Neil Primrose (Cumbernauld, Glasgow, Scotland, 1972) plays drums in Travis, one of the most prominent British trad rock bands in the mid- to late '90s.



Neil Primrose's father was a power station engineer, so the family was always on the move wherever job took him. A posting to Middlesborough was followed by a series of moves across the north-east of England that spanned the first ten years of Neil's life, with the sad result that Neil had to make new friends - or enemies- wherever he went. "I basically got the shit kicked out of me" - the perennial new boy once reflected.



Returning to Glasgow, Neil Primrose made friends with a lad called Ronnie who played the drum in an Orange marching band. Thankfully, it was the musical side of this pastime and none of the sectarianism for which Scotland is sadly renowned that rubbed off.



Neil Primrose's other passion was swimming, the 200 metre butterfly stroke being his speciality; while a teenager he made it into the national C Class - one down to swim for Scotland.



In 2002 Neil Primrose had a swimming pool accident in France that almost cost him his life. On July 7th, Neil Primrose sustained multiple fractures in his vertebrae after striking his head and being knocked unconscious in a swimming pool following a festival appearance at Belfort, France. The Scottish star says he was convinced death was near when he saw faces of family and friends flash before him as he began to drown. In an interview with The Sun Primrose reveilde:

"I must have gone in too steeply because I felt this almighty crunch in my neck and realized I'd banged my head. From that moment my life changed. I tried to swim to the surface but couldn't move. I felt myself sinking. I was in limbo but I stayed composed because I knew there were people around the pool."

Neil then underwent a seven-hour operation and surgeons inserted a two-inch metal plate into his neck. He has been left with a 5-inch scar on the right side of his throat. Primrose continues:

"My drumming is good again, but perhaps not quite as fast. And I haven't really slept properly since it happened because of the pain. I was fit before the accident and that has helped my recovery. I haven't got full movement in my neck and I have to be careful with quick movements. It's a surreal thing to have happened to the band but it's made us stronger."