Colin Murrell

colin Murrell was born in Basildon Essex on 21st January 1970 and has been deeply involved in creative practices since 1981. colin's expertise is in creativity for health and wellbeing and he has dedicated much of his life to creating, teaching, and healthcare work. colin founded direct current in 1981 and has a catalogue of many unreleased recordings, although many are in the public domain in editions of 1, 3, 5, or 7. All editions are handmade by colin who is the sole member. Circa 1988, colin co-founded Circle Workshops (a non-profit organisation) with Penelope Rose Quinton (an Indy Media journalist) and Escape Committee followed by The Demolition Company (with Sean Stokes). Sean and Colin appeared on some Apostles recordings and collaborated on 'Cartography/ Show Trial Asylum'; 'Show Trial Asylum' was in part a reaction to colin's work in the Occupational Therapy department of a local psychiatric hospital and in part to an appearance at The Roundacre in Basildon Essex with then popular Pet Cemetery. colin wrote and performed music with many different short-lived bands: Darwin's Waiting Room, Thorn in the Flesh, and Stream Ov Abuse (to name only few of them). colin was Musical Director of Still Theatre who performed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. colin has more than 300 publications internationally (including: music, writing, photography, paintings, films and videos, radio broadcasts (including BBC & Resonance FM), & performances – including Bloomsbury Theatre). colin has performed alongside internationally acclaimed artists (including Damo Suzuki & Janek Schaefer) and received accolades from celebrated musicians. colin has reviewed publications for Routledge / Taylor & Francis, Sage, and Intellect Journals & Books. Many of colin's students have won awards (including >£million in funding) & acclaim (including recognition from MIND, the Queen’s Award, the British Empire Medal, NHS Star Awards, Extraordinary Woman of the Year, Employer of the Year, Tesco, National Lottery, National Heritage, TIME Magazine, abc News (America), BBC News (UK), BBC World News, South China Morning Post, and from Hugh Laurie & Brian Blessed). In 2019, colin retired from his lengthy career in higher education in order to resume care of his mother who has Alzheimer's disease, worked as a caregiver during the Covid-19 pandemic, and currently works as a cleaner. Although currently supporting family and friends and still preferring the quiet life, colin continues creative practice and contemplates returning to the creative arts and possibly making previous predominantly private archives available.