Neck Deep may be a relatively new band but the Wrexham pop punk sensations have already caused a stir with fans worldwide. With their album Wishful Thinking landing in January, they’ve already played to packed out venues across the UK and US.
After signing with Hopeless Records earlier this year (the same label as bands such as Enter Shikari, All Time Low and Taking Back Sunday), the pop punk superstars have already had success touring along side The Wonder Years on their latest UK endeavour.
With three shows left, including playing the prestigious Warped Tour at Alexandra Palace this weekend, before jetting off to Australia I managed to catch five minutes with the bassist Fil Thorpe:
A: How is your current tour with The Wonder Years going?
F: Tour is amazing! We’re playing to 1000 cap sold out shows every night, it’s literally incredible, a couple people have driven stupidly far to see us and we’ve had a couple of letters given to us from fans and stuff!
A: Awesome! Bet it’s making you even more excited for Australia then?
F: Definitely! I can’t wait, a bunch of the shows have already sold out.
A: Notorious for having an incredibly loyal fan base, how have the crowds been towards you guys?
F: The crowds have been awesome, the atmosphere was amazing with massive sing-a-longs too, and we had Laura Whiteside join us on stage in Manchester (who features in the song ‘A Part of Me‘) which was amazing too.
A: What’s been your favourite moment of this tour so far, and has anything made it special other than it being the first official one since signing with Hopeless?
F: On this tour? My favourite moment was probably the after party on the first night, all the bands went to Cockpit and got really drunk and partied, it was ace. And yeah I guess the fact that this tour is like an all-star line up for pop punk bands, it’s like four legit awesome pop punk bands, there is no dead weight or bands that don’t suit us for sure!
A: Brilliant! Can you give me a few final words on the album?
F: Yeah! I personally feel the album is the first real step for us as a band and is a much more clear vision for the sorta music we enjoy writing as a band. I think it remains true to our old material but has definitely developed.
Due for release on January 13 2014, Wishful Thinking is the band’s first album for which they recruited fans to help make a montage video for their first single ‘Crushing Grief (No Remedy)’ available here:
With the single available now on iTunes and the album available to pre order via Hopeless Records now as well as a bunch of exclusive Neck Deep packages including t-shirts, test presses and handwritten lyrics, the boys are set to be a big success in the industry.
Having previously been featured in magazines such as Front, Rocksound and Kerrang the boys are also playing a UK and US album tour from January onwards with tickets already on sale to purchase via the official Neck Deep website including a special acoustic in-store performance the day before the album release at Banquet Records in Kingston.
And for all of those that can’t wait, they’ve just announced that the second single from the album Growing Pains will be released on 17 December with a video to follow!
By Amy Trown
*Images courtesy of Fil Thorpe and Alex Gregory