Zappa, Beefheart, Debussy, Messiaen, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Suns of Arqa, Tom Waits, Om Kalsoum, Farid el'Atrache, Stravinsky, Soft Machine, Howlin' Wolf, Gayan Uttejak Orchestra, Alice Coltrane, Miles Davis, Delius, Robert Wyatt, Massive Attack, Lata Mangeshkar, This Mortal Coil, Wire, Zukanican, McCoy Tyner, Fat Boy Slim, Najat Aatabou, Momo, Prince Far I, The Hive Collective, Cecil Taylor, Nick Cave, Joculatores Upsalienses, Joni Mitchell, Moondog, Ravi Shankar, Peter Gabriel, Blowzabella, Alan Stivell, Loka, Seamus Ennis, Joi, Temple of Sound, St George's Canzona, Ninja Tunes, Warp.....And finally, someone who's not so much an influence, more a mentor - Daisaku Ikeda, president of lay-Buddhist organisation Soka Gakkai International for his constant encouragement to be true to yourself and not to compromise (and using his own life to prove it's possible). I'm finally starting to manage it, after years of trying to shoehorn my creativity into various unsuitable contexts.
Sounds Like
The latest piano stuff tastes a bit like Debussy drizzled with some Messiaen, with pieces of Mussorgsky lurking in there as a surprise. Most of all, though, it sounds unmistakably like ME.
I’m a composer, pianist and keyboard-player living in Liverpool. As you can see in the ‘Influences’ section, mine are a pretty schizophrenic mixture. As a result you’d find me either improvising piano solos, writing beautifully carved melodies or taking sounds, tweaking them out of their tiny minds, feeding them into a sampler and creating weird and wonderful shaped compositions, depending on what day it is.
Latterly, I’ve managed to become totally focussed on going back to basics, which means back to the piano. For years, I’d sit doodling in search of the Big Idea. Eventually (and, it has to be admitted, a few Big Ideas later), I realised that the ‘doodles’ were the music, especially as they were becoming tighter, much more accomplished and exhilarating to play.
The first results can be heard on my new CD ‘Sunday Afternoon On My Back’ They’re entirely improvised pieces with a slight aroma of Debussy, that fell out of me after a particularly chilled out interlude in Marbury Country Park, near Northwich in Cheshire.
I’m going to do some live gigs as soon as I find some venues that will have me. And I’d like to play with some like-minded musicians and see what comes out with a view to taking it much further, if anyone in MySpace-land is interested…….
Hey Roger. Thanks for coming down to the gig at the Cavern the other week - sparse!..... lets hope this next thing I'm doing is more Ghost Stories than Ghost Town.... hope you can make it - should be an experience.... Neil
Neil Campbell (with Michael Beiert & Anne Taft) The 'Ghost Stories' Album Launch
Music for Classical Guitar, Soprano and Electronics
8pm, Friday 31st October (Halloween) St Brides Church, Catharine Street, Liverpool Admission: £5 (includes CD)
Gooday Mr E! Hello mystery!? Good sounds sire! Thanks for finding us, but do add our offical page: ΤΗΞ LΔΖΣ. You will find demos from our forthcoming lp there. Good Word thzlzzz
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