{"id":31196,"date":"2017-01-29T09:17:22","date_gmt":"2017-01-28T22:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=31196"},"modified":"2017-01-29T09:17:35","modified_gmt":"2017-01-28T22:17:35","slug":"ben-barlow-neck-deep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2017\/01\/ben-barlow-neck-deep\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Barlow of Neck Deep"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n“The fact that I am living my actual dream is the best thing about it, and every aspect of that is everything I ever wanted, I haven\u2019t lost sight of what my dreams and aspirations are, I\u2019m still very grounded, I still appreciate and respect everybody, none of us have let an ego go to our heads at all…”<\/p>\n

From Release: NECK DEEP\u00a0offers a blistering modern take on pop punk\u2019s glory days; they were nominated by Alternative Press Magazine as a 2015 Breakthrough Band, and took out the 2014 Kerrang! Award for Best British Newcomer. In August of 2015, the band released their critically acclaimed sophomore album\u00a0Life’s Not Out To Get You.<\/em>\u00a0Kerrang! Magazine has heralded the band as a\u00a0\u201cfuture classic\u201d<\/em>, with Renowned For Sound exclaiming, \u201cthey have delivered an absolutely stunning piece of music that is ultimately a Punk-Pop Masterwork full of supreme bangers, which are more than likely going to become your life anthems.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

We gave Ben Barlow of Neck Deep a call after he\u2019d just finished a gig at Wembley Arena to talk about their upcoming return to Australia, new music, aspirations, and much more\u2026<\/p>\n

Of course we\u2019re here because you\u2019re heading back to Australia on a pretty sick bill with All Time Low and The Maine, for anyone that\u2019s never seen you before, what can people expect when they come and see Neck Deep play?<\/strong>
\nWell lots of fun, fast, energetic music, five sweaty guys all swinging their fuckin\u2019 heads round and just generally having fun. We like to keep the energy up and we like to keep the pace up and keep the people moving, there might be times when it settles down for a big sing along but you can definitely expect a lot of crowd participation and singalongs and energy and pace for sure.<\/p>\n

Do you have a great memory from you previous trips here?<\/strong>
\nYeah man, I have lots of good memories, some of our best friends ever are from Australia but one of my personal favourite days ever was on the last tour of Australia we had a day off in a place called Wattamolla beach, and there was a big jump rock there off into the water and we had a BBQ, a few beers and all just chilling and enjoying ourselves. Give me a high rock and some water beneath it and I will fuckin\u2019 drop off all day *laughs* that is my idea of a good day. That one particular stuck with me but any day in Australia is a good day, man. It\u2019s paradise.<\/p>\n

With two albums out now, how do you feel you\u2019ve grown as a band to be where you are now?<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019ve come a very long way, man, as people and as musicians and I think our music is kind of representative of that. At first we might have seemed like this juvenile, thrashy and all out pop punk band that was just yelling into the mic and banging our heads as hard as we could, but you know ever since then we\u2019ve matured a lot and refined our skills as song writers and it\u2019s been a long, crazy journey but we\u2019ve had a hell of a lot of fun doing it. I think we\u2019ve achieved everything I ever felt we could do as a band we\u2019ve already achieved so everything from here is a bonus. We\u2019ll keep shooting for the stars I guess.<\/p>\n

In your time as a band in only five years you\u2019ve releases three EP\u2019s, two albums, made thirteen videos, have you had a chance to slow down yet?<\/strong>
\nOnly recently have we had some down time, we\u2019ve had a month or two off here and there but in the last six months we\u2019ve had a good chunk of time off and it really did give us time to recharge and reassess and look over everything that we\u2019ve done I guess and that was a lot, we have worked our fuckin\u2019 asses off, we\u2019ve been touring relentlessly over five years now and its insane to look back at. We can\u2019t let it get to our heads, we can\u2019t think, fuck we\u2019ve achieved everything that we could because we haven\u2019t even though I just said it *laughs* we\u2019ve crossed everything off the bucket list but there\u2019s still a long way to go for the band, we\u2019ve got a lot of work to do and we\u2019re not shying away from it, we\u2019re not stopping, if we take too much time out we never want to slow down.<\/p>\n

What currently inspires you as a band?<\/strong>
\nLife, man, I mean I never want to write a song about being on tour or being a band because that for the vast majority very unrelatable, so every day experiences and monumental things definitely stir us on at this point.<\/p>\n

Any idea of when we can expect album number three?<\/strong>
\nFairly soon, not as soon as people might want, it\u2019s not going to be tomorrow *laughs* but within this year sometime album three is gonna be here, we\u2019ve been working on it for a good year now and we have a very good healthy chunk of it written and pretty much get ready to get moving and get into the studio to pull it all together and have a record done, so you can expect something fairly soon, like I said, not tomorrow but\u2026<\/p>\n

As you\u2019ve progressed you\u2019re working with different people, Jeremy from A Day To Remember on the last but have you got your producer locked in for the new one?<\/strong>
\nYeah we\u2019re locked in, we know exactly who we\u2019re going with, I don\u2019t know how much I can say at this point and I\u2019m sure the band will make an announcement on that in the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

