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| Neils Children circa 2005: L-R Brandon, James and John. Photo by Andy Wilsher |
I still remember the first time. I had gone on a trip to London with my college art class, and had picked up a compilation album somewhere or another. It must have been around 2003 or 2004. Anyway, amongst the throwaway indie on that CD (none of which I can remember), was one gem; a track that was at that time unlike anything I had heard before - full of angst and a rawness that made it stand apart from its contemporaries. That track was 'I Hate Models', and it's been love ever since.
However, what made Neils Children such a fantastic proposition to me, is also what made them difficult for some to comprehend. Perpetually changing, never staying the same, their mix of proto-punk, garage rock, post-punk and psychedelia left many listeners perplexed, indifferent to sounds that challenged, especially considering the cookie-cutter indie that littered the musical landscape of the last decade. Fortunatley for those in the know, Neils Children were never one to pander to the public. The description on their website says it all: 'Peerless, fearless & out-of-synch with the real world for over 13 years.'
Sadly, after releasing 2 compilations, one full length, and numerous highly recommended singles, Neils Children called it a day in late summer 2010, playing one last show at Offset Festival in the lush setting of Hainault Country Park. It was the end of an era, and very few would expect to hear from Neils Children again.
However, never a group to do what we expect, just over a year later Neils Children are back, reuniting the classic line-up from the period 2000-2005 that penned such classics as the aforementioned 'I Hate Models,' début single 'Come Down', and 'Getting Evil in the Playground.' Featuring John Linger on guitars/vocals, James Hair on bass and Brandon Jacobs on drums, Distorted Tapes was given the honour of chatting with the band in their first interview since 2009, and getting the low-down on the reformation, their exhaustive campaign to catalogue their history, and what the future has in store for NC3.
Following your set at Offset 2010, I think most of us thought it would be the last time we ever saw Neils Children, especially as you unveiled new group The Drop Five. Luckily you've proved us wrong, and by the looks of your rehearsal video posted on YouTube, you're a band revitalised! What made you decide to reunite the band?
JL: I think in all honesty the parting of Keith Seymour, our bassist from 2005-2009, knocked me for six. It’s something I didn’t see coming and made me want to put a distance between myself, the band, the songs and what we represented. I started getting heavily into soul music and NC just didn’t feature in that at all. The Drop Five was the antithesis of NC and I wanted to show that I could do something different.
BJ: I think Offset 2010 represented the end of an era, not just for us, but for a lot of people. A majority of our audience that day had been around us, been our friends and fans from the early days when we were still a mod band, so it was our way of saying thanks for sticking with us.
JL: Having worked with Brandon continuously since the split of NC (in the Drop Five and Goodnight and I Wish) we've always talked about how to keep the legacy of Neils Children alive, which started out as idea for an archive project.
BJ: Our initial idea was just to do a release, but then things just started snowballing from there. Playing a show again was never in the original plans, but then we thought that we should play at least one show to promote it, otherwise, it's a bit of an ask expecting your fans to go and buy a product if you are not going to promote it. We never really thought that James would want to play again so we'd never entertained the idea, so i think me and John just assumed that we would have to get a stand in.
JL: In the meantime we got back in touch with James, for the first time properly in 6 or 7 years, and he was keen to be involved in the gig in some way...
JH: Well, I succumbed to peer pressure recently and joined Facebook, having recently discovered technology. I'd fallen out of touch with John & Brandon for several years since leaving London, as you do. John then got in touch with me and suggested maybe doing a show for old times’ sake, which I thought would be rather lovely.
JL: This led to us planning the show as a representation of our time with James, so 2000-2005, and it seemed natural and not forced in any way. That was the catalyst, the genuine excitement that I personally felt about getting in a room with James and Brandon again and making a bit of a racket. Also, musically, there isn’t much around which excites any of us, and that was the initial reason for forming!!
You've been uploading a wealth of material from the vaults on Facebook as part of your 'Visit-Revisited' project - whose idea was it, and why did you decide to chronicle the history of NC in such a way?
JL: It was mine and Brandon’s and as I said, it was something we had in mind for ages, a project that I guess started with ‘Something Perpetual’ which in essence was a rarities and singles compilation we put together for our first Japanese tour. I guess the reason we have always had this plan is because the band was so prolific in writing and recording and it seemed a crime to leave so much good material in the vaults.
BJ: Once you become a recognised band, you have to start releasing records, which means that you have to spend a lot of time promoting just a handful of songs, so a lot of your material (if you have it), ends up getting shelved for future projects, B-Sides, or just never used at all. Singles are picked carefully to do a job, and often, in our case, we would always have about 4 or 5 contenders floating around...and then, by the time you've picked the A-Side and B-Sides, played them up and down the country for 3 months, you are already working on new songs. That's just the way we were, but we never forgot about those songs.
JH: We've all been ransacking our vaults since we've been back in touch, although John's is like the Vatican’s censored materials vault (size wise, obviously...), mine is more Halifax, Rottingdean High Street branch...
As part of this project you'll also be releasing a collection of unreleased songs - will we see any of the scrapped recordings from the 'Pop: Aural' LP surfacing?
JL: I’m not sure... I don’t think any of us were happy with the way ‘Pop: Aural’ came out... It didn’t really sound like us. It was more pop savvy, and whilst the songs were strong, our live performance of them always nailed it more than the recordings. I think we have always been a band who have thrived on spontaneity and the finished recordings lacked a lot of that, which is probably the reason people enjoy stuff like ‘I Hate Models’, ‘Come Down’ etc. That’s how we sounded on stage, and that was where we were at our best.
BJ: ‘Pop: Aural’ in its skeletal form had some great songs and ideas, I prefer the original demos that we did for a lot of those songs, and I'm sure they will surface at some point.
