Official Website
NEIL MURRAY
Some of the bands etc. that I have played bass with include:
Whitesnake • Black Sabbath • Brian May Band • Gary Moore • We Will Rock You musical • Peter Green Splinter Group • Colosseum II • Snakecharmer • National Health and many others
See a timeline of my career below the photo
Photo ©️ Mark Regan 2018
Hi Neil,would it be possible for you to send me a guitar plectrum please, many thanks steve
Hi Steve, sorry but I only play with fingers!
Dear NM,
You’ve been one of the bass player that mainly influenced my life. I love the sound you have but I’m crazy for the “Live in the heart of the city” from Whitesnake. A legend. Please tell me bout ya equipment on that milestone.Thank you!!!!
Thanks Alessandro! On the Live In The Heart Of The City album I used a Kramer 350B bass, modified with two Di Marzio P bass pickups mounted close together, and La Bella Quarterwound strings. The amp was a Sunn Coliseum (300W) into an Acoustic 408 cabinet with 4 x 15 inch speakers.
Hi Neil, huge fan, wish you alk the best!
Question,I have a picture that I would love to get signed by you. Do you have any fanmail adress where I can send my letter ? Kind Regards
Hi David, I’ll reply to your email address. I’m hoping to get a PO Box for ‘fanmail’ etc but I’ll pass on an address to you for now.
Hi Neil, what kind of bass did you use in the music video is this love? Thank you very much for your time!
I played on the music recording of Is This Love on the album, but it is Rudy Sarzo on the video, with my playing on the track. He is playing some kind of double-neck bass, like two Steinberger basses joined together, but you will have to ask Rudy for the details.
EDIT: It is a 1985 Washburn model B-62 Double Neck Bass fretted/fretless.
Hi Neil! Hope you are well! I’m a big fan and would love to get a photo I have of you signed if possible. Do you have a fan mail address?
Thanks
Ashley
Hi Ashley, I don’t have a fan mail address right now, but I am in the process of getting a P O Box for making it easy to have items signed etc. I will put the address on the site when it is up and running. Thanks!
Hi Neil.
Hope your well
Do you have a PO Box address where I could possibly post you some CD sleeves for you to kindly sign,if your not too busy?
All the best
Rich
Hi Neil.
Hope you are well
Many many thanks for signing all my CD covers.
Great stuff
Much obliged to you.
All the very best
Rich Snowdon
Hi Neil!
Absolutely blown away by your playing on the Trouble album! The chops and accuracy… and spot on in the pocket! Can’t wait to dig deeper into your body of work. Was only familiar with your playing on Ain’t No Love on a compilation live album with Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and UFO among others that I got in the ‘80s (Live and Heavy was the Lp.) Also had Corridors of Power, but only now realizing it was you on bass on that one. So, as a bass player for over 40 years, I appreciate the inspiration you’ve given me. Amazing stuff! Cheers!!
Thanks Jimmy! Hopefully you will enjoy my playing on the other early Whitesnake albums from 1979-82: Lovehunter, Ready An’ Willing, Live In The Heart Of The City, Come An’ Get It and Saints An’ Sinners.
Hi, Neil! I’m guitar player and I just want to say you re my favorite bass player ever! I love Whitesnake first albuns and National Health, you were AMAZING in there! You did very well in Rock N Rio 1985 too! I hope you re well and healthy. Regards from Brazil!
Hi Neil! A bit late but – Happy birthday!
Trouble and Ready an’ Willing were two of my four first lp’s and are still magic music for me, nowadays also a magic as a direct tunnel back to youth.
Your bass playing on the Whitesnake albums opened my eyes / ears to take in the whole sound, the blend of instruments. Infact it was impossiblenot to listen to the bass, as it’s in many ways dominating the experience. Especially in Live…in the Heart… Best bass playing ever in my opinion, and by the best bass guitarist! It’s been a bit difficult to follow your career but always fun when I found something, like Snakecharmer’s Second skin.
Some questions:
1) Have you considered i self biography? I think there are a lot of die hard fans that would love to read it, if they just somehow got the information in the media stream.
2) Is it possible to by some signed copies of some of the records you played on? Any record would be terrific!
