Ghost Stories Preview in Liverpool Echo
Catherine Jones Preview of the Ghost Stories Concert on 16th July featured in the Liverpool Echo on Saturday 27th June. Click here to read it.
‘Ghost Stories’ Update
New still images from the visuals Shaun Taft has created for the Ghost Stories performance on 16th July at St Lukes (Bombed Out) Church, Liverpool, can be found in the Pics section of the Ghost Stories Myspace Page. Also on Saturday 27th June Neil and Anne Taft will feature on Billy Butler’s BBC Radio Merseyside Show (95.8FM) at 10.30am. Please continue to check this site and the Ghost Stories Myspace Page for further press and radio updates.
Ghost Stories – The Visual Experience
A visual sequence created by Shaun Taft for ‘Sketch 2′ from ‘Ghost Stories’ as part of the visuals for the St Lukes Show on 16th July 2009 is now on youtube. The whole evening at St Lukes will be a collaboration in music and images – a unique experience – and we are delighted to share this sneak preview:
Check out more ‘Ghost Stories’ News at www.myspace.com/neilcampbellsghoststories
‘Ghost Stories’ Feature in Liverpool Daily Post – Wednesday 3rd June
Laura Davis’ Daily Post article about the St Luke’s 16th July Performance of ‘Ghost Stories’ can be read here.
Bill Elms in association with Neil Campbell presents
Ghost Stories – A Night Opera
Composed by Neil Campbell
A haunting and beautiful sound and visual experience is coming to Liverpool’s St. Luke’s (Bombed-out) Church on Thursday 16th July, ‘Ghost Stories – A Night Opera’ – a classical composition written by Liverpool musician and composer Neil Campbell. Since its release in October 2008 on CD simply titled ‘Ghost Stories’, it has received unanimous acclaim from both the UK and International music critics. The subtitle ‘A Night Opera’ was added to the title following collaboration with Bill Elms who will work with Neil to stage performances of the piece across the region. It is also being performed as part of the Wirral International Guitar Festival in November at Birkenhead Priory. Plans are being made to tour ‘Ghost Stories – A Night Opera’ to other cities and festivals across the UK and abroad in 2010.
‘Ghost Stories – A Night Opera’ was written and recorded by Neil Campbell over 2007/08. It started life as a number of short sketches for classical guitar which Neil was interested in enhancing through the use of electronics (in collaboration with electronic musician Michael Beiert). After working with wordless vocals on The Neil Campbell Collective’s ‘Particle Theory’ album (produced concurrently with ‘Ghost Stories’ and involving soprano Anne Taft as a guest vocalist) Anne was invited to sing on some of the ‘Ghost Stories’ pieces. The various short movements were then developed into a coherent suite of music segued together by an electronic soundscape built by Michael Beiert using samples of Anne Taft’s voice.
Compositionally ‘Ghost Stories’ draws on French impressionistic music such as Debussy and Satie, ambient music such as that of Harold Budd or Brian Eno, as well as some jazz (especially Pat Metheny) and progressive rock (particularly Steve Hackett). The music is delicate, shadowy, slow, atmospheric and elegiac.
Bill Elms (Director of Bill Elms Associates) said “I instantly fell in love with the piece late last year and approached Neil to work on this project, which is to be my first producer role. It’s a world-class composition and Neil is an incredibly talented local composer. I want the live performances to be an overall experience for the ticket holder, the venues are as important as the piece itself, St. Luke’s will be a stunning venue on a summers evening ”.
Since the recording has been released, the performance aspect of the piece has taken on a life of its own and the aim is now to perform it in interesting architectural locations with the music surrounding the audience (and often presented with visuals) to enhance and build upon the experience. The aim of ‘Ghost Stories’ – as a recording and a live piece – is to completely immerse the audience in the experience.
The St. Luke’s performance will begin at sunset on the evening of Thursday 16th July, doors will open at 9pm prompt and an atmospheric sound installation will build up to the performance which will begin at 9.32pm.
Performance Details:
St Luke’s (Bombed-Out) Church
Leece Street, Liverpool, L1 2RT
Thursday 16th July 2009 – Doors: 9pm prompt
Tickets £12, Concessions £10
Box Office: 0151 709 4988 or in person at the Unity Theatre, Hope Place, Liverpool. Tickets on sale to 08 card holders from Friday 22nd May and then on general sale from Wednesday 27th May.
