NEW INTERVIEW & PHOTOS! BABYMETAL: access all areas! BACKSTAGE AS FOX GOD FRENZY SWEEPS THE UK! THEBUSH K! INTERVIEW GAVIN ROSSDALE: “PEOPLE LOVE TO SEE OTHERS FEEL BAD” PVRIS KICKING OFF THEIR 07.03.20 NEW ERA IN LONDON K!1814 K!1814 CODE ORANGE & ALL THE NEW MUSIC $8.75 US: $9.99 AUS: YOU NEED RIGHT NOW £3.30 £3.30 NEWNECK ALBUM. NEW SOUND. NEW RULES. DEEP FOUR MONTHS INSIDE THEIR BID FOR GREATNESS ART PRINT COVER STORY THE SONDER YEARS First, they conquered the pop-punk world. Now, they’re creating their own. From deepest Wales to the streets of England’s capital, Kerrang! navigates four months in ‘Sonderland’ for the birth of ambitious new album ALL DISTORTIONS ARE INTENTIONAL – NECK DEEP’s bid to see their name up in lights like never before… Words: JAMES HICKIE PHOTOS: TOM BARNEs 24 KERRANG! KERRANG! 25 t’s a chilly November afternoon, unsettled by witnessing overhead lights being “Pop-punk’s where we came from, and the and Ben Barlow’s eyes are fixed on manipulated by unseen forces. And while, reason we’re doing what we’re doing now,” says the countryside outside the kitchen ultimately, those “forces” turned out to be the West, not wishing to discredit the world that window. Neck Deep have been living singer’s mischievous bandmates using fishing birthed them. “We started out writing pop-punk at this studio for three weeks, and lines to simulate the work of a poltergeist, Neck songs because that’s what we were listening to at will remain so for as many more, and Deep are in no doubt over the supernatural the time. Naturally, over the years, we’ve grown have already grown immune to the status of the place. and tastes have changed. On [The Peace And charms of the 400 acres of fields that “It’s 100 per cent haunted,” confirms guitarist The Panic], we had songs like Parachute and surround it, the nearby river that recently Matt West (or simply West), before revealing that In Bloom that wouldn’t sound particularly out broke its banks, and the mysterious cats that Matt Squire, the producer for ND’s fourth album of place on the record we’re making now. We Iwatch the humans from the safety of the and the man responsible for records by All Time enjoyed writing and playing those songs so much long, snaking driveway. The band’s singer has Low, Panic! At The Disco and Ariana Grande, that the natural evolution was to do [last year’s something more pressing in mind right now – insisted on ceremoniously burning sage to purge non-album single] She’s A God, and that took namely, the bonfire planned for this evening, bad energy after witnessing a crow’s death. us to where we are now. I don’t think there’s any and scouting for materials conscious effort to step away to build it, which need only from where we were, it’s just a satisfy one criterion: “If it natural thing that’s happened.” burns, we’ll burn it.” “For me, the highest form Encouraged by his of praise for this record would bandmates, Ben, with a couple be people thinking it’s been of strokes of a marker pen, made by real artists rather makes these words the 10th than some everyday lads in of Neck Deep’s “Album 4 a band,” adds Ben. “We are Rewlz” – an ever-growing list more than loveable idiots – of guidelines they’re living by there’s a deeper level to what while making their similarly we do. We’ve evolved into combustible follow-up to creative people with taste and 2017’s The Peace And The a vision, who have carved out Panic. These “rewlz” are our own pocket within the written on a large whiteboard, music world. I want people to repurposed from its role think Neck Deep don’t sound recording the results of games like anyone else – that they of pool hampered by uneven sound like Neck Deep.” floorboards beneath the table. It’s not alterations to the According to the board, band’s creative process that rule number three is “Get have brought about this it blown”, a reference to evolution, because little Neck Deep having recently has really changed from destroyed three amps in as the early days of Ben and many days, necessitating older brother Seb piecing a seven-hour round trip to together music in the attic collect a replacement, only for of their childhood home. that to also go boom within And while today they’ve got half an hour. The band can more space in which to play, laugh about it now, thankfully, the band still favour