All the best!
Hi Mikael,
1. I’m planning to do that, but it’s taking a long time to get going.
2. These days it’s so complicated to send vinyl LPs, even in the UK, that I prefer not to. Sorry about that.
Best wishes,
Neil
Dear Neil,
I’m a big fan of the early Whitesnake years and especially of your work during that period. At the moment, I’m reading Bernie Marsden’s autobiography, and I’m very curious to read your own memories from that era in your upcoming biography (if that is still in the works).
May I ask what some of your best memories are of working with John Sykes?
I would also love to get your autograph on some of my Whitesnake vinyl records. Do you happen to have a P.O. Box or another way to send items?
Thank you very much, Neil, and best regards from the Netherlands.
Hi Hugo,
I still hope to write my own memoirs, and I have done lots of factual research for it, but I haven’t got down to the hard work of writing it yet, sorry!
I will have to leave my thoughts about John Sykes until that time, but I include below an interview I did for Burrn! magazine in Japan after he died.
I did have a PO box, but it is now so complicated and expensive to send packages from the UK and the EU, that I won’t do that anymore. My apologies.
Thanks, Neil
Interview:
What memories have been flooding your mind since hearing of John’s passing?
I was very upset to hear about John’s passing as it was completely out of the blue. However, I hadn’t had much contact with John in the last few years and before that only very occasionally since we worked together in Whitesnake from the end of 1983 through to the end of 1986.
I first met and played with John when we were part of John Sloman’s Badlands in early 1982, recording some demos and playing a couple of gigs together, including the Marquee Club in London. That was my first introduction to John’s very exciting and energetic playing and his slightly wild but very down to earth personality. When things didn’t happen quickly enough with that situation, John was snapped up by Thin Lizzy, while I joined Gary Moore’s band, until John and I were reunited in Whitesnake in late 1983.
We were quite different types of people, but we enjoyed a lot of the same music and had some good times together on the road and then later recording the 1987 Whitesnake album at Little Mountain Studio in Vancouver. He was probably the most exciting guitarist I’d played with at that point, and he was a huge part of Whitesnake finally becoming a globally successful band. Apart from recordings and videos, I’m lucky to have many photos that I took during the time we worked together.
“Wild but very down to earth personality” – that is the best description I have heard of him to this point. Those who worked with him in his later years said that he wasn’t interested in the business side of the business because people took advantage. You go to Gary Moore, he goes to Thin Lizzy, that is huge! Were you guys just excited kids back then? Did you have any idea how the business really was and can you see his point?
Well, at this point, I was 31, John was quite a lot younger, but he had his head screwed on, and he was definitely ambitious. Neither of us had had big monetary success so far, which is why in my situation changes were being made with Whitesnake’s management, record label etc.
Part of the reason why I went to Gary Moore was that there was no money coming in because Whitesnake was on hold, and I needed to be doing something which is why I got together with John Sloman, though the Gary Moore situation had a lot more going for it. As far as the business side goes, I think John was probably more hard-nosed than me financially, and would be more business-like in getting a good deal for himself in terms of a weekly retainer from whichever band he was in. Certainly there was no money in the John Sloman situation until a record deal came about, which didn’t actually happen for another couple of years, unfortunately. I don’t know what John’s deal was with Thin Lizzy but I think he was becoming aware of his musical and financial worth. Certainly in Whitesnake, it was a situation where David was in charge of the band and a weekly wage would be negotiated with each of the members. It wasn’t an equal situation and it never had been. So I think since David was keen to get John into Whitesnake, John was therefore in a good bargaining position and could ask the same fee that Cozy Powell was getting at that time.
What, if anything, did Gary think of John’s talent? Was John even on his radar at that point?
Gary came along to see John Sloman’s Badlands when we played the Marquee Club but I don’t know what his opinion was, though I’m sure he must have been impressed. Obviously they worked together later on the final Thin Lizzy show in March 1983 at Hammersmith Odeon, but I would say it was more the opposite, that John would have been very aware of Gary’s playing, though I think Randy Rhoads was actually John’s favourite guitarist.
