Neil O'Connor profile picture

Neil O'Connor

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact......

About Me


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Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth...(Marcus Aurelius)..............................I was born in Coventry, U.K. and my musical career took off with the “Punk/New wave” movement of the late 1970’s when my band “The Flys” released our independent EP “Bunch of fives” on our manager’s Zama label in late 1977. This release coupled with extensive touring opening for “The Buzzcocks” brought us to the attention of E.M.I. who signed the band in early 1978. releasing 3 albums, “Waikiki Beach Refugees”, “Flys Own” and “The Flys”. Finally internal band conflicts broke up the band and I was invited to join my sister “Hazel O’Connor” who was about to break into the musical scene in a big way with her movie and self penned album “Breaking Glass”. Hazel broke up the band in 1983 though I continued to work with her as musical director and co-producing, with “Martin Rushent” at his “Genetic studios”, her fourth Album “Smile” for R.C.A. in 1984. I stayed at Genetic for the next 4 years. In 1989 I was introduced to a manager and executive producer who had an album recorded by Montrealers, “Les Parfait Salaud”, that needed a mix. I was offered the job mixing their album and thus a relationship with Canada and particularly Montreal was begun. Since being full time in Montreal I have worked with and produced such bands and artists as “Tango Tango”, “Too Many Cooks”, “Tribes of March”, “Daniel Weaver”, “Gaston Mandeville”, “The Whereabouts”, “Pop Mécanic” ,“Papillon”, "Leap" and “Nico Lelievre”. I continue to write and perform with some of my artists and in my own right and have recently finished my album “Everything we hear” with 4 songs currently available on Indiestore and a general release on iTunes, Napster and Musicnet that has been available since the end of March/start of April 2007. One of my most important collaborations, right now, is with Valéry Saint-Germain so please take the time to check her out from my top friends below. More info on my website ..and my old band...The Flys ... Big thanks to Denis Belanger for the permission to use his photos taken earlier this year on March 23rd at the Maison de la culture NDG in Montreal.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 1/29/2007
Band Website: neiloconnor.bravehost.com
Band Members: * Apu Sweff (Keys/Guitar/BV's) * Ella Sweff (Bass) * Jay Sweff (Drums) * Neil O'Connor (Vox/Guitar/Keys) * Special Guest Luc V_guru.---------Live it's George Carter, drums, Pat Hamel, guitar, Andrew Macneil, bass and Valery Saint-Germain on bv's
Influences: The 50's music of Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, Fats Domino, Peggy Lee......................................................... ............................................ The 60's music of The Who, Stones, Small faces, Velvet Underground, The Stooges, Tamla, Soul, Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Syd Barrett, Captain Beefheart......................................... The 70's music of Roy Harper, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Clash, Stranglers, Damned, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks......................... The 80's music of Human League, Kraftwerk, The Cure, Pete Shelley.......................... Not really into Jazz,Musicals or Prog rock though West side story is "cool" and Richard Harris singing "Macarthur Park" is a great piece of music IMO.
Sounds Like: .........I work with these guys, amongst others........here's a few vids..................................................Valér y Saint-Germain.----"Princess" ........................Human League.----"Heart like wheel" ........................Nico Lelievre.----"Le Petrin" .....................................Hazel O'Connor.----"Will you" ..................................Adam Bomb.----"Pure S.E.X." ............Raymonde.----"Destination Breakdown" ............Highliners.----"Henry the wasp" ................................When I was a member of "The Flys" Keith Moon was at one of our shows and was asked by a journalist from Melody Maker what he thought of us. He described our style as "Pre-Raphealite scum". I liked that description then and I still do today but you tell me, thanks...................................................... ......................... You can hear some more tracks from these sites....................................................... .................................... .. CANADA ............................................................ . .. USA ............................................................ ....... .. UK ............................................................ ........ .. IRELAND ........................................................... .. FRANCE ........................................................... .. GERMANY ....................................................... .. AUSTRIA ....................................................... .. BELGIUM ...................................................... .. HOLLAND ..................................................... .. DENMARK .................................................... .. NORWAY ..................................................... .. SWEDEN ..................................................... .. FINLAND .................................................... .. LUXEMBOURG ............................................ .. SWITZERLAND .......................................... .. SPAIN ..................................................... .. PORTUGAL .............................................. .. ITALY ..................................................... .. GREECE ................................................ .. NEW ZEALAND ...................................... .. AUSTRALIA .........................................Napster. ........ WORLDWIDE .............................................Virgin Digital. ............................................................ ............Music Gremlin. , ............................... plus others on theMusicNet. , network ................................. andIndiestore.
Record Label: iTunes, Napster, Musicnet, Indiestore
Type of Label: None