Neil Crud

Infobox musical artist
Name = Neil Crud


Background = journalist / musician
Birth_name = Neil Birchall
Alias = Neil Crud
Born = November 22, 1966 (age 40)
flagicon|Wales Llanelwy, Wales
Died =
Origin =
Instrument = Vocals
Guitar
Bass
Genre = Punk
Post-punk
Rock
Occupation = Musician
Years_active = 1987 – present
Label =
Associated_acts = Sons of Selina, 4Q, Pocket Venus, Delerium Records, Psychosexual Sex Terrestrials
URL =
Current_members =
Past_members =

Neil Birchall (born November 22, 1966), also known as Neil Crud, is a Welsh rock musician / journalist / DJ. He was the lead vocalist / bassist for the Sons of Selina and 4Q. With his aggressive yet humorous larger than life character, he went on to become an archivist, compiling a vast online database of alternative Welsh based and Liverpudlian bands.

=Brief biography=

Early life

Brought up in rural North Wales in Denbigh, Ruthin and Nantglyn, Neil embraced punk rock at the age of 12 and formed 'imaginary' bands with school friends.

=Crud= Having started promoting gigs for punk bands in Colwyn Bay, Neil began publishing a subversive punk fanzine called 'Crud' (hence his name) in 1987. It started off small with a print run run of 1000, but by Issue 5 it was earning front page headlines for encouraging people to shoplift, be arsonists and, by Issue 8 a concerned parent in Somerset had sent a copy to her MP Geoffrey Dickens who in turn forwarded it to the then British Home Secretary Douglas Hurd, who immediately ordered a Home Office investigation into the fanzine.Crud was also attracting the attention of the North Wales Police, and when the 'zine printed jocular remarks about the then Police Chief Superintendent a crackdown was ordered. Record shops and outlets selling the 'zine were raided, and the shop owners arrested. Neil Crud was also arrested and charged on 3 counts under The Obscene Publications Act.All charges were subsequently dropped and the officers handling the case were demoted, but it was enough to unnerve Neil, who had stated, 'I only wanted to make people laugh, I don't think the prospect of two years in prison is very funny.'The 9th issue of Crud was never published and the 'zine folded in 1990.

4Q

In May 1987, and the Crud fanzine enjoying a healthy readership, Neil on guitar and later bass, formed the punk band 4Q with Edi Filmstar, Wayne The Bastard and Paul Puke. The band was musically inept and relied upon chaotic performances to gain recongnition. Bans from venues became widespread and 4Q soon found it difficult to play anywhere in North Wales or the North West of England, and soon began playing under pseudonyms such as 'The 4 Quavers' and 'Johnny Rawhide And The Cowhorns'.Their recorded material by 1989 hit the headlines, causing outrage in Liverpool after they had revamped John Lennon's 'Imagine' called 'Imagine A Dead Hippy' with the lyrics:

Imagine there's no Lennon, it isn't hard to do
No Paul McCartney, we can see him through
Imagine all The Beatles lying in a pool of blood

John Lennon got a bullet, in the middle of his chest
If I had things my way, Paul McCartney's next

Due to the Crud fanzine connection, 4Q were under police surveilliance and fans were regularly searched at concerts and venues were pre-warned of the licensing consequences of staging the band.Without an official release and mounting police pressure, Neil Crud split 4Q and stopped the fanzine in May 1990.

Psychosexual Sex Terrestrials

After a year hitch hiking in Europe, Neil Crud returned to the UK and joined Rhyl based indie-punk band Psychosexual Sex Terrestrials as guitarist and appeared on their debut single 'Stuart' in 1992 before he was sacked on the eve of its release.

ons of Selina

In September 1990 Neil had started a project with latter day 4Q guitarist Robin Hemuss under the name Sons of Selina. They soon gained widespread plaudits and released a single 'Anxiety' in September 1992, earning plenty of airplay on BBC Radio One. The line up expanded and they performed a live session on Mark Radcliffe's BBC Radio show and toured the UK and Europe.
Delerium Records signed the band and released two albums.

Radio DJ and other projects

In 2002, as the Sons of Selina began to fizzle out, Neil turned his attention to managing Pocket Venus, releasing 2 singles for them on his own Secrets of Sound record label, both receiving daytime Radio One airplay.

He also launched the link2wales.co.uk website which is still running today as a vast encyclopedic database of nearly 5000 alternative bands, venues and personalities in Wales and Liverpool.

Neil also began contributing to the Adam Walton show on BBC Radio Wales, appearing monthly and covering for holidays as well hosting his own bi-monthly 'no holds barred' podcast through his website.

External links

* [http://www.link2wales.co.uk Link2wales]
* [http://members.aol.com/soselina/index.html Sons of Selina]
* [http://members.aol.com/fq87/index.html 4Q]