When I said “flooding your mind” I was hoping that you could tell me your first memory of the two of you back in the day. When I think of you, I see us first meeting in the Rainbow.
For me it was getting together in May 1982 to rehearse in a small rehearsal room with John, John Sloman, drummer John Munro and keyboard player Graham Pleeth to play John Sloman’s songs. My first impression was that John Sykes was a very energetic, enthusiastic, exciting musician and very stimulating to play with, and a fun guy to hang out with.
When you guys met back up in Whitesnake how had his time in Thin Lizzy changed him/improved him? And how did your time with Gary change and improve you?
I guess that John had become more aware of being a hot commodity and being in demand, going from one big-name band to another when he joined Whitesnake. He moved up from Tygers of Pan Tang via Badlands to Lizzy and therefore started playing larger venues and getting paid a decent amount of money, as well as playing with higher profile musicians. In my case, I first played with Gary in Colosseum II in the mid 70s for about 18 months, and from then on he was a really good friend of mine. In a sense, the thing that changed as far as my particular situation was that in earlier Whitesnake from 1978 to 1982, it was more blues-based rock and I had a lot more freedom to play the bass lines that I came up with, partly because the songs allowed for that. With Gary, his material was more structured with the bass either playing a riff or else holding things down at the bottom, a more typical bass player role. There was much more notice taken of what the prevailing musical taste was in the USA – commercial rock where the bass was less important than the guitar, drums and vocals. That carried over into the songs that Whitesnake had started writing and recording for the Slide It In album during 1983 which were more basic as regards the bass playing.
You said that you were different people but you had important things in common that kept you playing together. What was it that was so different from you?
Well, I’m a not very typical rock musician, whereas most guys in bands are from more working class backgrounds. John, for example, probably had a lot more street smarts than me, and I had more book learning, let’s say. I went to college. studying graphic design, whereas I think he went straight from school into playing in bands. Musically, we had a lot of the same taste, though I guess maybe he was less interested in blues and fusion than I was. He was into the hard rock of artists such as Ozzy Osbourne and Van Halen, but we both appreciated really good players and singers. and hopefully he had respect for my playing. In John’s ideal world, he would be playing with the players he most looked up to, especially Bob Daisley and Tommy Aldridge, but he also liked to have a ‘father figure’, such as Phil Lynott or Cozy Powell, who shared John’s slightly ‘hooligan’ side but had been around the block and were respected older statesman musicians.
How was John’s and your relationship with David in those early Whitesnake days? What did the two of you think of Coverdale? His talent and where he had come from and how he ruled over a band?
David had changed from when I first joined Whitesnake in 1978, when although he was the well-known ex-Deep Purple frontman, it was a fairly democratic, all-mates-together, band, not a ‘lead singer plus anonymous session musicians’ situation. It became necessary for him to take over management of the band in 1982 and make some lineup changes, but he had also widened his interests and was becoming less of a ‘band guy’ who went to the pub with the guys, and more somebody who enjoyed expensive restaurants and classical music. It was a good working situation throughout 1984, when although the band lost two members it started making inroads into the US market. John, Cozy and myself agreed that we should aim for an contract with David for an equal split of the band’s income before recording the follow-up to Slide It In, but David didn’t agree, and his suggested percentages were not acceptable to Cozy, which is why he quit in early 1985. John then became more of an almost-equal partner to David, helped by the fact that he was coming up with a lot of song ideas which they developed together, along with some input from me, during the first half of 1985.
Did John write with David on those early records?
There was only one album that John was involved in the writing on which is the 1987 Whitesnake record. On Slide It In all the writing is with David, Mel Galley for the most part and Micky Moody a little bit, and the five Whitesnake studio albums between 1978 and 1982 were written mostly by David, Micky and Bernie Marsden. It just happened that myself and John had the chance to replace some of the guitar and all the bass for the U.S. release because Geffen Records wanted to remix the album for America.
On the U.S. version of Slide It In, there’s a certain amount of John’s guitar playing, but there’s still more of Mel Galley’s and still a little of Micky Moody’s, even though John replaced Micky in the band. So it wasn’t until 1985 that John got together with David and started co-writing, as well as putting demos down in his own studio, with some help from me.