Ghost Stories will also be performed in November 2009 in Birkenhead Priory as parof the Wirral International Guitar Festival. Tickets go on sale soon.
Read reviews and hear music at www.myspace.com/neilcampbellsghoststories
Sicilian Musical Exchange Signals a Unique Live Experience for The
Collective
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 (TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE FROM STATIC GALLERY). NB: those booking tickets in advance of the gig will be rewarded by being sent two new freshly recorded NCC tracks on mp3 via e-mail.
On Sunday 29th March Neil will launch his first ‘Sunday Afternoon’ session in the atmospheric downstairs bar of The Slaughterhouse Pub, Fenwick Street, in Liverpool’s business district.
Neil Campbell’s ‘Sunday Afternoon’ is a chilled live music session from Liverpool’s finest and most talented acoustic artists. On the last Sunday afternoon of each month a changing line-up of 4-5 top local singer-songwriters and musicians will play sets of original music along with a regular slot by Neil. A surprise un-named act may pop in each month too.
The first ‘Sunday Afternoon’ session (on Sunday 29th March) will feature Neil Campbell and Nicole Collarbone (playing a set of music for cello and guitar) along with Jeff Jepson, Stuart Todd, Virginia Haze, Michael Ryder and Paul Kappa
Admission will be £5 on the door and doors open at 2pm. Future dates for the ‘Sunday Afternoon’ event will be Sunday 26th April, Sunday 31st May and Sunday 28th June.
‘Through the Looking Glass (Remixed, Remastered and Expanded)’ – Released 2nd March 2009
On 2nd March 2009 Neil will be releasing a new digital only (mp3) version of his 2003 solo guitar album ‘Through the Looking Glass’, called Through the Looking Glass (Remixed, Remastered and Expanded)’.
Neil has worked closely with Andy Fernihough, the engineer of the original recording, to produce brighter fresher remixes/remasters of the twelve original tracks (which include live favourites ‘Solid Ground’, ‘Methods of Escape’ and ‘Delay Tactics’).
The digital album also features an additional 20+ minutes of previously unreleased compositions for solo guitar. The extra eight tracks include live favourites ‘In and Out of Day and Out in Into Night’ and ‘Terra Firma’.
Here are a couple of review snippets for the original album:
“12 tracks of solo guitar brilliance that creep upon you slowly…Like the seminal Tubular Bells, it’s one of those albums which sets a mood of quiet introspection, occasionally bursting into something more animated”
Philip Key, Liverpool Daily Post.
“music that not only covers beauty and charm, but moves effortlessly into darker and more emotional areas…I suppose if we threw Paco de Lucia, Segovia, John Williams, Gordon Giltrap and perhaps a dash of Martin Taylor into a melting pot why might get out a Neil Campbell…”,
Bob Mulvey, Dutch Progressive Rock Pages.
‘Through the Looking Glass (Remixed, Remastered and Expanded)’ will be available (along with other albums by Neil) from cdbaby.com and eventually through Apple I-Tunes and other digital music providers
Neil Supports Durutti Column at Baby Blue
On Monday 16th February 2009 Neil Campbell will play a solo set to support Durutti Column in the Live Lounge at Baby Blue, Albert Dock.
Durutti Column is the musical vehicle of Manchester based musical genius composer and guitarist Vini Reilly. They were the first band to record on Anthony H Wilson’s Factory Records in the early ’80s.
The event will start at 8pm. Tickets are priced £12 (in advance) /£15 (door) and can be booked through the Liverpool Echo Arena on the ACC Live Hotline on 0844 8000 410 (Mon–Sat 9am-9pm and Sun 10am–4pm) or online at www.accliverpool.com/livelounge
Classic Rock Society Band of the Year Awards 2008 – Close But No Cigar
A browse through the recent runners up slots for Classic Rock Society Band of the Year Awards 2008 shows Neil Campbell in the top ten nominations of Musician of the Year and The Neil Campbell Collective in the top ten under the Best New Band category, as voted by subscribers and members of the CRS. Following a storming CRS gig last year the NCC return to CRS headquarters on Friday 8th May 2009 as part of the bill for Rotherham Rocks! – a two day Festival of Progressive Rock music. Headlining the Festival (on Sat 9th May) will be Prog giants ‘Pendragon’. For more info about the CRS, visit their web site at www.classicrocksociety.net
