Official Releases
and promo videos
Biography (most of which is true):
When alan neilson signed to elementary recordings in 1999, he took their big advance, spent some of it on a Triumph Bonneville motorbike and disappeared with the rest. The label did not hear from him until 2001 when he called them from his new home in the Black Country, saying that after his time in the wilderness he was now ready to make music.
Five years and three songs later, “The Birthday ep” was released. Featuring the title track’s clear atheist message; “Wish You Were Her”, a song about adultery; and “Moses & Abe”, a track closer to Goldie’s drum and bass than the acoustic songs that preceded it. The ep confounded, disgusted, infuriated and delighted audiences in equal measure.
Following six years of legal disputes and a strong anti-anti-religious backlash, the ep was finally, begrudgingly deleted, although some copies still remain at elementary HQ.
Despite these setbacks and distractions the next three years saw the slow writing and recording process that came together as the album “bear_bare”; released in early 2009. The production time had been so lengthy due to neilson playing all the instruments himself and being obsessed with ensuring the process did not lose any of the feel or soul that were present at the composition stage. Far from making every note played perfect, neilson injected his patented “Mensch Wirkung” to bring human error and the organic into a digital world.
The results astounded the music world and elementary recordings attracted a wealth of British talent to the label on the back of the album’s success. The attention focused on neilson forced him underground and he refused all requests for interviews and live appearances. To the world’s surprise he turned his back on music altogether to concentrate on documentary film production.
In the autumn of 2009 after months of filming and editing, neilson’s full-length feature “Die Son! Die!” starring Miss Halliwell was premiered. A genre-spanning piece of movie history, the documentary went global, launching neilson and Miss Halliwell into a wider more appreciative audience. The film’s success led to disagreements, broken noses, illness and suicide attempts; ending with the band’s inevitable implosion and neilson retreating back into his studio.
Trying to find a new musical language, neilson began searching for fellow conspirators and collaborators: artists for whom the current musical arena fell far short of what could be achieved with some imagination and a focus away from making what the audience wants (including Daniel Laidler of Tiger; Miles Perhower of The Day Ends; The Mekano Set and Beth Rettig of Blindness; and Dr Jo Staples). The album “Soliloquy” was released in 2012… its very concept the antithesis of popular music. Neilson, as usual forging ahead with the century’s newest musical genre: ‘unpop’.
After a year’s silence (following the birth of his son Theo), neilson returned with, of all things, a pop Christmas song - “From Winter to Winter” was released on elementary recordings in early December 2013.
Having found that 'doing a Lennon' and looking after your son was more important than the music business, neilson withdrew from record label pressures for four years. With the rise of fascism in the UK, neilson could be silent no longer and came out of hiding with his song "We Are Beautiful People" - a track that deals with the divisive nature of the Tories and its media, and tries to remind people how beautiful we are when we show compassion, love and support for each other. It was released in 2017 in support of Corbyn's Labour.
In 2018 neilson went back 20 years and recorded a song he wrote in 1998: 'You Make Me Happy'. The promo video features a naked Ed Sheeran in neilson's bath; ginger pubes in the plughole.
For the summer tune of 2018, the tennis inspired break up song "a deux le jeu" is released, already receiving positive reviews from the indie legend John Vanderslice. The track and promo video pays homage to the fantastic work by the Samaritans, when dealing with those suffering from depression.
Get it here: https://alanneilson.bandcamp.com/album/deux-le-jeu
From 2019 to 2022 Neilson collaborated with Kevan Faulkner, writing eleven songs which were released under the band name Rockets in the Trees. Neilson wrote all the music and co-wrote the lyrics. He produced, engineered, arranged, played all the guitars, bass, keyboards and programming as well as all the lead vocals. He also made the album artwork and special edition booklet. As well as keeping the whole thing documented on the website:
https://alan-neilson.wixsite.com/rocketsinthetrees
Visit bandcamp for all the music and visuals:
https://rocketsinthetrees.bandcamp.com/album/time-to-live-on-the-edge-of-life-super-deluxe-edition
In 2022 Neilson is now creating a special new edition of his 2009 release 'The Life and Times of Charles Allen' - including a new single 'On the Mersey' and a new song called 'Go With the Tide' - inspired by his grandad and a track he worked on with his cousin Neil Robinson - coming in the summer of 2022.
On October 25th 2022, the song previously known as "Go With the Tide", but now called "We Are All Stardust" is released on elementary recordings. The special edition is available here: https://alanneilson.bandcamp.com/album/we-are-all-stardust-ep The standard release can be found on all digital streaming and download sites.
The video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svtBYVwCNhg
Go and tell your everyone to buy it.
In early 2024 Neilson pretended to be a young band from Brierley Hill called The Blind Parade. No one fell for that old trick but it was fun while it lasted, and they (he) released four EPs over four months, which had four tracks all of which were recorded on a Yamaha MT120S four track cassette machine in 1995/96. Check that failed experiment out here: The Blind Parade.
In late 2024 Neilson is trying to finish a number of songs: All of the Good things; Been Caught Cheating; Go Country; Sundowning; and Why Don't You Just Dance.
He'll make them one day you'll see...
Neilson is never short of ideas and never stops working.
Watch this space and also the videos below...
Birthday
Into Focus
The Long-term Forecast