When you heard 1987, how much of John could you hear in those records?
The 1987 album is very much a collaboration between John and David, with some contributions from myself and Don Airey’s keyboards. So it’s a very strong representation of John’s writing and playing at that time. He spent a long time recording and re-recording his guitar parts and David did the same with his vocals and that caused the album to take much longer than it should have. I think there was an element of John competing with David to be just as important, and if David took a lot of time doing things then John had to as well, but the trouble was that in the end the record was costing so much, that the record company started wanting to sideline John to some extent and just get it finished. When it came to the mix, supposedly John wasn’t invited to be there and but he turned up anyway. There had already been a row because one of his solos had been replaced by Adrian Vandenberg on the album version of Here I Go Again, which John was extremely unhappy about, although he never wanted to re-record that song or Crying in the Rain, which had both been on the 1982 Saints An’ Sinners album, partly because he had no writing credits on them. So when he showed up for the mixing sessions in LA, he had a huge row with David about that and he left.
When Coverdale blew a fuse and fired everyone, what was the consensus between you and John?
Well that’s not quite what happened anyway. Because of the cost of the album, myself and the drummer Aynsley Dunbar had stopped getting our wages in April 1986 so at that point Aynsley decided he was no longer in the band. My situation was rather vague but no one fired me and in fact I replaced some bass parts six months later. You could say that after John stormed out there was only me and David left, and it just ended up that it was simpler to get a whole new lineup together, particularly as I was in London and David was totally based in LA at that point, The consensus between me and John was that he was very unhappy with David and the whole situation, as you can imagine, and he certainly planned to get his own band together, which ended up being Blue Murder, and at first featured Cozy but I wasn’t really in the running for that. I think he wanted a different kind of bass playing, and so they got Tony Franklin.
Did both of you handle it differently? It seems as though it sidelined John for the rest of his life. Did you see that adding to him becoming a recluse?
I’m not sure that I agree with that really, that it sidelined John; he went straight out and got a good record deal with Blue Murder and made a couple of albums with that lineup and I think it was quite important to him to be in charge of his own situation from that point on. If he’d been more amenable to letting David be more of the leader instead of John being the equal partner, then he could have continued with Whitesnake and I think in the long run that might have been better. But he may well have ended up getting his own band together anyway. I don’t really know enough about his situation after putting together the mid-90s version of Thin Lizzy. I didn’t have enough contact with him to know what he was doing, except that obviously the whole grunge thing coming along gave a lot of the bands from the ‘80s a very difficult time and John was very much associated with the hair metal of Whitesnake and Blue Murder. I think that if his kind of music wasn’t going to be a commercial proposition then he was happy to work on his own music but not too bothered about trying to compete with all the other bands who were not really playing the same sort of music he wanted to do.
What did you think of Blue Murder? Did you think he had something big? Kalodner said that the songs he wrote for that record were supposed to be the new songs for Whitesnake had Coverdale not blown it all out.
I thought Blue Murder were really good. I saw them at the Greek Theatre in LA in 1989 and their first album is one of my all-time favourites. Certainly, Tony Franklin was a fantastic bass player, and Carmine was one of my all-time favourite drummers. I thought they had some great songs, but possibly just came along a little bit too late. Things were changing with Guns N’ Roses’ big success, and then that progressed into the grunge scene. With all these things it’s so much to do with the record company backing you, and if you’re not seen as the latest big thing they’ll give you a certain amount of leeway but if you don’t sell millions of albums then it’s goodbye. I have no idea whether the songs that he wrote for Blue Murder were supposed to be for Whitesnake. I don’t think it’s that likely because I’m not sure that there was much interest from John in writing new songs until the 1987 album was released and Whitesnake had toured, but I could be wrong.
Thank you very much for taking the time to reply, Neil. It is greatly appreciated.
Hello Neil!
I love you man!! You are such an inspiration! I would be honored if I could have you sign my whitesnake vinyl cover! It would mean soooo much to me. I have no problem including return postage and even a charitable donation if you desire. All you would have to do is sign it and send it back. Is it possible to do this? If not, no worries! Atleast i got to tell you how awesome you are! Thanks for all the good vibes, joy, and memories! You have made the world a brighter place with your gifts!!!!!! Rock on!!!
