Amongst these bands were, Saxon, Praying Mantis and Iron Maiden, at the time new unsigned up and coming bands which would become key players of the new wave of British heavy metal – a phrase first coined by the then editor of "Sounds". He championed these and other acts, and went on to tour with those bands on full UK tours. The resulting popularity of Iron Maiden's recording led to a record contract for them with EMI. Several other NWOBHM bands also gained contracts due to their Soundhouse demos. Kay worked with EMI Records compiling many of these demos onto an album called "Metal for Muthas", of which several volumes were released. In 1980, he was the MC for the very first Monsters of Rock Festival, at Castle Donington, headlined by Rainbow, Scorpions and Judas Priest. He also promoted heavy metal concerts and tours, and was an enthusiastic champion of US band Riot. Kay was also a band manager in the 1980s and early 1990s. During that same period, Neal also managed a large studio complex in South London called Samurai Studios, where he also learned the art of live sound engineering. Also in the 90s, he went on tour to Japan with elements of Praying Mantis, ex-Iron Maiden and The Sweet. Whilst there he arranged with Japanese label Pony Canyon to record in London a new compilation LP called, "Metal For Muthas 92", which was released in 1993 in Japan and Far Eastern territories. In fact, some time in the late 1970s, the Japanese music paper Ongu Senka approached Kay to write the story of the Bandwagon in 3 episodes, which, in turn helped to bring to the attention of young Japanese fans, the legend of The Soundhouse. In the early nineties, whilst in Portugal, he came across a bar band called Iris (Portuguese for Rainbow) and was asked to work with them on what was to become their first CD. It was released to the Portuguese speaking world in 1996 and to this day, Kay still enjoys producing, arranging and even occasionally orchestrating some of the band's work, now 25 years on from when they first met each other. He has also been working with Stormzone, a Northern Irish heavy metal band out of Belfast. Kay produced their first CD and continues to have input on their latest songs. He also worked as a guest on Total Rock radio from time to time, with old time journalist/broadcaster mate Malcolm Dome, who, years before had given Kay and The Soundhouse a great review in the pages of "Record Mirror".