (The Folka Lab Collective). Later in the year, ..Liverpool.. ..Hope.. ..University.. sponsored a further performance of 'HGW' in Liverpool as part of the 2008 Cornerstone Festival, this time featuring musicians from Neil's band, The Neil Campbell Collective along with visiting musicians from ....Sicily.....

Having felt such a strong musical kinship Neil invited Francesco and his partner, the multimedia artist and musician Valeria Di Matteo, to work with The NCC on a new piece, 'Frankenstein', based on the famous Mary Shelley novel. This piece is to be presented in ..Sicily.. and ..Liverpool.. later in 2009. The musicians and artists involved in this pan-European project are meeting in early May for intensive rehearsals to develop 'Frankenstein' and, in doing so, have seized the opportunity to play a special concert together.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

THE NEIL CAMPBELL COLLECTIVE Featuring Francesco di Fiore
Friday 8th May 2009
Doors 7.30pm, Performance 8.30pm,
Static Gallery, 23 Roscoe Lane, Liverpool L1 9JD
Admission: £6 Advance from Static Gallery

We really enjoyed playing in Wath Upon Dearne at the weekend for the Classic Rock Society, supporting RPWL. It was great to present our music outside of Liverpool to new and unsuspecting music lovers. My personal thanks to all the members of the Neil Campbell Collective for making things work so well - Mark B, Nicole C, Andy M and Jeff J. Also many thanks to Alister Said for providing us with transport. The people at CRS were great to work with and we hope to play further gigs soon......

In the meantime  rock photographer Phil Mulvaney has taken some photos from the gig which you can see by going to http://www.flickr.com/photos/46719991@N00/sets/72157607761795097/detail/

Enjoy and see you soon,

Neil x

Ghost Stories Album Launch - An Invitation

8pm, Friday 31st October 2008

St Brides Church, Catharine Street, Liverpool

My new album 'Ghost Stories' (a collaboration with Michael Beiert and Anne Taft) will be launched at 8pm at St Bride's Church, Catharine Street, Liverpool on Friday 31st October.

'Ghost Stories' is an atmospheric continuation of my 2004 album 'Night Sketches'. The music is evocative of the night with its dreamy atmospheres and haunting melodies. On 'Ghost Stories', along with my classical guitar playing (which is here at its most moody and introspective), are soundscapes by German electro-acoustic composer Michael Beiert and soaring wordless vocals by soprano Anne Taft.

'Ghost Stories' is presented in a number of short 2-4 minute movements which are segued together by an ongoing soundscape to form a seamless musical experience which takes the listener on a journey through the course of the night into the following dawn.

Over the next twelve months we are planning to present 'Ghost Stories' music in a series of concerts and multimedia events which will vary from performance to performance in their inclusion of experimental film, visual arts, contemporary dance and narration - the aim being to open the work up to collaboration from all fields and to fully explore the scope and atmosphere of the music by immersing the listener in its impressionistic sound world.

The album will be played live in its entirety at the launch event. Admission to the launch is by guest list - those planning to attend should contact me at info@neilcampbell.org.uk to be added to the list. Admission is £5 and guests will be given a copy of the new CD on admission. As St Brides is unlicensed, guests are advised to bring their own drinks.

I really hope you can come along and enjoy this new music.

Best Wishes

Neil

The launch of the Fall CD and the new web site at the View 2 Gallery on
Friday 26th May was well attended and a great success. Thanks to all who
came along and supported Neil, Nicole, Stu Todd and the Collective for
what was a very memorable evening.

Since the launch the album has received a good level of airplay on BBC
Radio Merseyside. Neil and Nicole appeared for inerview on Spencer
Leigh's programme on Saturday 27th May. There are plenty of photos of
the launch event in the Gallery at http://www.neilcampbellcollective.com/

and you will find a
glowing review of the CD and Launch event at  
http://www.catalystmedia.org.uk/issues/misc/reviews/neil_campbell.htm

Neil & Nicole will be playing the full album at their concert at the
Domino Gallery on Saturday 8th July (see below for details).

Neil Campbell Collective Live

The Neil Campbell Collective are hard at work developing their next
recording project - working title 'Particle Theory'. You can catch the
Neil Campbell Collective next at the Zanzibar, Seel Street, on the
evening of Friday 16th June for an explosive electric set.

Neil Campbell Collective's 3AM Song in Top 40 on Pulse Chart Show!!!

3AM Song has made it into this week's Pulse Top 40 and will be played
on their chart show on Sunday 23rd April at 6pm.

The show will be repeated on:

Tuesday 6-8pm, Thursday 6-8pm & Friday 4-6pm.

You can listen in at Pulserated.com

and on: SKY channel 0115 in the UK.

Have a
listen and then vote for the Collective @ http://www.pulserated.com/index.aspx?page=Chart

Neil Campbell Collective are Hot Trax on Pulse Rated! www.pulserated.com

Exciting up and comming gig on Sunday 5th March supporting violinist Sophie Solomon at The Carling Academy near Lime Street - Please note the venue! (i.e. NOT the Liverpool Academy).

Check out Sophie at http://www.sophiesolomon.com

We are taking the opportunity to play as a six piece with the line up from the '3 O'Clock Sky' album - Mark Brocklesby, Nicole Collarbone, Liam Carey, Claire Jones, Stuart Todd and Neil Campbell

The Neil Campbell Collective are really pushing things forward this year and with plenty of gigs on the horizon, it is going to be a busy and exciting one indeed!

Our newly established residency at the Korova Bar (Liverpool)  promises a bag full of kick-arse nights for all to experience on a monthly basis...so keep your eyes peeled and ears open!

We are particularly excited about our Zanzibar gig on 4th Feb. Zanzi is a favourite venue of ours: good people; good vibe; good music...and this one's gonna be a WHOPPER!. Not only is a DVD is being filmed of the event, but it is also Nicole's birthday (aargh bless, 23 years young), so there's at least two boss reasons to join in the shambolic madness that is to be!

Aside from gigs we have a new website coming soon and some very cool prospects awaiting us in the near future so we will keep you posted...

Take it easy, keep it real and keep on rockin' baby!

The Collective