Hi Will, I’m sorry to say that it’s too much off a hassle with customs and postal services these days to sign items that people send, particularly from the US. My apologies, and all the best.
Hello, Neil!! Greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I was reading the previous reply, your interview with Burrn!, in which you speak about your feelings on the untimely passing of John Sykes (btw, what a shock it was!!), among other very interesting things, regarding him. Great tribute and memories of such an amazing musician.
I am a big, huge fan of early Whitesnake, and you are one of my all time favourite bass players; your work in those days with the band was amazing!! You know, I remember praying and praying in 1985 when the fabulous WS four piece played Rock In Rio,for you guys to come down here after the festival. Sadly, never happened, and I had to wait quite a time to see you and Cozy live (my favourite rythj combo!) – that was in 1992, when Brian May came to Argentina, and I had the delight to meet you and speak to you. I still have the autograph you signed for me back then 🙂
In other matters, I see many people ask whether you will write your autobiography… I guess it will be very interesting (Bernie Marsden’s book is one of my favourites!), but I saw that you have taken many photos during your career, as well.
Perhaps a book with your photos could be easier, huh?? If you need a hand with some writing to ease the job, let me know; I am a journalist, and I will do it for free!! 🙂
Just an idea, I guess a photo book from you would be fantastic!
With my best regards,
Ale Ocampo
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hi Ale, I’m aware via Facebook of what a big fan you are, and I’m very appreciative of it! I’ve been planning to write a book about my career for a long time, and I really need to get on with it before I forget everything! Unless I decide to just focus on my time in Whitesnake, there’s a lot to write about, some of which you might not find very interesting. My photos only date from around 1980, which is a pity, as I would have liked to have much more reminders of what I did in the 1970s. Best wishes, Neil
Hi, Neil!
Thank you so very much for taking your time to reply! I appreciate it a great deal! 🙂
With regards to a book, yes, I can understand the figures. You have a long a successful career, and mostly with Whitesnake. Yes, I am such a huge fan, and grateful for all the great music you gifted to us all.
About the photos, of course I would have liked to see more of the 70s, but, the 80s have been fabulous, weren’t they?
Thank you again for your kindness!
With my best regards
Ale Ocampo
Hi there Neil! 21 year old fan from Northern Ireland here that is a massive Gary Moore fan. Your playing with him was amazing! I was reaching out to ask if you had any funny experiences with Phil Lynott or if you have a favourite memory of Gary that you would be willing to share.
Wishing you nothing but the best!
Gareth Martin
Hallo Mr. Murray.
Hi!
My cover band was going to play Black an Blue. Can you send me the bass line, or the tablature. I would also like to know how you set the sound on the bass, as I think it must not be too dark. Sound on my Snake bite bass.
brg
Johnny from Sweden.
Hello Mr. Murray.
Hi!
My cover band was going to play Black and Blue. Can you send me the bass line or the tablature? I would also like to know how you set the sound on the bass, because I think it should not be too dark. Sound on my Snake Bite bass.
Brg
Johnny from Sweden.
Hi Johnny, I don’t have any notation or tablature for Black an’ Blue, sorry. I don’t think it’s a very difficult bass part to learn by ear, plus the audience are not going to ask for a refund if you don’t play every note exactly like the original! On that album, I was using an Aria SB900 bass with half-round strings, which combine to give a midrange-heavy tone. I suggest using mostly the bridge pickup and playing with your right-hand fingers over that pickup, which will bring out the mids. Good luck!
Tack För svaret. Jag har fått till den.
Hi!
Vilka strängar använder du. Bästa ljud och inte så hårda för fingrarna.
mvh
Johnny Dikermyr
Hey Neil my names kyle, and I really love your bass playing on a few albums you’ve been on any chance you have an address I could send you a few cd covers or photos to sign? I would really appreciate it, thanks alot
Hi Kyle, I’m sorry but I’m not really signing items anymore, unless it’s in person, for various practical reasons. Thanks for your kind words! All the best, Neil