After five long years, pop-punk icons Neck Deep have announced their return to Australia.
Ahead of the tour and while back home in Wales on a rare break, vocalist Ben Barlow says he can't wait to finally return to Australia."It's always been one of our favourite places to tour and for every reason: shows are great, places are great, people are great, food's great. What's not to love?" Ben proclaims.
Due to the pandemic, it will be the first time Australian fans will be able to hear songs from Neck Deep’s 2020 album 'All Distortions Are Intentional', a record Ben thinks didn't get its day in the sun.
"It's a weird one because we're coming back to Australia after five years, having not been over on our last album and we're getting the ball rolling on the next one.
"In terms of songs coming out, I think we should have a new song out by the time we are in Oz." The band have released today, 9 August, their newest single 'Take Me With You'.
Ben and the band are finding it more and more difficult to decide on their live show set list as their discography gets bigger.
"It's got to a point now where the new stuff we're writing fits so seamlessly into the set. We could play something off [2015 album] 'Life's Not Out To Get You' straight into some of this new stuff that we've been writing and it wouldn't seem a million miles apart.
"So it's weird, because we've played some of the old songs so much now it's like, do we retire certain fan favourites for a bit? It's weird, it's hard to say.
"This time in Oz, I think we might stick to a relatively classic set list, just because it's our first time back in a while; give the people what they want."
Neck Deep have slowly been releasing new music with their latest single 'Heartbreak Of The Century' dropping earlier this year, which follows the band's 2022 single 'STFU'.
Both singles feature that distinct pop-punk sound that made fans fall in love with Neck Deep, and it sounds like their upcoming album is following in the same direction.
"In terms of how it's sounding and how it feels, I think we're stoked to be a pop-punk band again. With 'All Distortions Are Intentional', we were really desperate to try something else.
"I think if we had written a pop-punk record then it wouldn't have been very good, because we didn't want to write a pop-punk record then.
"Taking everything we've learnt from the last few records, I think it's the best blend of what you would expect of a band that's been together for ten years and what you'd expect of any band to learn from their previous releases.
"It sounds a little cliche, but it's the most Neck Deep record I think we've ever written in terms of we did it all ourselves.
"It's a pop-punk record, but I think it's taking the polish and some of the songwriting techniques and that sort of stuff from 'All Distortions Are Intentional' and applying it to pop-punk songs.
"So we can interchange them with stuff from 'Life's Not Out To Get You', [2017 album] 'The Peace And The Panic'; that sort of stuff, but it still feels fresh and new.
"They're not v2.0s, it's not 'Wishful Thinking 2.0' or 'Life's Not Out To Get You 2.0', or whatever, it's very much its own thing, just done really, really well.
"I think fans will be really stoked. I think it's a record that people want. It's a record that we want. Hopefully, [released] early next year, and yeah, lots of pop-punk bangers."
Neck Deep 2023 Tour Dates
Tue 5 Sep - Forum MelbourneThu 7 Sep - Roundhouse (Sydney)
Fri 8 Sep - The Tivoli (Brisbane)
Sat 9 Sep - Hindley St Music Hall (Adelaide)
Mon 11 Sep - Metropolis (Fremantle)