JL: We may put out some alternative recordings of the ‘P:A’ material, and I guess eventually it would be nice to have it out in its entirety but at the moment I still feel too close to the disappointment I felt when I heard it back for the first time.
Is there a particular reason for focusing on the period circa 2004, and can you reveal any details regarding live shows - the date 16/03/2012 features on your webpage, is this a hint?
BJ: Having James back and having the chance to play those songs again is a pretty good reason for me. It would never have worked playing the more recent stuff with James, or playing the older stuff with Keith
JH: Plus it'd be a bit weird for me to start learning Keith's bass lines, surely?
JL: I think it’s natural for us to revisit that period now that James is back in the band. Once again we distanced ourselves from that period after James left, but I think that material is even more relevant now than it was at the time. There was a similar mood in the music industry back then as there is now; shitty pop music, irrelevant noisy music and the occasional (and often overlooked) original and exciting underground band. We sat, and sit, outside of it all and the music from that period clicked with so many other young people who felt exactly how we did. Personally I have come to respect those songs more and since the first rehearsal it was clear we could do them justice. That date is indeed the date of our first show, which will be at an intimate London venue for a friends’ club night. I think we’ll play more shows... it’s going so well at the moment.
BJ: After that show, I think we are happy to let things flow quite naturally, without putting any pressure on ourselves. I'd say it will be a unique opportunity for people to come and see us live, performing the 2004 era material and more. Not to be missed!
At the start of December you released the 'Warehouse Stories E.P' (available here), which shows a different side to Neils Children than we saw on your last LP. Are these records an indication of the direction NC was going prior to splitting in 2010?
JL: Definitely. Before Keith left we were getting into some really interesting areas on stage. Although it didn’t quite hit home with the general public, I thought ‘X.Enc’ was a good album and parts of it worked so well on stage, especially stuff like ‘An Exchange’ and ‘Indifference Is Vital’ which really concentrated on rhythmic patterns and repetition. That gave direction to ‘Front On Backwards’, which was written on our 2009 Japanese tour, just before Keith left. I was so excited about that song, and to combat inertia after Keith left, me, my brother Paul (of Electricity In Our Homes) and Brandon recorded it a month or so afterwards. ‘Are Friends Elected?’ and ‘Sun #2’ were recorded about 3-4 months later and they were quite different, more song based I guess. I’m really pleased of those 3 tracks; if anyone is looking for an example of the bands diversity, it’s all there in those three songs.
What's in store for NC beyond this project? Will we see any new material in 2012, or would that just be wishful thinking on my behalf?!
JL: We’re sort of taking it as it comes really... I’d like the band to play more shows, on the proviso that people want to see us. I don’t want to slog up and down the country trying to convert people any more. I think we've always performed best in smaller venues, where we can interact with the audience more, so I’d like to do a run of small shows throughout the country, and I’d love to go back to Europe and Japan again. As for new material, I guess it’s not impossible, but it would be hard to make new music that sat alongside the earlier period. I think if the rehearsals inspire us enough then there could be, other than that I'm quite happy to get to grips with playing the old stuff again!
BJ: I'm more than happy to see what happens, as John says, if people want to see us, then I don't have a problem with that. If someone wants to release a record, then it would be worth thinking about. I just think that we're not going to start forcing ourselves back into the industry, supporting terrible bands and taking on managers etc.
JH: At the moment, I'm just happy to be doing a few shows. It's so great being back with the chaps again after all these years, something I don't think any of us thought would happen. It still sounds as fresh and exciting as it did way back, although I'm biased obviously! As for new material, who knows? We're just seeing what happens really. No master plan, no timetable, just getting on with it...
And finally, for those readers out there who may have missed you first time round, what would be your top 5 ultimate Neils Children tracks?
John:
Always The Same
For me this is our peak with James in the band. It’s a truly original sound and at the time completely stood apart from every other bands new single
Getting Evil In The Playground
It shows how we perfected the art of having aurally sparse and undistorted sounds yet creating really intense songs. I guess ‘I Hate Models’ represents that too.
I’m Ill
Really it should have been a hit, but we just didn’t have the status. This song is the outcome of 10 or so years of me and Brandon playing together and it’s perfect. It’s a strong bond that created it and I know that I’ll play music with him for the rest of my life, and that’s rare.
Something You Said
This was one of the last songs recorded with James and it shows both our previous style and where we headed to afterwards. It’s psychedelic, noisy and dancey, which is the band’s sound summed up in three words really.
Come Down
This was the single that put us on the map, and without sounding arrogant, it really did sound different to anything else going on at the time. There was a lot of emphasis on this song by the bands management and label at the time and it was proved right as the best choice to introduce us to public.
James:
I Hate Models
Just classic really. Pure snarling hatred, something that too many people lack.
Always The Same
For me this is the best single we released. It really encapsulated the NC sound. Thudding heavy bass, chorusy guitar, bit of snarl, bit of groove...
How Does It Feel Now You're On Your Own?
My personal favourite. Musical violence!
Never Has Living Without Someone Been So Hard
I always liked this one because it showed it wasn't all about distortion and shouting. Plus it showed a bit more of our Sixties influences.
You Didn't Care
I think this is one of the last songs we did before I left. Although didn't they release it with Keith after? We did this one live a few times. I remember years later seeing a video for it and thinking "fuck I'd forgotten about that song, it's amazing! I don't remember being that skinny? Oh it's not me..."
Brandon:
Always The Same
I Hate Models
Getting Evil In The Playground
Come Down
Reflective/Surface
For more information on Neils Children like them on Facebook, or visit neilschildren.co.uk.
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