Written work

As I reach for my phone to let my interviewee know I’ve arrived, I hear his familiar shouting above me. Neville Wilding, post-punk and rock artist, and ex-member of The Fall, has his head out the window and is beckoning me in. He’s wearing a black denim button-up and a pair of loose-fitting black jeans – “’cause I’ve only got one arm, I’m putting loose things on”. He informs me that his other hand was broken a few nights before, after a bottle of gin for breakfast. Nev might be considered the embodiment of rock and roll.

Having worked as an artist for almost forty years, Wilding has been immersed in the London rock subculture for most of his life, and he’s agreed to chat with me about his experience in it. For Nev, his involvement in subculture has meant having close friends, co-workers, and roommates who are all part of a larger community of artists. 

Looking around Wilding’s apartment, I notice signs of how central the scene has been to his life – decorations consist of old concert posters and guitars. He points out a Motörhead t-shirt hanging with his clothing – a gift from his close friend, a guitarist in the band.

“Even though I felt like I’d just dropped from Mars coming from Wales, just the imagination around me… it was just enlightening and just really set your blood on fire.” Nev’s move in the late 80s introduced him to a huge community of creatives, vastly different to his small-town childhood. He recalls one moment marking his immersion into the London rock scene – a show called Nux Vomica, which he performed in. “Basically it was about all different avant-garde artists, and there’s about 20 stages”. Traffic-light-style timers dictated how long each artist performed;once your light goes red, it’s time for the next artist to perform. “There was some crazy weird s**t that went on there.” From that moment on, there was no doubt that Wilding’s home was in the London music scene, and it still is today. 

Whilst the internet claims that the subculture is dying out, Nev argues that it’s thriving now as much as ever – just in a different way. “It all used to be – you know, let’s say for example you were a teddy boy, you were a rocker, you were a mod, you were a punk, you were a new wave whatever, whatever, whatever. That doesn’t exist anymore, because everyone’s into everything… Obviously there was a lot more clarity to your club or to your gang, but the inclusion nowadays is fantastic… The strong identity, it was great at the time, and it was for that time.”

Nev’s music and fashion have always undeniably shaped one another. Though he doesn’t advertise himself as particularly concerned with fashion, I learn through our conversation how important it has been to him. “You will see the correlation between the music I’m writing and the clothes that I’m wearing. When I was like 13-17, I was doing all the folk clubs, and I used to look like Fagin (a Charles Dickens character) or something. Like a top hat, tails, and I was very Victorian, and my music was very Victorian… I used to busk with [that top hat] all the time. I’ve got much more bluesy and rootsy [in my music], and my clothes have got more trad and basic. I used to be very flamboyant, and the music was a lot more flamboyant… The clothes when [my music] was more avant-garde were much more avant-garde as well.”

Even off-stage, Nev’s fashion has reflected the same creativity he exhibits in his music. “I never had normal shoes for probably, like, 30 years. They were all like clown boots or something weird.I knew [a] guy [who said] Nev, you’re gonna f*****g love these boots. They were Dr Martens, and this was probably like ’86 or ’87, and they were see-through Dr Martens… and so I could just change my socks every day and everyone just thought I was wearing different boots.”

Through his relationships with fashion designers, with whom he shares his rebellious and creative nature, fashion has formed an undeniable presence in Wilding’s life. Wilding tells me about his friend’s S&M brand, Skin Two, which he frequently donned on stage during his time in an electronic-dance band. To describe the band’s Skin Two costumes as provocative is an understatement- for some shows, he tells me how his fellow performers were accessorised with cones of shame and leashes as they harmonised with him. Nev knows, the key role clothing plays in inciting a strong reaction.

He says his favourite designer, though, is Alexander McQueen. 

“I did a song for Alexander McQueen, and he was always my fashion god. And so to meet him and write a song for him, for one of his shows, was pretty special… He used to work and hang out, where I used to hang out, so we chatted and he liked The Fall… So I wrote this song called “The Chain”, and it was about as murky as you could get, but it never came to pass because blah blah blah. But yeah, Alexander McQueen, probably about 3,000 feet higher than [any other designer] in my estimation.

You watch that swift cut [in the tailoring] and you’re like ‘f**k off how’d you do that?’… you’re, like, mesmerised… But also, I liked [McQueen] because he was a crazy decadent lunatic as well - and he liked my band, which helped. I loved Lee. Lee was f*****g top.”

Rock might not immediately strike audiences as fashion-forward, but as this conversation revealed, fashion has and will always be central to music, regardless of genre. Wilding, like many great artists, has found an appreciation of, and a power in, dress.