Neils Children

Neils Children
Origin	Cheshunt, England
Genres	Neo-psychedelia Post-punk
Years active	1999–2010
Labels	Structurally Sound Poptones Soft City Recordings Vinyl Junkie Half Machine White Heat
Website	www.neilschildren.co.uk
Past members
John Linger (1999-2010) Brandon Jacobs (1999-2010) Tom Hawkins(1999-2000) James Hair(2000-2005) Keith Seymour (2005-2009) Charlie Boyer (2009) Paul Linger (2009)

Neils Children were an English post-punk band, founded by John Linger (guitar and vocals) and Brandon Jacobs (drums).

Career

Neils Children formed in 1999 at Harlow College in Essex, where John Linger and Brandon Jacobs were studying with Richard Hawkins. The band's name came from Linger's obsession with 1960s proto-punk band John's Children; 'Neil' was the nickname of Hawkins, the group's original bassist.

Primarily playing freakbeat-inspired music, the band performed several gigs on the London mod scene, as well as performing in the Harlow Square Rock Contest. In 2000 Hawkins quit the band for unknown reasons, and went on to become a sound engineer for The Subways. Replacement bassist James Hair was recruited, and the band decided to move to London.

They played many concerts in London, Southend, Brighton and other cities, notably playing the Insomniacs Ball in London in 2006, and the London Calling Festival in Amsterdam. John was placed Number 30 of 50 in the NME Cool List 2005. In June 2005, their single "Always the Same" peaked at #56 in the UK Singles Chart.^[1] In December 2005, Hair left to form Vile Imbeciles, and was replaced by Keith Seymour (formerly of Hope of the States).

In 2007, the band received attention in the wake of the critical and commercial success of The Horrors, with whom they toured in April. In July 2009, Seymour left the group for personal reasons. On 10 September 2009, Neils Children played their debut live show as a four piece band, composed of Linger, Jacobs with Charles Boyer (bass) and Paul Linger (percussion, samples). The set consisted of five tracks taken from the X.Enc album release and "Front on Backwards", a song written by Linger on the band's summer 2008 Japanese tour.

Releases

Neils Children released an eight track mini album, Change/Return/Success, and a string of singles on several different independent record labels. Their 2004 single, "I Hate Models", was included on an XFM compilation album.

In mid 2008, it was announced via the Neils Children website that the band had finished work on their full-length debut album X.Enc., which was recorded in a warehouse in the band's hometown of Cheshunt, and produced and mixed by Linger. The album was released in May 2009, and was preceded by the release of "I'm I'll".

Visit-Revisited release project

In September 2011, the band announced via their official Facebook page that there would be a string of releases compiling unreleased material. The first release is a full-length live show from 2005, which is available from Monday 26th September 2011 from the official Neils Children website while other releases possibly include demos, alternate mixes and further live material. Also added on the bands official site and Facebook page are two unreleased recordings; namely a live version of 'Getting Evil In The Playground' at Junk Club, Southend, 2005 and a previously unheard track 'Turn Your Life Around' from 2009 which is stream-able from a secret section on the bands site.

All material is being edited and compiled by Linger, Jacobs and long-term bass player James Hair.

Other work

Various members of the band have undertaken side projects. Linger, under the pseudonym of "Round", was the first member of Neils Children to pursue solo work and recorded in 2007 a few tracks which were posted on MySpace. He performed a solo show at the Experimental Circle Club in Southend. Jacobs performes under the name of Goodnight And I Wish*, and has recorded a number of releases.

Linger is also active as a mix engineer and record producer for various projects. He produced the entire discography of the London band, Electricity In Our Homes (which features his brother Paul on drums); 2007's The Shareholders Meeting EP and the 2008 singles "We Thought It Was, But It Wasn't" (Too Pure) and "Silver Medal In Gymnastics" (4AD). Most recently he produced and mixed two tracks planned for a single release by the Chichester based post-punk band, Disconcerts. Currently he is mixing Moscow-based band Manicure's new album, scheduled for release in April/May 2011.

Record labels overseen by band members included Jacob's label Modern Pop, which has released work by Electricity In Our Homes, and Strange Idols; and the Structurally Sound label, founded by the band in 2008 to release their own music and that of associated acts.

Decline

In August 2010, founder members Linger and Jacobs announced the split of the group, planning the band's last show at 2010's Offset Festival. Originally planned as Linger's solo performance, the duo played a couple unique arrangements of Neils Children songs, using the second half of the show to showcase their new group, The Drop Five.^[2]

Discography

Albums

• Change/Return/Success (2004, Soft City Recordings/Early single compilation mini-album)
• Something Perpetual" (2006, Vinyl Junkie/Japanese Only rarites compilation)
• X.Enc (2009, Structurally Sound/Vinyl Junkie)
• Perpetually/Live/2005 (2011, Structurally Sound)

Singles

• "St. Benet Fink" (2002, Circle Records - limited edition of 500)
• "Come Down" (2003, Soft City Recordings)
• "I Hate Models" (2004, Soft City Recordings/Loog)
• "Always The Same" (2005, Poptones/Soft City) - UK #56^[1]
• "Another Day" (2006, White Heat Records)
• "Stand Up" (2006, Half Machine Records)
• "Lucifer Sam" (2006, Modern Pop Records)
• "You Didn't Care" (2007, 30:30 Recordings)
• "Reflective/Surface"/"Exposure" (2008, April 77 Records)
• "Im Ill"/"Terror At Home" (2008, Structurally Sound)

Promotional videos

• "Come Down" (2003)
• "Always The Same" (2005)
• "Another Day" (2006)
• "Stand Up" (2006)
• "Lucifer Sam" (2006)
• "You Didn't Care" (2007)
• "I'm Ill" (2008, featuring SKIPtheatre)
• "Motorcar" (2009)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 389. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
2. ^ Thedropfive.co.uk

External links

• Neils Children official website
• The Official Neils Children Myspace page