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Alex Neilson (born 22 September 1982) is an English drummer, percussionist and singer who is based in Glasgow but grew up in Leeds. [1] He is a founding member and main songwriter of folk-rock group Trembling Bells (2008-2018). He is also known for his continuing collaborations with Alasdair Roberts, Will Oldham and Richard Youngs, and for his work with elusive American singer/songwriter Jandek.
Over the years Neilson has performed alongside a large number of bands and artists including Lucky Luke, The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden, Ashtray Navigations, Alastair Galbraith, Isobel Campbell, Ben Reynolds, Matt Valentine, Tanakh, Josephine Foster, Six Organs of Admittance and Taurpis Tula, as well as Directing Hand and Scatter, both of which he founded. Collaborating with other musicians, he has accompanied on tour several folk artists who have enjoyed a late rediscovery of their work, amongst them Scott Fagan, Nick Garrie, Mike Heron and Shirley Collins. He also drummed on Collins's 2016 comeback album, Lodestar . [1]
In early 2007, Neilson left his position at Glasgow-based record shop and distribution company Volcanic Tongue and joined Will Oldham for tour dates, having first played with him on a Scottish tour in April 2006. Neilson subsequently spending much of the year touring with Ben Reynolds (as Motor Ghost), with David Keenan (as Tight Meat) and with a fresh incarnation of Directing Hand consisting of himself and vocalist/harpist Lavinia Blackwall. In 2008, he toured with Baby Dee - he is heard on Dee's Safe Inside The Day record - and Current 93, having already appeared on a handful of Current 93 releases. A new Oldham live album featuring Neilson was also released.
Neilson spent much of late 2008 and early 2009 concentrating on his band Trembling Bells. The band consisted of Neilson on drums and vocals, Lavinia Blackwall on lead vocals and guitar, Mike Hastings on guitar and Simon Shaw on bass. Their debut LP Carbeth was released on Honest Jon Records to widespread critical acclaim in the spring of 2009. Neilson also spent considerable time on tour with Ben Chasny and his Six Organs of Admittance live ensemble. Trembling Bells continued to tour and release records until their split in late 2018. Their final release, for the 2019 Record Store Day, is a split 10" with Neilson's solo project Alex Rex. [2]
Neilson regularly drummed for American avant-garde musician Jandek. Four of these live performances have been released by Corwood Industries as Glasgow Sunday , Newcastle Sunday , Glasgow Monday and Glasgow Friday on both CD and DVD. He continues to drum for Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy), and has recorded and performed extensively with Scottish folk musician Alasdair Roberts on multiple tours and records.
In early 2013, Neilson joined forces with artist Lucy Stein and artist/writer/musician Sybren Renema in Death Shanties, a saxophone-drum duo with live visuals. Their mini-tour and self-released CD-R were generally well received. [3] [4]
Neilson currently releases solo work under the name Alex Rex. His debut album, Vermillion, came out in April 2017 on Tin Angel Records.
The second Alex Rex album Otterburn was released in March 2019. It heavily dealt with the sudden death of Alex's younger brother Alastair around the time of the release of Vermillion. The album cover features a childhood photo of Alastair, Alex and their older brother Oliver. Two singles preceded the album, "Master" and "Latest Regret". [5] [6] Alex Rex's third solo album, Andromeda, was released just a short time afterwards, in 2020, with Paradise following in 2021 on London-based Neolithic Recordings. [7]
In 2022 Alex Rex released Mouthful of Earth, a collection of his poetry and music, on Neolithic Recordings. [8]
Solo (Alex Rex)
Richard Youngs & Alex Neilson
Jandek is the musical project of Sterling Smith, a Houston, Texas-based American lo-fi folk singer. Since 1978, Jandek has independently released over 120 albums while granting an interview extremely rarely and providing no biographical information, releasing on a self-made label, "Corwood Industries". Jandek often plays an idiosyncratic and frequently atonal form of folk and blues music, frequently using an open and unconventional chord structure. AllMusic has described Jandek as "the most enigmatic figure in American music".
Ready for the House is the debut studio album by Jandek, and was released in 1978 by his own Corwood Industries label, with the catalog number #0739. The artist has said in letters that the number was meaningless. Corwood Industries reissued the album three times on CD, first in 1999, then sometime in the early 2000s, and again in 2005. Jackpot Records, with exclusive permission from Corwood, reissued the album on LP in 2008.
Starz is an American hard rock and power pop band from New Jersey. Despite a lack of major commercial success, the band has a lasting cult following and has been cited as a major influence by bands such as Mötley Crüe, Poison, Bon Jovi, and Twisted Sister.
Alasdair Roberts is a Scottish folk musician. He released a number of albums under the name Appendix Out and, following the 2001 album The Night Is Advancing, under his own name. Roberts is also known for his frequent collaborations with other musicians and writers, as well as for being a member of the folk supergroup The Furrow Collective.
