Dragon Interview: Neil Cowley Pianist

Published on: 30 Jul, 2016
Updated on: 30 Jul, 2016

By Will Parsons

Neil Cowley, a Chiddingfold-based jazz pianist who has played with such renowned artists as Adele, Stereophonics, and Birdy, will be releasing a new album with his group, the Neil Cowley Trio, in September.

The Neil Cowley trio

The album, titled Spacebound Apes, will be the group’s sixth studio album. It follows the story of one man, called Lincoln, which will be released in an accompanying book illustrated by DC Comics artist Sergio Sandoval.

Mr Cowley said that the story of Lincoln was inspired heavily by his own experiences.

“This character, Lincoln, became this representation partly of myself,” he said. “A man going through a mild midlife crisis, but strangely he’s represented by a chimp in a space suit. My idea was just to reflect my own experience and hope that people related to it.”

Asked how hard it was to put the project together, he said: “I opened up a can of worms, realising that I had to write this full eleven chapter story to accompany the album and do a whole six months preface online, it’s pushed me to my extreme.

“It is the biggest thing I’ve ever attempted.”

Mr Cowley played piano on Adele’s album 21, most notably playing the piano riff in Rolling in the Deep. He was classically trained as a child, but very soon became involved in more popular genres, playing his first gig at the age of fourteen.

“I feel I get very dark and depressed if I’m not doing live performances,” he said. “When I was aged fourteen I had my first gig, and I’ve never done anything else. Everything else is a hindrance, a distraction.”

Mr Cowley moved to Chiddingfold six years ago. He explained: “In 2010, my wife fell in love with a pile of bricks in Guildford that was gonna absolutely finish us renovating it.

“Just at the point that we were gonna make our ridiculous offer for the thing, we went and viewed this house in Chiddingfold, and then I said, ‘Well this is a much more sensible option.'”

He has since become involved in village life, playing at Christmas sing-alongs, and has filmed two of his music videos at Chiddingfold. Mr Cowley also occasionally helps out at the Music Works, a music school in Milford, near Godalming, which offers tuition in various instruments.

Spacebound Apes will be released September 16, and will be performed live by the trio on October 27 at Union Chapel, London.