Neck Deep caught up with NME backstage at Reading 2024 and opened up about what to expect from their two sets, as well as look back at their biggest headline show to date at Alexandra Palace in June. They also reflected on the ongoing resurgence of pop-punk, love of Blink-182 and shared what fans can expect from their upcoming UK tour dates.
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00:00Hi, I'm Liberty from NME. I'm here at Reading 2024 with Neck Deep. How are you guys doing?
00:11Very good.
00:12Happy to be here. Looking forward to playing two sets in one day. We'll see how that goes.
00:18I was just about to ask you about that. Tell me how the idea for that arose.
00:23We got an email and we were like, yeah, that sounds like it could be fun. So we'll see
00:28how it goes. Like Sam said, see what happens really. I think, uh, yeah, here's the proposition
00:34to play twice in a day. I guess you're not going to say no. It's a show of, it's a compliment.
00:40Yeah.
00:41Especially at this point to have a new record out, but it have just been an anniversary
00:47for some old stuff and coming up to an anniversary of Life's Not Hard To Get You. It's a good
00:52chance to play like a good amount of the catalog. So we're doing no repeat songs. So
00:58completely different sets. So a lot of songs we've had to practice and we'll see how they
01:03go today.
01:04Are there any of this time round that you're going to break out for maybe the first time
01:08in a while?
01:09Definitely. Yeah. Crushing Grief is one that's not been played for a long time. The Beaches
01:15for Lovers has never been played in the UK. Well, other than like a record show, but that
01:20was the first time. I'm pretty sure. Kingston. That was the first time that, yeah. So Haunt
01:27You is true. Haunt You has never been played on UK soil.
01:32And Serpents hasn't been played for like five years or something, six years.
01:37Slam Dunk was the last time we did that, 2022.
01:39Oh, okay. We didn't play that.
01:42Yeah. Quite a few different ones.
01:45How does it feel for you as the artist to introduce it into your set? Because obviously
01:49there might be like a bit of nerves there, maybe you're just excited to air them out,
01:52maybe get a bit more momentum for them, for people who maybe, I don't know, overlook them.
01:58You said nerves, maybe on some of them, but it's like, it's still exciting though, because
02:04it's songs that we've not had the chance to stick in the set for a very long time. And
02:08like Sam said, with it being like the anniversaries of certain things, it kind of probably makes
02:12sense more than ever to put them in now rather than just randomly throwing them in out of
02:18nowhere. So, yeah, I mean, it's exciting, I think.
02:21I think if you're a Neck Deep fan as well, and you have come to shows throughout the
02:24years, there are going to be four or five songs that they've never seen us play. So
02:28I'm pretty sure they'll be highly welcomed.
02:30Yeah.
02:31So, last time you spoke to us, it was just before the album came out. It was also just
02:37before a big milestone that you guys had, your biggest show to date at Ali Pali. Tell
02:41me how that went.
02:43Amazing. Yeah, like, couldn't have gone better. I was probably stressed for a solid eight
02:49months going into that of like, debating what songs to play and the production, which Wes
02:56was like heavily involved with, like the video content, which was amazing. But even sound
03:02check of the day of the show, things were like, still not completely ready. So like
03:08one of the videos we saw for the first time when we were on stage performing. So it was
03:14like right down to the minute, really getting ready. But show went great. It was like, really,
03:19really special to be able to do that. I wish we had two nights because it was over.
03:23I was actually going to say, yeah.
03:25It went so fast. Like, before you knew it, it was like, oh, this is, we're off, we're
03:30off to now play the encore. And it was, yeah, it was crazy. It was like, I remember the
03:34first three songs and then I just remember waking up at home the next day being like,
03:38whoa, what happened there? It was crazy. But I would say probably one of the best nights
03:45of my life.
03:46Yeah. Agree.
03:47It felt like a long time coming. Like the fans were sort of rabid there. Like, they
03:52really, really wanted it. I feel like you gave the energy as much as they gave it.
03:56For sure. I think we've been just wanting to do something like that and to have the
04:00kind of production and like content video stuff, how you always envision being able
04:06to like showcase your band and stuff. It's nice to be like, this is, if we could do this
04:13every show, this is how we would want to do it. So to be able to at least get to do that
04:17once is amazing, but also a huge headache. I can't imagine doing that every day. It took
04:25an army to get that together.
04:28It is crazy that it's all of that work for one show and it's like, and now we're done.
04:33It's like, oh wow, now what?