Lindsay Cooper was an English bassoon and oboe player and composer. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the Pedestrians. She collaborated with a number of musicians, including Chris Cutler and Sally Potter, and co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group. She wrote scores for film and TV and a song cycle Oh Moscow which was performed live around the world in 1987. She also recorded a number of solo albums, including Rags (1980), The Gold Diggers (1983), and Music For Other Occasions (1986).
Glasgow Sunday is the second of four albums released in 2005 by musician Jandek on Corwood Industries, as (0779). His 41st overall, it was recorded live on October 17, 2004 at The Arches, Glasgow, as part of the Instal festival. This was the first known live appearance of Jandek, who played unannounced with backing from Richard Youngs on bass and Alex Neilson on drums.
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 he has been known to use other instruments including the shakuhachi, accordion, theremin, dulcimer, a home-made synthesizer and even a motorway bridge. He also released an album which was entirely a cappella.
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 Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers and, subsequently, Memoirs of an Aesthete. The project has also released music through labels such as Siltbreeze, Jewelled Antler, American Tapes, Fargone Records, Menlo Park, E.F. Tapes and Freedom From.
Newcastle Sunday is the 45th release by avant- folk/blues singer-songwriter Jandek, released by Corwood Industries. It is a recording of his second ever live performance, recorded at The Sage Gateshead, England.
This is a list of recordings by Will Oldham.
Glasgow Monday is the 47th release, third live album, and second-ever double album release, from avant-folk/blues singer/songwriter Jandek. It is his fifth release of the year and features "The Corwood Representative" on piano and vocals, along with the same rhythm section he performed with at the shows documented on Glasgow Sunday and Newcastle Sunday, bassist Richard Youngs and drummer/percussionist Alex Neilson who accents the music with chimes and echoing percussion.
Charlie Parr is an American country blues musician. Born in Austin, Minnesota, he spent part of his childhood in Hollandale before starting his music career in Duluth. His influences include Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis, Dave Van Ronk, Mississippi John Hurt, and his self-professed "hero" "Spider" John Koerner. He plays a Mule resonator, National resonator guitar, a fretless open-back banjo, and a twelve-string guitar, often in the Piedmont blues style. He is divorced from Emily Parr, who occasionally adds vocals to his music. He has two children.
Nick Garrie, also known as Nick Hamilton or Nick Garrie-Hamilton, is a British singer-songwriter.
Miller Anderson is a UK-based blues and rock guitarist and singer.
Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain is a studio album by the British experimental band Current 93, released in May 2009 on Coptic Cat Records. After collaborating with Om on a split EP, there is a notably heavy sound on this record, citing doom metal and stoner rock as influences. There was also a limited edition of the recording for subscribers who paid in advance including a second CD with a rough mix of the tracks and also a monophonic version that was released for the band's concert at German Wave Gotik Treffen 2009 with all of the tracks titled differently, though the music remains the same.
Trembling Bells were a Scottish folk rock group formed in 2008 by drummer Alex Neilson, a musician with a history of free and improvised playing with several artists. Based in Glasgow, the group released three albums through Honest Jon's Records. A fourth, The Sovereign Self, was released on 29 June 2015, followed by an EP in 2016, both on Tin Angel Records. Their last album, Dungeness, was released in March 2018. In September 2018, frontwoman Lavinia Blackwall announced she was leaving the band after 10 years. Following a further run of gigs, the band announced they were to split, with members focussing on their individual projects.
Emmett Kelly is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is the primary songwriter and recording artist of The Cairo Gang, one half of The Double alongside drummer Jim White, one third of The CIA and a founding member of Clinamen. He has contributed vocal and instrumental work to a variety of international musical projects, appearing on recordings by the likes of Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Ty Segall, Angel Olsen, Azita, Joan of Arc, Edith Frost, Women and Children, John Webster Johns, Jeff Harms, Chicago poet/singer Marvin Tate, Matteah Baim, Japanese musician Takuma Watanabe, Earth Girl Helen Brown, Joshua Abrams and Rob Mazurek. Kelly has toured in several of the aforementioned acts in addition to with Baby Dee, CFM, Mikal Cronin, Sonny Smith, Beth Orton, and Terry Reid; and in other instances, performed live with Chan Marshall, Scott Tuma, Joan of Arc, and Pillars and Tongues. He is also one half of the band The Surf, The Sundried, and a founding member of Chicago's Psychojail.
The Marble Downs is an album by the Trembling Bells and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. The album was released in 2012 by Honest Jon's Records in the UK. The album features vocals by Lavinia Blackwall of the Trembling Bells and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy.
Two Wings is a Scottish rock band formed in 2009 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Dungeness is the sixth studio album by Scottish band Trembling Bells. It was released in March 2018 under Tin Angel Records.
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