About The Events

We are excited to welcome Neil Campbell back to Prohibition for his second live performance! This one promises to be even more special than the last with 3 sets of of raw, original and intricate guitar instrumentals!

Guitarist/composer Neil Campbell presents three short sets of original music for solo guitar, including pieces from his albums ‘Through the Looking Glass’, ‘Ghost Stories’, ‘Tabula Rasa Suite’, ‘Night Sketches’ and ‘Last Year’s News’, to an invited audience of friends.

The concert will be recorded for release in 2023 as a live album marking the 20th anniversary of the release of Neil’s solo guitar album Through the Looking Glass.

‘One of the best acoustic guitar players of our time’ – Jon Neudorf, Sea of Tranquility

‘Music of serious quality and distinction’ – Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music

‘The best guitar playing I have heard for a long, long time’ – Victor Wooten, bass player

‘An outstanding guitarist whose originality of thought makes him far more than just another gifted purveyor of finger acrobatics’ – Classical Guitar Magazine

‘A man whose fingers have the ability to harness any imaginable sound in any given style’ – Sean Bradbury, Getintothis

‘Wild and wonderful music’ – Jon Anderson (Yes/Jon and Vangelis) [on Neil’s band project Bulbs]

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The music of Liverpool multi-instrumentalist and composer Neil Campbell draws on elements of contemporary classical, progressive rock, jazz and other musical styles. His output includes pieces for solo guitar, guitar and cello, songs, instrumental ensemble pieces and choral music.

He has performed and recorded critically acclaimed albums with The Neil Campbell Collective, Bulbs, The Perri and Neil Quartet (with vocalist Perri Alleyne-Hughes) and others. He has also collaborated on live projects and recordings with Jon Anderson (Yes), Sense of Sound Singers, DJ Yousef, Anne Taft (Ghost Stories – A Night Opera), Carlo Bowry (Wizards of Twiddly) and composer Gordon Ross. Over the last fifteen years he has performed support slots for artists as diverse as Thea Gilmore, Jan Ackerman (Focus), Vini Reilly (Durutti Column), bassist Victor Wooten, folk guitar legend Davey Graham and saxophonist Courtney Pine.

In 2009 he premiered his composition ‘Frankenstein’ at St George’s Hall Concert Room. This was a 60 minute long piece for rock band, choir (Sense of Sound Singers) and multimedia visual projections based on Mary Shelley’s classic novel. This performance was later reprised at BBC Radio Merseyside in a live recorded broadcast in May 2010 on Spencer Leigh’s ‘On the Beat’ programme featuring actor Gary Mavers as narrator.

He has produced three CDs of solo guitar music ‘Through the Looking Glass’ (Mayfield Records 2003), ‘Night Sketches’ (2004) and ‘Tabula Rasa Suite’ (2014) along with a book of his compositions for solo classical guitar. Neil’s solo performances often involve him using loops and other technology to expand the sound and scope of what one performer can do with the classical guitar. As a soloist he has performed in the UK and Europe, and has been a regular performer at the International Guitar Festival of Great Britain. He particularly enjoys playing in ‘special’ venues and has performed solo concerts in spaces such as Union Chapel (London), Lancaster Priory, Birkenhead Priory, Sheffield Cathedral, Liverpool Central Library, John Ryland’s Library (Manchester), Chetham’s School of Music Library (Manchester) and St Lukes (Bombed Out) Church (Liverpool). In October 2013 took part in the legendary Irish Sea Sessions at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.

In 2012 he formed the band project Bulbs, with ex-members of Liverpool band Zeb and his own band Neil Campbell Collective. This culminated in the album ‘On’ (2013). Shortly after he focused on completing two further solo albums ‘Tabula Rasa Suite’ (2014) and ‘eMErgence’ (2015) and developing new arrangements of the music of Philip Glass (with Carlo Bowry) and Joni Mitchell (with The Perri and Neil Quartet) for recording and performance. Following a longstanding collaborative process of sharing musical ideas across the internet, he, and other members of his band Bulbs, contributed as co-writers to significant sections of Jon Anderson and Roine Stolt’s album ‘The Invention of Knowledge’ (Inside Out 2016).

In 2017 he released the spoken word/music album ‘Estuary’ with poet Seán Street and vocalist Perri Alleyne-Hughes, a collaborative project following on from a performance premiered two years earlier at Liverpool’s Writing on the Wall Festival.

From 2018 – 2019 he released three albums in what he calls his Flood Trilogy, comprising the neo-Baroque solo album ‘The Outsider/News from Nowhere’ (2018), a concept album based on William Morris’s utopian socialist novel, ‘After the Flood’ (2018), his latest band’s debut album, and ‘Last Year’s News’ (2019). During this time he also made significant contributions to Irish musician Úna Quinn’s critically acclaimed debut album ‘Inside Out'(2019).

Across the period of the pandemic in 2020 Neil focused on the recording of a new album for Klee Music, ‘The Great Escape’. It is his first release on vinyl and is set for release in December 2021. The album includes 12 original multi-layered compositions exuding the atmosphere of a travelogue with airy arrangements and jazzy chord progressions. Very much a collaboration with producer/engineer Jon Lawton, Crosstown Studios Liverpool, throughout the album Neil performs almost all of the significant number of instrumental parts himself, with Norwegian drummer Viktor Nordberg at the sticks.

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Consider this your chance, as a fan, to come hear the artist you love perform in an intimate, inner-city studio environment and also discover new, similar and fantastic musicians.

This is a unique gig experience that puts you at the heart of the artist’s performance.

A large proportion of the revenue raised from ticket sales is returned to the artists as payment for their talent and musicianship.

Prohibition Recording Studios prides itself in having musical integrity on behalf of ourselves and the artists.

Tickets are allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.

No under 18s allowed. Doors open at 19:30 and the show starts at 20:00.

We politely ask all guests to arrive before the start time to ensure performances are not disturbed.

Main Act: Neil Campbell

More Info

Ticket sales end at 12pm on the day of the event – No tickets will be available on the door unless specified by Prohibition Recording Studios. 

TICKETS AND VALID I.D. (DRIVING LICENSE OR PASSPORT) ARE REQUIRED FOR ALL GUESTS ON ENTRY.

Sold Out? Drop us an email on info@prohibitionrecordingstudios.co.uk with the subject title ‘SIGN ME UP!’ and we’ll add you to our exclusive events newsletter so you don’t miss out next time.

Note: There is limited seating at the venue – to avoid disappointment, please arrive for the event start time, which coincides with the doors opening. There are steps on entry to the building, so we are very sorry, but unfortunately due to restrictions of the building management we cannot offer a ramp for wheelchair users at this time. There may be a small card processing fee, unfortunately Prohibition Recording Studios cannot control this. We absorb all other fees where possible.