AOTM - Neck Deep

When two teenage boys from a small town in Wales decided that they were going to write a song, they never knew what they had just gotten themselves into. Both boys were inspired by music from a young age. The two simply wanted to try their hands at making something they could call their own. This “hobby” of writing music they soon found out, ended up turning into a full-time career. Never in their wildest dreams did they believe that almost five years later, they would be where they are. This is the self-proclaimed “Generic Pop Punk: band called Neck Deep.

Neck Deep’s first song ever released came in July 2012. The duo, Ben Barlow and Lloyd Roberts, posted a song on the internet called “What Did You Expect?”. The song immediately gained a lot of attention online and the boys realized that maybe this could become something more. Not to long after, the duo added rhythm guitarist Matt West, drummer Dani Washington and bassist Fil Evans to the band. They then signed to US Record Label, We Are Triumphant, and released their first EP called “Rain in July” in September 2012. Many were starting to take notice of this small pop-punk band from the UK after this release. This motivated them to releasing a second EP titled “A History of Bad Decisions”. Since then, Neck Deep went on to preform three straight years on the Vans Warped Tour and produce three full studio albums. The band is currently made up of Ben Barlow , Dani Washington, Matt West and Sam Bowden.

One of the reasons that I love Neck Deep so much is the lyrics that can be found within their songs. Therefore, the lyrics were something I really tried to analyze while writing this piece. When Ben Barlow first started writing the lyrics for Neck Deep, he was still a young teenager. Lyrics on the first two EP’s “Rain in July” and “A History of Bad Decisions” primarily deal with issues that the typical teenager faces in every day life. Specifically, one of the issues that Barlow focuses on is love. Tracks like “What Did You Expect?” and “Over and Over” talk about how girls tricked and deceived Barlow. These experiences that Barlow had all ended up with the same result, heartbreak. This shaped his view on the subject. Hence, lyrics like “I’ve learned from experience that love is a risk” and “You’ve got some nerve thinking that we could still be friends” with showcase his anger and frustration. All the tracks on the two EP’s have the same dark feeling; this is why the band became so popular, especially to high schoolers. The heartbroken feeling after a sour relationship is something that most high schoolers exploring love for the first time can relate to. Neck Deep’s lyrics have come a long way since these first two EP’s. They have expanded and become more meaningful which is shown on their first full album, Wishful Thinking.

On their first official album, Wishful Thinking, the topics of love and relationships are still heavily present. Where the EP’s differ from Wishful Thinking is that now Barlow has a new view on the topics. This change in views developed because Barlow started to grow into a young adult and was not just a high school teenager anymore. Getting out into the “real world” for the first time allowed for him to became more mature as a person and a writer. Barlow’s lyrics on Wishful Thinking are based around the realization that high school love isn’t all that its cracked up to be. On this album, Barlow hints that now he is starting to think more about life than just being angry or upset when things don’t go his way. On the track, “Growing Pains” the line, “Forget the past and all the heartache, growing pains that keep you awake” displays this increase in maturity. Other lines from the album also include “don’t let the weight on your shoulders drag you down” and “We lost sight of ourselves, our egos started to grow, let this sink in” also show that Barlow has matured as a person since the EP’s.

Neck Deep’s next work, Life’s Not Out to Get You, was their breakthrough album. The band released the album in August 2015 and was immediately met with praise. Many were shocked to hear such a complete album from a small Pop Punk band. The album is versatile in its sounds and its lyrics hit home and are methodically written. Lead singer Ben Barlow proves on this album that he has grown into a full mature adult. His lyrics on Life’s Not Out To Get You, tried to reach out to teenage kids that were in the same dark place when he was in their shoes. On many of the tracks, he tries to tell listeners that while things may seem bad at times, its never the end of the world. The song, Gold Steps, is all about this message. Barlow sings in the chorus that “sometimes things will bend you, but trust me you’ll be fine” and towards the end of the song he says that when you’re in these times of darkness, you need to “pick yourself up, you can’t change what’s been, you must go on, and learn while you live”. These powerful lines try to really prove to the listeners that you should never loose hope. Since writing this album, it probably comes as no surprise that Neck Deep is now a big advocate for "Hope for The Day", which is an organization that is huge on stressing the importance of mental health and suicide awareness. Hope for The Day even released this statement by Ben himself:

Neck Deep’s latest album, The Peace and The Panic, was released in August 2017. The album is unlike anything else they have written to date. Just like the title would hint at, it is separated into two different themes. One being “The Peace” which represents all the good in the world and then, “The Panic” which resembles all the bad and evil in the world. For the first time in Barlow's lyrics, he tapped into current issues going on in society. The song “Don’t Wait” is about how society is becoming more and more skeptical, chanting during the chorus that “The government is lying… its like puppetry and they’ve got you by your strings”. Not only does he talk about the government but he also talks about the media in the song saying “Turn off your TV stations, that’s not real information”. Seeing current issues facing the world be incorporated into Neck Deep lyrics was something that nobody saw coming. It further proves the fact that Barlow has matured and is able to talk about what is going on in the world. He also proves that he is quite an intelligent thinker when he starts to ask deep philosophical questions. For example, on the track “Where Do We Go When We Go?”, Barlow says that “The world is funny place, it kicks you when you’re down, and knocks you out when you get up again”.

Neck Deep's sound has come a very far way from the conception of the band in 2012. Life experiences and maturity have both effected the way in which Barlow writes the lyrics for the bands songs. Not only are the lyrics more meaningful, but their sound has improved greatly and feels more complete than their older tracks.

Their latest piece, which is off a compilation album put out by their record label, "Hopeless Records", is a cover of Natalie Imbruglias's song, "Torn". In my honest opinion, not only is this one of the best covers I've ever heard, it is one of the prettiest songs I have ever heard in general. They even recreated the original music video and it is phenomenal. Many people including myself have noted just how good Ben Barlow's lyrics sound on this track. It has people begging for more from the four-piece. You can check out the music video here:

While many may want more music from Neck Deep, it may come later than when we want it to be. The band made a statement that they are soon going to be taking some rightfully deserved time off and then will head into the studio to write/record another album. This leads me to believe that we probably won't be getting a new album from Neck Deep until maybe the Fall of 2020 at the earliest. It'd be "Wishful Thinking" (Neck Deep Pun) to think we would get anything sooner than that.

Neck Deep is currently one of the most prominent bands in the Pop Punk Genre. The improvement in sound and lyrics are the reason for all the recent success that they have had. Their latest album, The Peace and The Panic, proves that the band is capable of creating music that will go down in history.