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.
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