04:35Yeah, it did feel like that. I remember a few of us, the day after the show, like spoke
04:40and it was like, it felt like it was such a high that the next day the band was over.
04:44Not that it was over, but we were like, what now? Like, have we done it? And then I think
04:49the whole, yeah, the whole like part of the hunger is just getting yourself up to go again
04:54and do something better and like work to some, some, the next eclipse, you know, like that's
04:58how we felt.
04:592024 is turning out to be like a massive year for you guys. Like you start off with the
05:03album, we had the Ali Pali show, we've got the US tour, now the UK, UK tour that's been
05:08announced today, right?
05:09Yeah, Europe with Sum 41 as well. And that on their last ever tour, some huge venues
05:14and that's sick to be part of their last ever tour. So yeah, it's, it's been a great year.
05:18What's it been like to be hitting all these milestones almost one after the other? Is
05:22it sunken or does it feel like you've sort of earned your stripes now?
05:25Yeah, I don't know. Crazy. I mean, we just did, I think the biggest milestone after Ali
05:30Pali was we just did, we just headlined a festival in Jakarta, Indonesia to, we were
05:37told 10,000 people, but allegedly there was 25,000 people. But either way, we went to
05:42like the other side of the world and yeah, played one of the craziest shows and still
05:48trying to like process that really. But yeah, just to be on to the next album and some more
05:54milestones, I think. Just trying to keep going.
05:58Yeah.
05:59One thing that we've been consistent with is like, we've never really wanted to just
06:03stop. It's always just been like, all right, we can do more, we can do bigger, we can keep
06:07going. And that's always just been MO from the beginning, I think with a lot of it, it's
06:12just like, just see how far we can take it and just keep going.
06:18Yeah. And as well, I don't think we massively think about it in the milestone sense. Like,
06:24we just do it. It comes, we get on with it, we play the show, we walk off stage and it's
06:28like, right, to the next one. And I think if we just sort of keep that mentality and
06:31keep going, like, we'll just do what's put in front of us. And yeah.
06:36I feel like it's really good timing as well. It's just as the pop punk genre scene has
06:41had this massive resurgence over the past two years or so, I'd say. What's it been like
06:45for you to sort of see that and see this new wave of fans come over once again?
06:49I mean, it's good. It's always good when, I mean, there's been some strange pockets
06:57in the scene, but either way, it's all still contributing to overall, like, more fans being
07:04introduced to it that didn't really know about it and making the whole scene like more popular
07:08and relevant than ever. So like, it's awesome. And there's been some really sick bands that
07:13have come out of it in recent years. But yeah, sick. We just want to try and like put
07:19together a few sort of classic pop punk tours as well. Try and get some more, like, older
07:27lineups that we've had before in the past. Try and put some more of them together. I
07:31mean, having Wonder Years on the UK tour next year is crazy. I can't believe that that's
07:35actually happening. That's sick.
07:38We did our first proper full UK tour opening for the Wonder Years. So it's just a very
07:46strange, like, full circle moment where it's like, oh, we're taking you out on tour? Okay,
07:51fine. But it's very, very, very cool. Like Sam said, like, getting a lot of some of our
07:58mates together with us and to tour with them again would be quite cool. Hopefully we get
08:03to do that soon.
08:06And then tonight you're playing with another pop punk heavyweight. We've got Bling 182
08:12playing. Were they an influence for you?
08:17Yeah. I think for a few of us, Ben and Seb who aren't here, are like favourite band ever,
08:24like goated band. So yeah, we're all very, very stoked to be watching them two nights
08:31in a row. And we'll be hanging outside their dressing room trying to say hello for sure.
08:37Tom, Tom, Tom. But yeah, very stoked.
08:43I was late to Bling. I was a metal kid when I grew up. So I was sort of like, had to force
08:48myself upon it. And I was always like, Joey Jordison is better than Travis Barker. And
08:51then I grew up a bit and was like, well, no, he's not. Travis Barker is the best. Yeah,
08:57stoked. Yeah, they're awesome.
09:00What was the song that finally did it for you?
09:06Probably Violence, maybe. Is it? Yeah, Violence. Yeah. And when I heard that, I was like, right,
09:13okay. And then I sort of had to go back and learn more.
09:16He was subjected to it because we play a lot of Bling. So he was subjected to listen to
09:23it all.
09:24Yeah, I was just so into metal.
09:26Okay, lovely guys. Thank you so much.