Hiatus behind him, McNeil starts fresh

The childhood memories of strife and violence where he grew up in Northern Ireland left ex-Hybrasil singer-guitarist Christian McNeill feeling violent, or at least enraged, himself.

''I saw two people get killed in front of my eyes when I was a kid," McNeill says. ''That leaves a mark. I was angry because of that country and that climate, and I used music as an excuse to exorcise that out of me."

Now, after a self-imposed break from performing (more on that later), McNeill will have plenty of opportunities this month to work out whatever demons he may still have. He's already begun holding down dual residencies at the Druid in Cambridge (Thursdays in December, plus a New Year's Eve show) and the Edgewater Cafe in Salem (tonight and the next three Fridays) -- a spate of activity that he says marks ''a fresh start."

''I have to say, I'm writing the best material I ever have and I'm enjoying playing more than I've ever enjoyed it," says McNeill, who estimates he's written roughly 50 new, as yet unreleased songs since Hybrasil's last album, 2002's ''The Kicker." He'll audition the new material at both venues, backed by crack ensembles composed of Duke Levine (guitar), Jimmy Ryan (mandolin), Jeremy Dryden (bass), Jesse Ciamataro (piano), and Billy Beard (drums) at the Druid; and Dryden, Ciamataro, Ryan, and drummer Benny Benson at the Edgewater.

McNeill's first foray into music was leading the densely aggressive outfit Schtum, which toured all over Europe and released an album, ''Grow," for Sony's Work Records in 1995 before disbanding. In 1997, McNeill emigrated from Derry, Ireland, to Boston (''I came here to be able to breathe again"), and launched Hybrasil.

The band, which included Dryden and drummer Jeff Berlin, quickly found a rabid local following, among them powerful musical allies like Morphine, and released a pair of well-regarded albums, 1998's ''Friendly Destroyer" and ''The Kicker." In between, McNeill signed on as lead singer of Orchestra Morphine, the collective formed following the death of Morphine leader Mark Sandman in 1999. He also gigged as a member of Ryan's bluegrass outfit the Dangerous Brothers.

''The experience with Orchestra Morphine helped me grow as a musician, but performing-wise it was the least enjoyable because of what it was," he says. ''It was a difficult gig for me, singing Mark's songs." Now, with Hybrasil broken up, McNeill's on his own, dipping his toe back into the musical waters. OK, maybe diving is more like it.

McNeill says he's no longer perpetually angry -- that stance requires an awful lot of effort and unhappiness, he concedes -- but he still gets riled. At 33, and with 10 years of navigating the music business, going from major-label hope to indie artist to unsigned singer-songwriter, McNeill says he's wary of the scene, in Boston, Cambridge, and beyond.

''There are independent labels but not a lot that are willing to spend money on their artists. We can all make records until we're blue in the face but there's nothing being done to support these records," says McNeill. ''I took a break from playing because I feel that musicians around town are being taken for granted and they're not being paid. This [going rate of] $150 a night to be split between a band of four people has to stop. I think there is a great community of musicians but it's not great for them, and in a lot of clubs you're an afterthought. Something has to change."

Still, McNeill claims he can't help but live and breathe music, and regards this month's residencies as an artistic ''rebirth": ''And believe me, as cynical as I am, I'm still very, very positive about my future," he says, ''and about being creative."

Back to the future: Timing, as they say, is everything. And as the inexplicable return of those hideous ''Members Only" jackets and dreaded gaucho pants prove (OK, so maybe the former's return has an ironic, deliberately tacky tinge to it), the nostalgia pendulum has swung yet again, this time back to the big '80s.

Thank goodness for American Laundromat Records founder Joe Spadaro, a Long Island-born but Boston-fixated music fan who graduated high school in 1984. With a highly entertaining new CD compilation, ''High School Reunion: a Tribute to Those Great 80s Films" -- featuring a bevy of New England artists covering movie soundtrack songs written by Iggy Pop, the Cars, and Psychedelic Furs -- Spadaro is here to remind us that the Reagan years weren't only about bad hair, bad fashion, and Men Without Hats.

''For many years I had been thinking about how much fun it would be to do a record with bands interpreting the soundtracks from all those great movies," says Spadaro, whose label is coreleasing the CD with New Jersey's Face Down Records (go to www.americanlaundromatrecords.com and www.facedown.net for ordering info). ''A lot of the [original] artists [from the soundtracks] were very gracious and liked the concept."

Ditto for performers such as Matthew Sweet, a film buff and pop culture vulture who turns in a faithful cover of Tom Petty's ''American Girl," and Frank Black, who offers up a creepy version of Iggy Pop's title track to the film ''Repo Man."

Elsewhere, ex-Blake Baby John P. Strohm covers Jackson Browne's classic ''Somebody's Baby," Stoughton singer-songwriter Lori McKenna turns in a gorgeously reimagined version of Peter Gabriel's ''In Your Eyes." In a cool twist, Kristin Hersh brings it all back home with a leanly sinister reading of the Pixies' ''Wave of Mutilation."

''I'm a huge, huge fan of that whole Boston music scene, and the Fort Apache [recording studios] empire," Spadaro says. ''All of those bands really started that whole [alternative] movement. It's really amazing what came out of Boston. Seattle had the marketing thing going for it, but Boston seemed so pure."

Bits & pieces: One of upstate New York's finest, the garage-rocking Figgs, headline T.T. the Bear's Place tonight, Dec. 9. . . . Tomorrow night at T.T.'s, the ''XMas Rock and Roll Odyssey III" gets underway. Among the acts are the Raging Teens, Sean Mencher Combo, Through the Keyhole Burlesque, the Cobra-Matics, and more. . . . Boston pop-rockers Auto Interiors headline the Abbey Lounge tonight, and the world's best bad boyfriend, Mr. Fancypants himself, Ad Frank cavorts with his Fast Easy Women tomorrow night at the Abbey. . . . Harmonix Music Systems of Cambridge hosts a party at Harpers Ferry tomorrow, celebrating the release of its latest video game concoction, intriguingly called ''Guitar Hero." Musical guests include Din, Artillery, Honest Bob and the Factory Dealer Incentives, Count Zero, and surprise guests. . . . Pretty Girls Make Graves are at the Middle East Downstairs Sunday. . . . Living Colour, featuring the four original members, headline the Paradise Wednesday. . . . Boston's newest label, Post Meridian Records, throws itself a bash with a label launch party at the Lizard Lounge on Thursday. Members of the Post Meridian roster slated to perform include Logan 5 and the Runners, a new glam-pop group led by ex-Shelley Winters Project guitarist David Berndt; Vermont singer-songwriter Joshe Henry; and others. . . . Berklee's New Orleans Visiting Artist series, which brings musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina to Berklee for teaching residencies and performances, continues its series with a concert Monday by blues, jazz, and R&B vocalist Marva Wright and singer-pianist Davell Crawford, both NOVA recipients. The concert, at the Berklee Performance Center, also features Berklee's 53-member Reverence Gospel Ensemble and Overjoyed, directed by Dennis Montgomery III.