In being a band for five years, over that time what\u2019s the one thing you\u2019ve felt you\u2019ve learned that you didn\u2019t feel would be associated with being in a band?<\/strong>
\nOh shit! Learning to live with four other dudes probably *laughs* learning to appreciate and respect four other dudes and appreciate their space and their personalities and all that sort of stuff. For the most part we all get on very, very, very well, there\u2019s no way that you can be with the same group of people 24\/7 without tempers flaring a little bit, well not necessarily tempers but without things flaring up every now and then, you\u2019re gonna wake up and have a bad day one or two days but yeah, learning to live with a bunch of other dudes on the road has been a learning curve for sure. You know what? We got there, we were always good but it comes with being on tour but I would say that\u2019s the biggest thing I\u2019ve had to learn for sure. *laughs*<\/p>\n

Speaking of being on tour, who are you out with at the moment?<\/strong>
\nWe are on tour with A Day To Remember, New Found Glory and Moose Blood right now in The UK.<\/p>\n

Well that just sounds terrible *laughs*<\/strong>
\nOh yeah it\u2019s awful, thousands of people, dudes that just don\u2019t take anything seriously all they do is just laugh and joke around the whole time it\u2019s fuckin awful *laughs*. All sarcasm aside it\u2019s been a dream of a tour man, especially for me having New Found Glory, being on tour with New Found Glory is fucking insane to me because they are one of my favourite bands of all time so that\u2019s one off the bucket list for me. Even though I said we\u2019ve done everything\u00a0 we want to do, there\u2019s still things like that, I think now it\u2019s only to play with Green Day but Billie Joe is not a fan of the old pop punk, so that might have to wait.<\/p>\n

In terms of touring we\u2019ve got Australia coming up but what have you got planned for the rest of the year?<\/strong>
\nAgain not too much I can say now without breaking that news, plenty of touring, big festivals, the stuff that people want you\u2019re more than likely gonna get I\u2019ll leave it at that. *laughs*<\/p>\n

What do you enjoy the most about being part of Neck Deep?<\/strong>
\nAs I said before with learning to live with four other dudes, as much as that can be difficult sometimes I\u2019d say that it\u2019s one of my favourite things being with my friends and playing shows every single night to however many people it really is just the dream. The fact that I am living my actual dream is the best thing about it, and every aspect of that is everything I ever wanted, I haven\u2019t lost sight of what my dreams and aspirations are, I\u2019m still very grounded, I still appreciate and respect everybody, none of us have let an ego go to our heads at all and I think the best part about it is just revelling in all the amazing things that are happening to us, it\u2019s all just a dream. It feels like a dream anyway.<\/p>\n

Lastly let\u2019s look ahead to the future, finish this sentence for us, by the end of 2017 Neck Deep want to\u2026<\/strong>
\nOoh\u2026 that\u2019s hard to say\u2026 by the end of 2017 we would like to play bigger and better venues with a bigger and better album with bigger and better crowds, just everything bigger and better, we never want to slow down, we never want to take a step backwards we just want to keep going forward and who knows, maybe go to a few countries we\u2019ve never been before but for the most part just keep our foot on the gas and never slow down.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ALL TIME LOW : MAY 2017 TOUR DATES<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

With Special Guests Neck Deep and The Maine<\/strong><\/p>\n

Presented by Destroy All Lines, Chugg Entertainment & Hysteria<\/em><\/p>\n

AUCKLAND<\/strong>
\nWednesday 10th<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>May \u2013 Powerstation (Licensed All Ages)<\/strong>
\naaaticketing.co.nz<\/a><\/p>\n

BRISBANE<\/strong>
\nFriday 12th<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>May \u2013 Riverstage (Licensed All Ages)<\/strong>
\nticketmaster.com.au<\/a>\u00a0or 136 100
\noztix.com.au<\/a>\u00a0or 1300 762 545<\/p>\n

SYDNEY<\/strong>
\nSaturday 13th<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>May \u2013 Hordern Pavilion (Licensed All Ages)<\/strong>
\nticketek.com.au<\/a>\u00a0or 132 849<\/p>\n

MELBOURNE<\/strong>
\nSunday 14th<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>May \u2013 Festival Hall (Licensed All Ages)<\/strong>
\nticketmaster.com.au<\/a>\u00a0or 136 100<\/p>\n

ADELAIDE<\/strong>
\nTuesday 16th<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>May \u2013 Thebarton Theatre (Licensed All Ages)<\/strong>
\nticketmaster.com.au<\/a>\u00a0or 136 100<\/p>\n

FREMANTLE<\/strong>
\nThursday 18th<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>May \u2013 Metropolis (18+)<\/strong>
\noztix.com.au<\/a>\u00a0or 1300 762 545<\/p>\n

FREMANTLE<\/strong>
\nFriday 19th<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>May \u2013 Metropolis (Under 18)<\/strong>
\noztix.com.au<\/a>\u00a0or 1300 762 545<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Wrexham, UK<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong> Ben Barlow \u2013 Vocals, Matt West \u2013 Guitar, Sam Bowden \u2013 Guitar, Fil Thorpe-Evans \u2013 Bass, Dani Washington – Drums<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong>\u00a0 http:\/\/www.neckdeepuk.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> Life\u2019s Not Out To Get You \u2013 (Out Now – Hopeless Records)<\/p>\n

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