Neil Daniels is a freelance British writer specialising in rock and heavy metal. Educated at Middlesex University, where he obtained a BA Honours degree in Film Studies, he has written books on Judas Priest, Robert Plant, Bon Jovi and Linkin Park. He co-authored Dawn Of The Metal Gods: My Life In Judas Priest & Heavy Metal with original Judas Priest singer and co-founder Al Atkins.[1] It was published in 2009 by the revered Berlin-based publishing company Iron Pages. It features many rare and previously unseen photographs of the band from the early years (1969–1973) as well as bits of memorabilia.
In 2009 Neil had four books published. His tomes have been reviewed in Q Magazine, Mojo, Classic Rock, Rock Sound, Record Collector, Metal Hammer, Terrorizer, Big Cheese, Fireworks, Powerplay, Zero Tolerance and Rock N’ Reel.
He regularly writes for Fireworks, Powerplay and Get Ready To Rock.com, and occasionally contributes to Record Collector. He has also written for The Guardian, Big Cheese, Rock Sound, MediaMagazine, Drowned In Sound and musicOMH. His interests include classic rock, heavy metal, cult films and novels and American comics.
Part of his official website includes a rapidly growing archive of exclusive interviews with writers of pop culture. So far he has conducted interviews with such scribes as Joe Ambrose, Jeff Apter, Gavin Baddeley, Chris Charlesworth, Ian Christe, Jerry Hopkins, Joel McIver, Colin Larkin, Matthias Mader, Ben Myers, Kim Newman, Dave Thompson, Everett True, Chris Welch and Rich Wilson.
In August 2009 he published his first "print on demand" book called All Pens Blazing: A Heavy Metal Writer’s Handbook. With a foreword by the Canadian metal historian Martin Popoff, the book collects 65 exclusive (and extensive) interviews with famed rock/metal writers, including Geoff Barton, Dante Bonutto, Paul Brannigan, Steffan Chirazi, Ian Christe, Dave Dickson, Malcolm Dome, Paul Elliott, Lonn Friend, Neil Jeffries, Howard Johnson, Dave Lewis, Dave Ling, Peter Makowski, Matthias Madder, Joel McIver, Alexander Milas, Derek Oliver, Martin Popoff, Greg Prato, Dave Reynolds, Steven Rosen, Xavier Russell, Brian Slagel, Paul Suter and Jeb Wright, et al. It won critical appraisal in the rock/metal press. A second volume named All Pens Blazing: A Rock & Heavy Metal Writer’s Handbook Volume II is planned for mid 2010.
In August 2009 Neil briefly joined Colin Larkin and his team on the groundbreaking interactive website Btoe 'The Best Thing On Earth', on a temporary basis. His tenure ended November 2009.
Other books planned for 2010 include Rock ‘N’ Roll Mercenaries: Interviews With Rock Stars Volume I, which collects 40 interviews with rock/metal artists as well as some well-known rock scribes.[2]
Interviews: