Neck Deep is one of the most exciting bands in the pop-punk scene right now, and it only takes one listen to their 2024 self-titled album to understand why. From Wales, the band formed in 2012, and since then has released five albums and toured consistently, selling out massive headline shows and playing alongside pop-punk titans like Blink-182. Now, Neck Deep are getting ready to bring their Dumbstruck Dumbfuck tour to Australia, and when given the opportunity to chat with lead vocalist Ben Barlow, I jumped at it.
One of the many things that makes Neck Deep such a significant band within the scene, is that just when you think it can’t get any better, it does. Every album release is subsequently better than the last, and their self-titled record is a true testament to this. It’s 33 minutes of incredible pop punk and truly Neck Deep at their best. However, there’s no denying that their earlier releases, specifically their second studio album “Life’s Not Out To Get You”, hold a nostalgic place with fans. On managing the balance between moving forward with new material and acknowledging their past records, Barlow says, “We’re always thinking about what comes next and always wanting to push things forward. But like you say, often we get requests to play a lot of old stuff, and that’s not unique to Neck Deep. There’s a lot of fond memories on those records and especially “Life’s Not Out To Get You” which did so much for us, so it does hold a special place in our hearts and some of those songs will be staples for us forever, it seems. But we want to move forward and we want to push on and we don’t want to get too caught up in the legacy too much. Truth be told, some of the songs, especially of “Wishful Thinking”- they’re not that good. They hold a lot of nostalgia for people, and they hold a lot of nostalgia for us but when you put a new song next to a song off, say, “Wishful Thinking”, especially in playing live it’s very clear which is the better song… We don’t always see ourselves as the 18-year-olds that wrote those records, although, there will always be a special place in our hearts for them, but we just don’t want to overdo it. So yeah, it’s a fine balance, but I think we strike it fairly well, you know.”
Neck Deep set out to record their self-titled record in LA, but during the recording process, something felt off. Looking back on the initial recording experience, Barlow reveals, “We didn’t feel like it was representing what we wanted to do. We felt like it was sort of more of the same. It was a lot of the same tricks, a lot of the same bells and whistles and didn’t feel as impactful as a Neck Deep record should…you’ve got to progress the sound without departing from your sound too much as well, so it’s about hitting that fine balance. It didn’t feel like it was moving forward enough… it didn’t have the punch that we wanted, it didn’t have the impact we thought it should have.” This ultimately led the band to make the difficult decision to go back to square one and produce the record themselves at home. Had this not been done, Barlow says the record may not have been underwhelming, but “it wouldn’t have represented any progress or any sort ofmovement. Ultimately, if there’s anyone who knows us best, it’s us, and I also think the process of doing it ourselves and going through that stress and having to reevaluate the record and dedicate more time to it brought us closer as a band. It brought us closer as friends, it made us better songwriters, it made us better producers. We would have been a lesser version of ourselves had we stuck it out, it would have been an injustice to ourselves. There would have been a lot of hindsight kicking our ass, I think.”
Neck Deep’s previous record, All Distortions Are Intentional, was released at perhaps the worst time ever to release music- July 2020. As the pandemic heightened and lockdowns were enforced, the band wasn’t able to connect with live audiences and witness crowds’ reactions to new music in real time, making the release a difficult time for them. Barlow reflects on this time, saying, “I love what we did on that record, but it is a little triggering, it takes you back to the stress and uncertainty of that time. But generally, I think that it’s a bit of a sleeping giant, that record. I think it was overlooked at the time because of what was going on and maybe because it was a bit of a departure from our original sound. But I think now, and even speaking to fans about it now, it seems to be a real grower. I think if people went back to that record now without the context of the pandemic and just put it on, some of our best songs are on there. Some of my favourite lyrics I’ve ever written are on that record, and some of our most expansive songs are on there. We were being experimental with it, and not everything always hits, but I think the songs that are good on that record are really, reallygood. And, you know, the effort of the vocal heavy lifting is like a really fun exercise in my own abilities. So, yeah, we look back at it fondly, but also, for a while we looked back at it and it was a little bit of a reminder of a rough time, but I think now that time has passed, us and fans also look at that record quite fondly and I think big neck deep fans have a lot of love for that record and a lot of appreciation for it, and that’s all it’s about really. We’re always only trying to appeal to our biggest fans because they’re the ones who allow us to do it.”
As they prepare to come to Australia, Neck Deep are pumped and more than ready to connect with Aussie crowds. On why Australia is so important to them, Barlow shares, “Honestly, Australia is like one of our favourite places to go, it really is. And it was the first overseas tour we ever did- although I think maybe we had a couple of European shows, but we came to Australia before we went to America, and we fell in love with it immediately. It’s like if the UK was sunny and people were happy… we’ve always felt very at home there, always felt that we’ve connected with the people out there very well.”
If you’ve ever experienced a live Neck Deep show, you’ll know how special it is. The energy on stage and within the room is second to none, and the band always goes above to create meaningful experiences for everyone who makes the effort to come to see them, showing a genuine appreciation. On what’s going through his head on stage, Barlow reveals, “Honestly when I’m on stage all I’m thinking about is just like ‘don’t suck and just perform good’. But, occasionally you have moments of lucidity where you realise where you are or maybe you catch someone’s eye and you see an emotion, or you catch a reaction from them. And it does put everything into perspective. Even though a lot of it feels like autopilot and I kind of become a bit of a different person on stage, it is always intentional that people leave the show with a sense of more than they’ve seen a band, but that they feel like they’re either part of something or they feel like they’ve been spoken to, or they’ve gained a new perspective on something. Our music’s always had a clear message to it and so just to elaborate on that message a lot of the time is the aim. For some bands, it works amazingly well for them to just walk out on stage, not say a single word, play their set and go, it’s like this elusive kind of mystery to a band. But, you know, that’s not how we’ve done it. And I think that’s kind of special about us, I think that’s what people connect with.”
Along for the tour is American pop-punk band State Champs, who joined Neck Deep Down Under back in 2016 as well. Now, nine years later, the venue sizes have more than quadrupled, with the bands set to play their biggest Aussie headline show at Melbourne’s Festival Hall this tour. State Champs’ self-titled album was also released last year and received rave reviews from critics, and, more importantly, fans. This is a match made in heaven for any pop-punk connoisseur!
As well as their highly-anticipated visit to Australia, this year also marks ten massive years since Life’s Not Out To Get You– the record that changed everything for Neck Deep. Listeners have speculated on how the band might celebrate, but it sounds like they’re keeping things fairly low-key, with Barlow sharing, “There will be some stuff commemorating the 10 year, yeah, we got some things finally in motion. But we don’t want to overdo it too much. I think we’ve got a nice balance of something for everyone. So yeah, you should be hearing about that pretty soon, actually.”
The Dumbstruck Dumbfuck tour will hit Aussie shores from April 21st, and you can still grab your tickets HERE.