close because rule number six confines and a production- is “Keep being comedy line mentality. They record legends”, a rule they don’t in the wood-beamed studio struggle to observe, enjoying an attached to the house, before easy chemistry characterised Seb, ensconced in an upstairs by self-deprecation, especially bedroom, reviews what’s after a few beers. Alcohol been done, noting any tweaks doesn’t make an appearance required, or mixing the stuff too early in these parts, Ben Barlow that makes the grade. though, as stipulated by the It’s a model of self- all-important ninth rule: “No sufficiency young bands bevs before quarter past piss”. That’s 6.15pm to should aspire to. And Monnow, located 100 the uninitiated. miles from their home base in Wrexham, seems Welcome to Monnow Valley, a remote studio “WE’RE MORE THAN a much better fit than the Los Angeles studios in Monmouthshire, South-East Wales where, where Neck Deep worked on The Peace since 1974, bands have come to get away And The Panic, and began writing this one – from the world and concentrate on the job of LOVEABLE IDIOTS – experiences not necessarily to their tastes. making important records that radically alter “It feels like we’re here for the sole purpose the trajectories of their authors. Black Sabbath THERE’S A DEEPER of making a record, whereas in LA we were also visited here many times as they transformed having to shake hands and network and shit,” themselves from the niche purveyors of darkness LEVEL TO WHAT WE DO” says Ben, explaining the key difference between of their early days to the goliaths of metal they’re BEN BARLOW there and here, then and now. “We wake up known as today. Ozzy Osbourne even once here just a few footsteps away from the studio. reportedly used the bedroom currently occupied Being close to home takes a big element of by Neck Deep guitarist Sam Bowden to summon stress out of the situation, too. We don’t have spirits with a Ouija board. Neck Deep are also clear about what they’re to constantly fly or live out of a suitcase. I know Liam Gallagher might tell you Ozzy was here to achieve: an album that fundamentally I’m not going to go home yet, because we’re successful in contacting the other side. His shifts them from pop-punk’s leading lights to a going to work on this until the final days. But band Oasis were here in the autumn of 1993 to great band full stop, transferring these big fish psychologically, it’s comforting to know I could.” transpose the Manchester band’s formidable live from their small pond to the limitless oceans of Far from skipping out, Ben – ever the clout into their debut album, Definitely Maybe. the big time. Not because they think that’s what night owl – regularly stays up until dawn here, Not only did the £800-a-day sessions prove they should be doing now, mind, but because it’s a glass of red wine in hand, recording vocal fruitless, the usually cocksure Liam became a point they’ve arrived at organically. takes or listening back to his efforts. As a result 26 KERRANG! Seb Barlow Sam Bowden Dani Washington Matt West KERRANG! 27 “I feel like it was meant to each other and running say to each other because I’ve “I’ve not rehearsed with (NOT REALLY) happen. I felt more connected smooth, and without blowing always been a bit removed. them at all yet. I’m a good to this album than any other my own horn I thought I At Monnow, it was my room singer and I’m good at THE NEW GUY album we’ve done, and it’s could be the cherry on top that people came to in order bass, but combining those SEB BARLOW speaks been the easiest process to solidify the band as a unit. to decompress. I don’t think elements in front of 10,000 making it. Neck Deep as I’ve always been involved I’ll lose that now I’m playing people is going to be the on finally becoming an a four-piece has been the with everything, and they’ve with them. I’ve worked with difficult thing! My first ‘official’ part of strongest the band has always respected my opinion. bands for seven years, so am show is a big festival this NECK DEEP… ever been in terms I can say things to all of them used to managing multiple summer, so I’ve still got of getting on with that they might not be able to people’s ideas. a while yet.” Group hugs: the perfect solution to a cold photo studio 28 KERRANG! he’s the last to rise each day.