Birchville Cat Motel is a one-man experimental music

Experimental music

Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...

 project formed by Campbell Kneale from Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. Although largely unknown in his home country, Kneale has toured throughout Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. His first vinyl release was Jewelled Wings on the Freedom From

Freedom From

Freedom From is a Minneapolis, Minnesota based record label which primarily focuses on the international noise underground genre. The label was founded in 1996 with its first official release by a San Francisco three-piece named Job. Up until early 1998, the labels focus was singularly cassettes,...

 label. Many of Kneale's rare and out of print recordings have been reissued recently on a 6cdr collection entitled Chaos Steel Skeletons.

Kneale operates the labels Celebrate Psi Phenomenon and Battlecruiser which have issued CDs by artists from New Zealand and overseas, including Matthew Bower

Matthew Bower

Matthew Bower is a British musician, active since the early 1980s, with a vast collection of collaborative and solo work behind him.-Skullflower:...

 (under the name Mirag) and Simon Wickham-Smith

Simon Wickham-Smith

Simon Wickham-Smith is a British musician, translator, academic and sometime astrologer. He first came to the attention of the experimental music underground with the release of Lake, a collaboration with Richard Youngs issued under the moniker R!!!S!!!...

 with recent releases by Richard Youngs

Richard Youngs

Richard Youngs is a British musician with a prolific and diverse output, including many collaborations. Based in Glasgow since the early 1990s, his extensive back catalogue of solo and collaborative work formally begins with Advent, first issued in 1990...

 and Alex Neilson

Alex Neilson

Alex Neilson is an English drummer, percussionist and singer who is currently based in Glasgow but grew up in Leeds. He has performed alongside a large number of bands and artists including Lucky Luke, The One Ensemble Of Daniel Padden, Ashtray Navigations, Alastair Galbraith, Isobel Campbell,...

 and one involving Tony Conrad

Tony Conrad

Tony Conrad is an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer...

. Kneale has used Birchville Cat Motel as a vehicle for many collaborations with other musicians, including Lee Ranaldo

Lee Ranaldo

Lee M. Ranaldo is an American singer, guitarist, writer, record producer, and visual artist, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth...

, Neil Campbell

Neil Campbell (musician)

Neil Campbell is a British musician, notable for his vast catalogue and his many collaborations. In 2005, The Wire declared that he, Richard Youngs and Matthew Bower had "provided the map co-ordinates for much of what passed for a post-punk UK underground during most of the 80s and 90s".-Early...

, and Bruce Russell. He also records under the names Black Boned Angel

Black Boned Angel

Black Boned Angel is a Wellington-based drone metal project of New Zealand experimental musicians Campbell Kneale and James Kirk . Originally a duo with Kirk, recently Black Boned Angel has expanded to include Jules Desmond...

and Ming and compiled the Prince

Prince (musician)

Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

tribute album Shut Up Already Damn!. After being active as Birchville Cat Motel for 10 years, Campbell has recently disbanded this project to focus on his new project Our Love Will Destroy The World.