Neil Marshall is a drummer who lives in Macclesfield.
Did you always know that you wanted to be a musician?
I wanted to be a footballer. I started at 13 , 14. I played guitar then the drums. My dad was a drummer. I studied music at college which include sound recording, composition and music technology etc.
I was touring for many years, particularly with a folk-rock band called “The Albion Band”,..that wasn’t the mainstream music but it was great.
I went to play on cruise ships, went round the world 5 times, you got to amazing places. The music was not quite what it was with the bands but there were great musicians there and the money was good. I came back because my father was ill, about three years ago and I started to teach at Trackside and to teach in schools. Which is regular money, which is what you need when you got a mortgage.
(Neil is seen here on the right with Pete Mason collapsed in hysterics on the left)…
Did you have plans for yourself when you were younger,..about what you wanted to be in music?
At 19 I played in a band and we played Glastonbury. I thought, “that is it”. We made a single and there was a producer. At that time you got record deals, you got signed. That is all different now.
On your way through music, was there turns you took because of mis-understanding something about your creativity, or wrong assumptions you made about yourself (like I tried to keep away from sewing/pattern cutting after my Fashion degree because I thought – wrongly – I could not do it)?
I can sight read music. This brought me lots of opportunities.
Do you sometimes think what music and what musical field you would have played in a “parallel” universe, if you would have not landed with drums and rock music?
Interesting question. Hm.
Was there a defining moment at some stage or moments, that changed the course of things or had massive impact?
I played the Crop Ready Festival in Oxfordshire with a band called Blue Tapestry. I think it was 2002. There were 35, 000 to 40, 000 people. That was absolutely amazing. That was the high point. People came up to us, crying, because they were so moved by the music.
What importance has talent in the musical field for a person who sets out to go there?
50% talent, the rest is image. Knowing the right people and being at the right place at the right time.
At this stage, Pete Mason from Mash Guru has joined our conversation. Pete agrees completely to that.
Pete and Neil explain how there are no record deals any more and it is only the song writers who get the royalties. And that many groups are musically not that fantastic, but they have a good songwriter with them and that is why it works for them.
Thanks Neil and Pete for talking to us.
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